Building Arts Architects named best emerging practice

Four years after establishing Building Arts Architects Inc., Jason Smirnis and David Jensen have received this year’s best emerging practice award from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA).

“We are very excited to receive this award and inspired by the recognition of our peers for doing what we enjoy,” says Smirnis.

The award recognizes contributions of young firms that have been in practice for five years or less and that demonstrate a clear vision, well-articulated goals and effective creative, professional and business strategies.

Smirnis, who has a master’s degree in architecture from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, now Dalhousie University, as well as an undergraduate degree in building science from Toronto’s Ryerson University, met Jansen at the Halifax university.

“We were classmates and friends,” says Smirnis, who as a teenager worked for a number of small general contractors and at one juncture even owned and operated his own company, The Workshop.

Smirnis and Jensen completed their studies in 1998. Jensen has a master’s degree in architecture from TUNS as well an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Manitoba.

The two subsequently decided to join forces and set up their own firm while working respectively at Giannone Petricone Associates and Teeple Architects.

“These offices are both committed to design excellence and are passionate about architecture,” Smirnis says. “I think they taught us well and motivated us both to define our own path.”

Building Arts Architects was founded with the ambition of integrating the art and craft of building with the process of design and the practice of architecture.

Tools include development of computer models of buildings early in the design process, which the firm uses to test ideas and present concepts to clients. In parallel, the firm often builds full-scale mock-ups.They are currently looking at integrating Building Information Modeling into the process.

Building Arts Architects’ work began with a private residence. The firm has since grown to include a portfolio of commercial, retail, education and industrial projects.

Located on Queen Street East in downtown Toronto, the firm currently is pursuing potential work in the institutional sector.

In coming years, Building Arts hopes to purchase its own building and incorporate an in-house workshop to further support its design methodology.

“Our goal is to further develop our design approach and to expand our team with individuals who are committed to designing great projects and an inspired process,” Smirnis says.

“We hope to continue obtaining a wide variety of project types and sizes.”

Its portfolio of completed projects includes the Kawasaki Canadian headquarters in Toronto, an 80,000-square-foot renovation intended to give the motorcycle manufacturer “an exciting and appropriate” identity.

The new sculpted building façade aims to conjure an image reminiscent of the material palette and methods used in motorcycle construction. The curtainwall was constructed with high-performance tinted glass, which facilitates daylighting and also provides an opportunity to showcase selected machines.

The form and application of the aluminum panel cladding was inspired by fairings, a shroud over a motorcycle’s engine.

Another of the firm’s projects involved interior and exterior renovation of a 13,000-square-foot industrial building in Toronto’s Leaside neighbourhood to house the head office for Marant Construction.

One of the goals from a design perspective was to maintain the unique aspects of the building’s industrial character while creating an “inspired” office environment that would be appropriate to the client’s business.

The building had accommodated a variety of uses over a period of eight decades.

“It was a unique and informative process to have the general contractor as both the client and the builder of the project,” Smirnis says. “The project was a great collaboration.”

Other projects include a new 3,500-square-foot music studio outside of Cleveland, renovation of a 5,300-square-foot yoga studio in Vaughan and an interior office renovation for a software gaming development firm in Toronto.

The award will be presented at a Celebration of Excellence during the OAA’s annual conference early next month in Windsor.