Melissa Lui

A key member of MJMA’s Interiors Architecture team, Melissa applies her deep knowledge of materials, technical expertise, and rigorous problem-solving to every project. She is adept at meeting the challenges posed by spaces with highly technical demands and the complexities presented by adjacent programs with different environmental conditions, such as pools and arenas. Always placing the user’s experience of place and community at the forefront of her design thinking, her primary aim is to create inviting and lasting spaces that strengthen human connection. Having developed extensive proficiency as a project architect before she shifted to focus on interiors, Melissa also embraces our studio’s multidisciplinary practice as a means to achieving design excellence. 

Melissa enjoys collaborating with all stakeholders on a project to determine its myriad needs and programming possibilities — with the goal of creating inviting, materially-rich, and meaningful spaces that are also functional, cost-effective, and durable. Highlights of her portfolio include the Muskoka Lumber Community Centre and Wasaga Beach Library and Twin-Pad Arena Complex. These projects demonstrate the close collaboration Melissa and her interiors architecture team undertook with other disciplines in our studio.

Melissa teaches an online course in BIM and Digital Practice at OCAD University, which gives her opportunities to connect with people throughout the country who are involved in different aspects of the industry, including other designers and operations personnel. She is also an avid ceramicist, which, along with architecture, allows her to exercise her love of craft and design at all scales.

Melissa joined our Interiors team in 2020. She received a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto in 2010 and then worked as an architect and interiors specialist primarily on campus, recreational, and theatre projects at firms in Amsterdam and Toronto.