M.ALI NAVIDBAKHSH, OAA, CPHT, P.GSC, RELi AP

Ali is a co-founder and partner at the Site-Group of companies, dedicating his full-time expertise to an integrated enterprise spanning Real Estate, Construction, and Architectural Design. Under his leadership alongside his partner, Site-Group offers three distinct services that can operate independently, collaborate seamlessly with external builders and architects, or combine to provide comprehensive end-to-end turnkey solutions. Within this ecosystem, Ali serves as Principal Architect at Site-Arch Inc., a private practice operating in Ontario and Québec.

Prior to focusing entirely on his own integrated business, Ali built a strong foundation in both design and construction management. His architectural experience includes work at Perkins+Will (Ottawa), IDEA Inc., and The Ventin Group Architects. He subsequently joined the project management team at McDonald Brothers Construction and later served as the Design Manager of the Ottawa office at Bird Construction. In this role, he oversaw multi-million dollar projects before stepping away to combine and launch his three distinct businesses. Ali is a certified Passive House Tradesperson (CPHT) and holds a Professional Gold Seal Certification (P.GSC) for professional Construction Management Excellence with the Canadian Construction Association.

Ali received his B.Arch (2014) and M.Arch (2016) both with distinction and was awarded the Azrieli Scholar for his thesis titled: Post-Petropolis: Alberta after the Oil Boom. Ali’s research addresses the story of conflicting natural and artificial landscapes while engaging with multi-stakeholder views, from divinity and indigenous Land to human-scale interventions. He has also completed a directed study abroad program in Lisbon, Portugal under the directorship of Architects Diogo Lopes and Patrícia Barbas.

Further to his full-time career, Ali actively engages in independent research and international competitions. Some noteworthy accomplishments include winning First Place and receiving the People’s choice award in the Future Legacies Competition – Design for Canada’s Next 150 Years, held by The Site Magazine. He also co-authored Weeping Walls and Shopping Malls for IN_BO Issue 12, “Places, Forms and Memories of Grief in Contemporary Cities”. Parallel to his speculative research and professional work, he serves as a contract instructor at Carleton University. Since 2023, he has taught second- and third-year undergraduate design studios, focusing on architectural fundamentals, and the integration of environmental, social, and technical constraints within the design process.