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This small infill project entails a main and basement floor commercial office with three dwelling units on the upper floors, and seeks to make a positive but sensitive impact within a diversifying, historically residential mature neighbourhood. The project takes advantage of its prominent location along a busy roadway and green space frontage by orienting itself along a strong north-south axis, clearly articulating its stacked uses while taking cues from the existing neighbourhood fabric. Structurally, the building is conceived as a 3 storey “shell” with an extruded section and clear vertical circulation, in anticipation of broader changes in use over time in step with the evolving nature of the site’s context. Generous private outdoor amenities are incorporated into the building to address constraints imposed by the tight urban site and create building articulation.

This 6-storey, 34 000sf development, located at the edge of a mature residential neighbourhood in Edmonton, consists of 39 apartment-style affordable units intended to fill the needs of an underserved, predominantly immigrant population, complemented by main floor community support spaces. These services will include a small daycare and a community food program, which together will benefit not only residents but also the wider community. A dedicated office space will become the non-profit’s new home base from which they will continue to support the community’s needs.  The mixed-use character of the building fits into the neighbourhood fabric as the site is nestled between a commercial strip, existing apartment buildings, and a major church campus. Various design features of the building, including the choice of exterior cladding materials, massing, and main floor street front, are intended to reflect this site context. This new development will not only provide much-needed housing, but also become a hub for creating community within a wider context by providing a place and opportunity for grass-roots community engagement, volunteerism, and leadership.

One of the most popular areas of this summer camp is its covered pool, which is located adjacent to an equally well-used outdoor basketball court. However, the aged existing shelter has reached the end of its life and its open-air condition has resulted in an unsustainable degree of pool maintenance in recent years. Our proposal for the new unheated pool shelter (which now extends over the basketball court) takes cues from the building’s prominent location at the terminus of the gravel approach road into the heart of the camp, and creates a covered “porch” to welcome guests. It further reorients the pool entry to face the existing established social centre of the camp site, fostering a greater sense of community and activity.  The structural system is kept intentionally simple, not only to reflect the other buildings, but to facilitate opportunities for volunteer and donor contributions in the building process.

This growing church on a major arterial corridor in Westlock required the addition of a new fellowship hall as well as administrative and meeting spaces to complement the existing sanctuary and children’s ministry rooms. Our proposal for the extension was to create a 7 500 sf “sister” building form that reinforces the familiar presence of the existing building at an important location within the town, resulting in two contrasting (but familiar) spaces that would allow for a greater variety of gathering, fellowship, and ministry experiences. This massing strategy was also driven by our desire to avoid reinforcing the existing wood structure in order to minimize construction costs. Working under a design-build arrangement, as prime consultant we were able to respond effectively to ongoing contractor input and changes in an uncertain construction market, while coordinating a largely unfamiliar team of consultants and sub-trades during detailed design and meet tight budget and time constraints.

This master plan entails the conversion of a decommissioned “big-box” retail site into a mixed-use commercial development that potentially accommodates office, retail, hotel, gas bar, and multi-residential uses. The existing retail building is to be retained and converted to allow for multi-tenant use, and the master plan adds 5 building pads of various heights and footprints. The plan’s development occurred quickly as we responded to rapidly evolving market needs, projections, and lease arrangements, arriving at a phased approach that allows flexibility for future development. The first phase, currently in design development, entails a pair of 2-storey buildings and a gas station lease site, which will establish an overall design character and “personality” to be carried into subsequent buildings.

This project, designed in collaboration with Design Two Group, entails the conversion of a small church building into a 12 micro-apartment multi-residential building nestled in a mature neighbourhood. The suites range from approximately 200 to 235 sf, but the upper floor units take advantage of the former sanctuary’s roof form to include a small loft for sleeping arranged above the common corridor. An amenity space and laundry room are provided to maximize liveability. Though modest in scope, the project contributes to the provision of housing options in the context of growing affordability and flexibility challenges.

Looking to future growth and ministry opportunities, Spruce Grove Alliance Church is seeking to update and expand their aging building to maximize the potential of the 6 acre site. Through a process of needs assessment, programming, and development analysis, it was concluded the masterplan should incorporate a doubling of the sanctuary capacity to 800 seats, a chapel, gymnasium, expanded children’s ministry areas, various other meeting and support spaces as well as an expanded office suite . The masterplan was conceived to fulfill the vision over 3 phases while maintaining the ongoing functions of the church. The large site helps to allow this phasing to occur without significantly impacting the occupancy of other areas. Phase One occupies the northwest corner of the site, and replaces a classroom wing and portables to the its east. The two storey, 24,000 sq.ft. addition will house the expanded Children’s Ministry on the main floor and Youth Lounge, Classrooms and the Multi-purpose Room on the second floor.

Built almost 50 years ago, Central Baptist Church’s main campus sanctuary was in need of upgrades, which the church decided to initiate during the pandemic’s restrictions. Our strategy was to work with the unique attributes of the existing sanctuary’s volume, reading into its geometry what we interpreted as the original architect’s intent, and revealing theological meaning to further add to the space’s role as a place of worship. Illumination was a critical part of the design, and the various details work in tandem with upgraded lighting to “re-enact” the gospel message, highlighting the 4 massive glulam columns and 12 textured concrete slabs that form the loadbearing structure of this beautiful spaceThe newly uncovered numerical symbolism is meant to suggest the fore-bearers and witnesses of our faith, on whose foundation the local church gathers. The original organ forms a majestic, Fatherly backdrop to a new hanging Cross – the divine Sacrifice – which is surrounded by hovering rings of light to complete the Trinity. Within this new context, the refurbished baptismal behind the stage invokes a picture of Jesus’ own baptism – that moment when heaven was opened, the Spirit of God descended and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.“ The baptismal area's treatment brings to mind various kinds of imagery: trees planted by streams of water, woven papyrus baskets, torn temple veils, and more. The new cross seeks to embody the Gospel message too: the warm glowing solid oak is pierced and squeezed by the cold steel bolts, while a bent steel plate – a crown of thorns– wedges apart the Body of Christ “broken for us”. It is penetrated by the crossbeam that slashes through, causing it to drop within a rectangular slot. Steel cables tug at the beam from two sides, splaying His arms in a moment of heightened tension. These remind us that the Son of God became flesh and was subject to the laws of our realm: gravity, rejection, death. But the cross floats, inviting us into resurrected glory with Him.

This extensive church addition and renovation in a mature neighbourhood responds to the congregation’s passionate call to minister more widely and effectively within their growing community, substantially adding to the amount of space available to meet their needs. The new main floor multi-purpose hall, made possible through extensive building code review and subsequent rework of the existing building circulation, now allows for a more robust youth and hospitality ministry, while the basement addition doubles classroom capacity. Stairs and washroom facilities have been reconfigured and upgraded to enhance the existing lobby and accommodate the important link with the addition, and a much-needed elevator has been inserted. The overall building character of the extension takes its cues from the existing building to create a cohesive whole, and the elevator core was used as an opportunity to develop a church spire, further signalling the congregation’s commitment to serve the community through a traditional urban design gesture.