Dieter Janssen

Phone: +1 416 862 8800 x448
Dieter joined Diamond Schmitt in the fall of 2015 and has been part of the team responsible for the award-winning design for the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa, as well as the University of Guelph's MacKinnon Building renovation for their College of Arts and IICSI programme, the Marpole Community Centre in Vancouver, and the West Lake House at Pickering College, Ontario.
With over twenty years of experience as a practicing architect, Dieter brings a thoughtful and seasoned approach to design, rooted in a deep understanding of material, structure, and the ways people move through space. His work spans a broad spectrum of building types—including cultural and institutional spaces, transit infrastructure, urban and residential projects, as well as exhibitions—each shaped by a commitment to clarity, craft, and context.
Throughout his career, Dieter has developed meaningful collaborations with artists, craftspeople, performers, engineers, designers, and other creative practitioners. These relationships—ranging from media, textile, and glass artists to dance and theatre groups, landscape architects, and graphic designers—have continually informed and expanded his architectural perspective. They reflect a collaborative mindset and a genuine interest in how different disciplines can enrich spatial thinking.
Alongside his architectural career, Dieter is also a published photographer with images featured in Piet & Wim Eckert’s Ontology of construction - spatial effects in architecture for Park Books, Divisare: Atlas of Architecture, the exhibition "A Japanese Constellation: Toyo Ito, SANAA, and Beyond" for MoMA, ArchDaily, and for John Loomis’ book A Revolution of Forms. Cuba's Forgotten Art Schools.
Dieter is a member of the OAA and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
Notable Projects





