Heritage home morphs to open modern

The renewal of this 125-year old small Victorian home presented a typical challenge in Toronto – altering and updating the existing residential urban fabric while preserving the historic character of heritage neighbourhoods.

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Calgary Court Centre

Bridges connect the towers across the light-filled atrium at every level

by Bill Chomik

Located in the heart of Calgary, the new court centre serves both federal and provincial jurisdictions with a total of 73 courtrooms - one configured specifically for aboriginal hearings - making it the largest court facility in Canada. The design for the 1 million SF complex was driven by concerns for transparency, public space, sustainability, circulation, and flexibility. (more…)

Niagara Regional Headquarters

The new building creates an urban street presence at a suburban intersection.

The tight budget and schedule requirements of a Design Build contract, combined with the sustainable agenda of a LEED® municipal client set this project apart from others of similar scope and scale. The four-storey office building is an extension to the existing Thorold City Hall, and consolidates operational services for the Niagara Region. (more…)

Careful design delivers high quality work space on large scale

The building is arranged in two parallel, four-storey wings, offset from one another and oriented with their long sides facing due south to take maximum advantage of solar exposure.

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This new 51,100 m2 head office building, located on a 9.9 hectare site, represents a major initiative in Loblaw’s ongoing commitment to the environment and its employees. The client’s objective was to provide a high quality work environment, one that would embody and reflect the company’s own philosophy of sourcing with integrity, making positive differences in the community and in the way we operate culturally, socially and environmentally at work and at home. (more…)

Bold form reflects site’s rugged terrain and environmental stewardship

View of the west elevation shows how the building perches on the rock ledge. An overhang at the south-west corner [right in photo] and interior sun shades mitigate solar heat gain

Shifting, sloping and canting, the Killbear Provincial Park Visitor Centre pays homage to its site, a windswept outcropping of the Canadian Shield, its granite bedrock exposed by the glaciers at the end of the last ice age. (more…)

Landmark LEED Platinum project scores highest in world for a cold climate building while providing occupant comfort

The east [with handprint graphic] and south elevations feature Alucobond and zinc cladding respectively - durable finishes applied as a rainscreen.

With the engaging hand print decals decorating its east and west elevations, the Child Development Centre has quickly become a symbol of the University of Calgary’s commitment to sustainable development and occupant comfort, helped in no small part by its LEED Platinum rating. (more…)

Space efficiency and student ideas remake college

The gymnasium extension with reuse of an existing handicap ramp. The design maximizes space efficiency for the most minimal footprint – a basic of green building – and economized on the construction budget.

In 2003, the Collège Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes was both celebrating its 50th anniversary and facing major difficulties: its location between two highly competitive private schools, a series of problems related to poor building maintenance, bad use of space, and unattractive settings threatened its viability. In order to fulfill its mission, the college needed to attract a new clientele and increase its enrollment from 600 to 950. (more…)

Trail breaker a LEED Silver first

The school is remarkable for its quality of light, with large areas of south facing glazing bringing high levels of daylight into classroom areas

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Empowered by the client’s mandate to build a “green” school, the design team pushed the envelope well beyond energy-efficient design, and set out to create a healthy, user-friendly learning environment that effectively facilitates the learning process in the true spirit of sustainability - all within the standard budget for school construction. (more…)

New facility re-energizes established community

The design provides the lightest possible structural system and optimizes north views of the park and mountains beyond

Filled with an abundance of natural light, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Killarney Community Pool engages the surrounding public spaces, bringing a new intensity to an important civic facility. (more…)

LEED Silver pavilion furthers mission of environmental stewardship

The dramatic lantern effect at night reveals the steel frame sculptural form

The Toronto Botanical Garden [TBG] is a charitable organization whose purpose is to inspire passion, respect and understanding of gardening, horticulture, the natural landscape and a healthy environment. (more…)