Ardison Garcia is a Senior Architect with over 15 years of experience bringing transit infrastructure and urban design projects to life across North America, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He is the kind of architect who finds equal satisfaction in the big-picture vision and the detail that makes it work — and who genuinely believes that well-designed public infrastructure has the power to strengthen communities and improve everyday life.
Currently serving as Senior Project Architect at Parsons, Ardison leads the design of a new elevated rail station on the Honolulu Area Rail Transit (HART) Skyline — a project that holds personal significance as a return to the city where he grew up and trained. Before Parsons, he spent nearly a decade at Arup across Singapore and Toronto, leading multidisciplinary teams on major transit and masterplanning projects throughout Canada, the U.S., and Asia. Born and raised on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, he holds a Doctorate of Architecture from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a registered architect in Hawaii, and is NCARB-certified.
Beyond his project work, Ardison has always been drawn to the people side of the profession. At Arup Toronto, he served as Office Lead for ASPIRE (Asians and Pacific Islanders Rising and Empowering), the firm’s regional equity, diversity, and inclusion group — an experience that deepened his appreciation for the importance of belonging and representation in the built environment field. He also led “Re-”, a winning entry in the 2020 King Street Parklet Competition in Toronto: a sculptural, community-facing installation built entirely from reclaimed materials, which he managed from competition win through real-world construction during the height of the pandemic. Both experiences reflect his belief that architects have a responsibility not just to design buildings, but to show up for their communities.
Ardison is standing for the Treasurer role because he wants to contribute more meaningfully to the profession at an organizational level — and he sees this as the right moment to do it. He hopes to gain stronger relationships with architects across Canada, a deeper understanding of how professional organizations work, and the opportunity to help AIA Canada continue to grow and serve its members well. He brings curiosity, care, and a genuine desire to collaborate.
Outside of work, Ardison can be found travelling with his wife and two kids, on a soccer pitch orgolf course, or experimenting in the kitchen.
