Nearly 30 years after Congress passed the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, accessible-design advocates say there’s still plenty of work to be done to make the built environment just as accommodating for people with disabilities as it is for everybody else. But Erick Mikiten, a California architect with a specialty in universal design, points out one striking example of accessible design from which homeowners, other pros and accessibility champions could learn a lot. And it predates the ADA by more than three decades.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Laurent House, completed in Rockford, Illinois, in 1952, is the only…

There is a request that I receive a few times a week that I thought I would finally talk about in an effort to shed some light on a fairly taboo subject. Those requests typically start off something like this:

“I have already designed my house but since I am not an architect, I don’t know how to create the technical drawings I would need to give to a contractor. Is this something that you would do, and if so, how much do you charge?”

As part of World Green Building Week, CaGBC and the Canada Coalition for Green Schools are happy to announce the winners of the annual CaGBC Greenest School in Canada competition: Lacombe Composite High School in Lacombe, AB, and Trinity College School in Port Hope, ON. Through solar arrays, geothermal greenhouses, urban beekeeping and decreasing natural gas consumption, these two schools are exemplary demonstrations of sustainable learning environments.

For the second year in a row, Architect Daniel Hall and The Architect Builders Collaborative were thrilled to assist with the Timber Fever wood design and engineering student competition. Daniel mentored several teams of keen engineering and architecture students from across the country as they worked on their one-day water station project. Check out thie post from the founder of TimberFever, David Moses Engineering…..

The results are in from the fourth annual #TimberFever Design-Build Competition presented by Moses Structural Engineers!

Buildings need renewables—but we need to look beyond the site.

No man is an island, and neither is a building.

And yet there is increasing movement for buildings to reach net-zero energy (NZE) or net-zero carbon (NZC). Architecture 2030 wants all buildings there by 2030.

Global warming is a reality that we are faced with, but we can still all play a role in protecting the environment. People across the country are growing increasingly aware of their role in reducing their carbon footprint. Due to this, many people now choose green design to construct their homes.

At The Architect Builders Collaborative Inc., we’re proud of the work that we do. But, instead of telling you why our customers love us, we’ll let them do the talking! Here’s what some of our customers are saying about us lately

TORONTO — It made the local news: Two figures were spotted walking across the city’s frozen downtown harbor. The afternoon newscast labeled them “tricksters.”

An exciting new season of Premium Wine Dinners is set up and ready to go. All Dinners will be held on Wards Island in an intimate home setting. If you would like to reserve a spot or would like more information, email: islandvines@gmail.com

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new website!

Our new website provides our existing and prospective clients a simple yet interactive view of our work and the services we offer.

This is the one stop shop for more information about the stations you saw during the tour of 289 Willow at Green Energy Doors Open. Below is each part of the project explained in more detail as well as relevant product and manufacturer links. The content corresponds to the lettered stations from the tour.

New Website Coming Soon!

We are currently revamping our website. Our new website will be interactive and mobile friendly!

Watch this space for updates. Just few more weeks to go!

Nothing says Toronto like this house, right? It’s a pretty typical brick semi-detached with a bay window and a front porch. You see these everywhere from the East to the West. This one is different. This one does not use fossil fuels.

The topic of “laneway housing” has been showing up all over the news lately. It has been called the solution to Toronto’s real estate demand, a new way to live for extended family and a smart real estate investment all rolled into one. All this excitement surrounding this building typology is well founded because given the correct steps, laneway housing will undeniably liven up our city and strengthen our communities.

Chances are you’ve seen this sofa. The Ikea Ektorp is super popular. It basically looks like the cartoon shape of a sofa. Families all over the city have them in various states of wear. The renovation process isn’t really over when we archive the project and wrap up our final punch list for the contractor. Once we finish, it’s time to furnish and display. At this stage the budget might be burnt out and the clients may well be suffering from decision fatigue. The old Ektorp gets moved back in to the new space and surprise, it looks totally out of place in the upgraded interior.

Along with renovations for homes that our clients live in themselves, we get project for our clients income properties.

This week we wrapped up a project that has been under construction since April. This moderate renovation to a semi detached home in the beaches was really fun to work on because our clients were great design collaborators.

One of the best parts about drafting is that while using part of the brain to draw and operate the software, there is enough capacity left over to listen to music or even better, a podcast. My favourite architecture podcast is 99% invisible which is narrated by Roman Mars and his epically soothing voice along with various other [equally pleasant voiced] members of his creative team. Actually, 99% invisible is similar to listening to CBC radio in that compared to other radio stations or podcasts everyone sounds really clear and expertly recorded.

We have decided to make grab bars a standard in bathrooms.
Until you ask us nicely to remove the grab bars, we will include them in your bathroom design. This morning we gathered round the building code and chatted about the importance of grab bars and how they add an element of safety to bath tubs and showers.