BNKC Newsletter – March 2020

March 10, 2020

Award
Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation

The Walper Hotel has won the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation. BNKC was at Queen’s Park to proudly accept the award from Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell. Congratulations to the entire team!

The Walper Hotel was originally built in 1893 and was designated as a historic landmark under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1983. BNKC was hired as the restoration architect to give the property a much-needed face-lift. Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, Jill Greaves Design and Dialogue 38 combined efforts for the hotel’s interiors. The Walper now greets guests with 92 unique rooms that exude a hip, boutique vibe rivaling similar restored establishments in Toronto, and abroad.

Speaker Spotlight
Jonathan King at the Mass Timber Conference

The Mass Timber Conference is the largest gathering of cross-laminated timber and mass timber experts in the world. BNKC’s Jonathan King will be sharing lessons learned from 77 Wade, Canada’s tallest timber office building.

This session brings together three panelists to share different perspective on maximizing the potential of mass timber. In his presentation, The Wade Avenue Experiment: A Hybrid Tall Wood of Timber, Concrete and Steel, Jonathan King shares the innovative hybrid mass timber solution that helped the project gain approval through the alternative solutions process.

Going to Portland? Connect with Jonathan!

Culture
Giving Space to Open Discussion

Our bi-weekly design meetings are a chance for our entire team to come together over snacks and beverages for a friendly design pin-up.

In advance of International Women’s Day, we deviated from our usual format and shook things up with a moderated discussion to explore the issues facing women through the lens of architecture and design.

We asked team members to share their thoughts within three buckets: design, career, and society. From there, we let the discussion flow organically.

There were recommendations for action, suggestions for more conversations, and ideas for design interventions.

What did we learn? For starters, we need to keep talking. We’ll use this session to guide more conversations in the studio. We already have more Open Discussions planned around mental health, diversity, and sustainability.

Read the whole story on our blog.

Project Introduction
Beth Sholom Synagogue

Beth Sholom Synagogue was first constructed in the late 1940s. 70 years later, they’re facing a challenge: how can they continue to meet the needs of the new generation?

BNKC is meeting that challenge through a combination of renovations and additions that will support new programs and improve the building’s ability to accommodate the day-to-day activities within the Synagogue. A rejuvenated exterior façade of the building will make a marked difference at street level.

The team at Beth Sholom chose a novel method to share the proposed design with their congregation. This LEGO model really captures the new building.

The model contains approximately 3000 LEGO bricks and was designed by Glenn Bratti at Brick Door. Best job ever? What fun!

In the News
77 Wade – Pushing the Limits of Mass-Timber

77 Wade Avenue has been getting a lot of attention of late. We’re proud to be advancing the conversation about mass-timber and tall-wood. Check out these recent mentions:

The Globe and Mail – Toronto office building pushes limits of mass-timber
Sustainable Biz – New Building Code regulations mean larger wood buildings

BNKC Days
Gutterball Classic 2020

Sure, we work hard at BNKC, but we play hard too! Here’s proof from our latest excursion. Hilarity ensued.

If you aren’t following us on social media you likely missed the behind-the-scenes fun. Let’s change that! Be our digital friend and discover our people, projects, and processes.

Instagram: @bnkcarchitects

Twitter: @bnkcarchitects

LinkedIn: BNKC Architects