Farida Abu-Bakare

Farida Abu-Bakare, OAA, FRAIC, is an Associate Principal and Director of Global Practice at WXY architecture + urban design. She holds a Master of Architecture from Ryerson University (Toronto Metropolitan University) and a Bachelor of Architectural Studies from Carleton University. With over fourteen years of experience, she has worked across North America, Africa, and the Middle East. In previous roles at HOK and Adjaye Associates, her portfolio included institutional, cultural, and community projects with a focus on adaptive reuse, sustainability, and architecture’s social and cultural impact. 

Alongside practice, Abu-Bakare has developed a curatorial portfolio examining the intersections of architecture, art, and cultural narratives. She has directed and curated exhibitions for the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto and the festival Ontario Culture Days, as well as artist collaborations such as JANGILOVA with William Ukoh and Shooting Hunger with Serge Attukwei Clottey. These projects highlight her commitment to design as both a spatial and cultural practice engaging with identity, history, and collective memory. Her leadership extends across professional service and advocacy. As Community Affairs Director of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), she advanced pipeline initiatives to expand opportunities for Black architects and designers, work that led directly to her co-founding of the Black Architects + Interior Designers Association (BAIDA) in Canada. As a Council member of the Ontario Association of Architects, she reformed the Internship in Architecture Program (IAP), making its application process more equitable and accessible.

Her academic contributions include teaching at the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty, where she co-led a multi-year collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. She also served as a critic in Yale School of Architecture’s Bass Studio Oil, Land, People: The Challenges for Architecture, led by Claire Weisz. Her career integrates practice, teaching, curation, and advocacy, with a focus on advancing equity, cultural engagement, and community transformation in the field of architecture.