David J Agro

David J Agro is an architect based in Toronto. He has extensive experience in planning and architecture, having a long-standing interest in projects which combine social, cultural, environmental, and educational perspectives in design. His interest in environmental issues has led him to work on several major educational and interpretive design projects, notably, the Bird Studies Canada Headquarters at Long Point, ON, the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant Site Design Project, the Canadian Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto, the Tropical Forest Science Center and the Tupper Campus Site Design for the Smithsonian Institution in Panama, and the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax.

David’s architectural work has been recognized through national and international awards for design excellence and through publications in Canadian Architect, Vancouver Magazine, Sustainable Building and Design Magazine, En Route, and Azure.

In addition to his work as an architect, David is a dedicated conservationist helping to protect habitats for critically endangered species in Latin America, and in Canada.  He is founding member and currently President of the Jocotoco Foundation based in Ecuador. In 20 years, Jocotoco has established 12 conservation reserves protecting over 17,500 ha. David is also president of Jocotours, an associated business which runs four ecolodges and two interpretive centres on six of Jocotoco’s reserves to generate income to provide interpretive/educational experiences and to cover conservation operations costs.  In Canada, David’s efforts in conservation have included supporting the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Long Point Basin Land Trust in Norfolk County, Ontario, and the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, Ontario.

For the past 12 years, David and his wife Willa Wong have been restoring a former 100 acre tobacco farm to Black Oak Savanna / Prairie which is part of a larger mosaic of 2500 acres of protected land owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Long Point Basin Land Trust.