Mark David Francis


Mark Francis is an architectural designer and installation artist based in Toronto, Ontario.

Mark's creative practice is primarily based in the realms of informal, participatory architecture, and incremental, tactical urbanism, subverting colonial legacies and seeking to legitimize other modes of urban social structure through built form. His architectural and design explorations have focused on geometric building traditions, organic form typologies, and architectural vernaculars of the global south, exploring their potential relevance towards establishing urban interventions and place-making culture in Canadian cities. At its core, this perspective towards the built environment strives to bring about more autonomy and more vibrant eclecticism to the making of personal and public urban spaces.

Approaching art and architectural practice as part of the same creative spectrum, Mark's work also includes drawing, photography, and sculpture focusing on spatial, temporal, and existential themes. Inspiration can be found in the likes of Lebbeus Woods, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Elemental, Marc Fornes (The Very Many), Philip Beesley, and Yona Friedman, among many other influences.

Mark earned his Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia in 2014 and completed a BFA in visual arts at York University in 2010. He is currently working toward a post-professional graduate certificate in 3D-printing architecture from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.

Mark earned his Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia in 2014, completed a BFA in visual arts at York University in 2010, and is currently working as a designer in Toronto.

Mark was the long-time Installation Director for Philip Beesley Architect Inc and the Living Architecture Systems Group, formerly the Senior Multidisciplinary Designer at Stacklab, and is co-founder of design collective InterSpatial with architect Natalia Bakaeva. He has worked on laneway-centered initiatives with both the Laneway Project and Lanescape

Notable installations and exhibitions include The Gaslight District in Cambridge, Ontario 2020 (PBAI), Futurium Museum, Berlin 2019 (PBAI), Daejeon Biennale 2018 (PBAI), The Royal Ontario Museum 2018 (PBAI), Indiana University (PBAI), DX EDIT 2017 (PBAI), The Laneway Summit (2016), Nuit Blanche (2016), the Evergreen Brick Works (2016), The Stop's Night market (2015), Gallery 221a Vancouver (2013), Paul Petro (2010), Gallery 1313 (2009), The Sleeping Giant Gallery(2009). Reviews have been featured in: Canadian Architect, Arch Daily, Azure Magazine, Design Boom, Urban Toronto, Broken Pencil Magazine, BlogTo, Now Magazine, and the Toronto Star.