Diamond Schmitt

We are excited to announce that Fanshawe College Innovation Village has been named a winner of a 2025 SABMag Canadian Green Building Award in the Institutional (Large) category. “The decision to create a central campus focus through a project that combines both retention and new construction was a strategic move to support environmental and social sustainability. The challenges of daylighting and energy efficiency resulting from increased building density were elegantly addressed with a day-lit atrium, clerestory windows, and an innovative BIPV cladding system featuring both active and passive solar panels,” commented the Jury. Learn more about why Innovation Village was recognized at the Canadian Green Building Awards: https://lnkd.in/edENA4FK #diamondschmitt #designtotranscend #fanshawecollege

We’re excited to be participating in Eco Jam again, having been a part of it since its very beginning in 2013! Hosted annually by Smith + Andersen, this charity rock concert spotlights talent from architects, engineers, designers, and construction professionals across the GTA for a great cause. Our very own band Thundertruss will take the stage alongside industry leaders to support Smith + Anderson’s initiative.

Join Senior Associate Arne Suraga at the Passive House Canada | Maison Passive Canada Conference on May 5 at 2:30 PM EST. Arne, alongside Daniel Dicaire, Senior Manager of Conservation and Sustainability at Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (OCH), will discuss the need to optimize energy performance design, while balancing cost, as OCH prepares to deliver thousands of new affordable housing units over the next five years. Too often, immediate capital cost dominates the conversion, with insufficient high performance design scenarios being considered and no value placed on the long term operational cost impacts. Arne and Dan will highlight how OCH projects like 200 Beausoleil and Gladstone Village are addressing this gap by using the Total Cost of Building Ownership approach, which prioritizes both energy efficiency and operational savings. Learn more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/eXxdrWSS #diamondschmitt #designtotranscend

Spring has sprung, and we have several new projects and announcements to share! Diamond Schmitt is designing Gidigaa Migizi College and the new Otonabee College Residence at Trent University; and we are working on plans for the redevelopment of the Parkinson Recreation Centre in Kelowna. The office has been named to Fast Company's list of the Most Innovative Architecture Companies of 2025, and we’re proud to announce that three members of our leadership team have been named Fellows of the RAIC - IRAC.    From project developments to upcoming speaking engagements, here's your quarterly update on Diamond Schmitt happenings!: https://lnkd.in/eCnqEdmN Subscribe to our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eMnMjqsF #diamondschmitt #designtotranscend #diamondschmitt_quarterlynewsletter

We are excited to announce that Waterworks is among the longlisted projects for the 2025 AZURE Media Awards in the Architecture – Adaptive Reuse category which recognizes projects that reimagine existing buildings or sites in innovative and sustainable ways. Waterworks is a hybrid mixed-use space that rehabilitates and expands a heritage industrial site, integrating diverse programs to support both residents and the broader community. Situated at the northern edge of Toronto’s oldest public playground, the project is anchored by the 1932 Art Deco City of Toronto Waterworks building. The entirety of the existing machine hall is retained and has been transformed into the new home of the Waterworks Food Hall. New openings establish opportunities for pedestrian connections and pathways through the block, enhancing neighbourhood connectivity and porosity. Three new building wings, twelve floors in height, are positioned above the heritage building in a U-shape to protect daylight access to the heritage skylights which run the entire length of the urban block above the Great Hall. The wings are comprised of 288 residential units which surround a south facing outdoor amenity terrace at the fourth floor, along with a YMCA, including a gymnasium, 25m pool and other community program areas. Waterworks combines food-focused retail, a community center, social wellness facilities, mid-rise housing, including affordable units, and a youth shelter—breaking socio-economic barriers and activating the neighborhood.    Heritage: ERA Architects Inc. Photos:   Tom Arban  Michael Leckman, Diamond Schmitt  Lisa Logan  Anna Kravchuk, Diamond Schmitt #diamondschmitt #designtotranscend #waterworkstoronto #historicalbuilding #heritagearchitecture #AZAwards2025   

We are looking for a 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁 to join our Toronto office! At Diamond Schmitt, we aim to empower people to realize their potential in a dynamic studio environment that fosters continuous learning and professional development. This role offers the chance to be an integral part of our collaborative and supportive workplace culture. As the first point of contact, you will play a key role in creating a polished and professional atmosphere from the moment people arrive at our office, ensuring a warm welcome, directing inquiries, and facilitating smooth communication between departments. If you have a strong office background, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, are highly organized, and have a passion for making a positive impact, we’d love to hear from you! Visit the Careers section on our website for more information: https://dsai.ca/careers/ #diamondschmitt #jobopenings #receptionistjob #administrativejob

The redevelopment of the Parkinson Recreation Centre in Kelowna is part of the City’s efforts to recreate recreation through its Building a Stronger Kelowna initiative. Reflecting the needs of #Kelowna residents, and the greater Okanagan region, the design of the new recreation facility and campus is being carried out through an Integrated Project Delivery process, with Diamond Schmitt leading the architectural design team with Stantec Architecture, Bird Construction, and the City of Kelowna as partners, with Colliers Project Leaders providing IPD and Lean Advisory services for the team (non-partner).   Design plans for the redeveloped Parkinson Recreation Centre will elevate programming, support health and wellness, enable rehabilitation, and champion local athletes. The project is accompanied by a park, rich in public amenities and gathering spaces.   Learn more about the redevelopment of the Parkinson Recreation Centre: https://lnkd.in/eqVJ8fpm The Redevelopment of Parkinson Recreation Centre IPD project team is comprised of: City of Kelowna, Diamond Schmitt, Stantec, Bird Construction, AES Engineering Ltd, AltaPro Electric Ltd | Westcana Electric Inc., Apri’s North, AME Consulting Group Belize, WSP in Canada | Fast + Epp, VDZ+A Consulting | Scatliff + Miller + Murray Inc.   #diamondschmitt

In the redesign of David Geffen Hall, minimizing the construction’s interruption of the New York Philharmonic’s schedule was critical. The COVID-19 pandemic made it apparent that the hall might be closed for multiple seasons and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts leadership decided to make use of this unexpected circumstance. The construction time frame was reduced by two years, and the design team explored opportunities to speed up the building process.    Acoustician Paul Scarbrough studied the existing 1970s-era plaster ceiling, with its repeating ziggurat shapes, and judged it to be acceptable as a surface to reflect sound in the upper portion of the hall’s volume. Retaining the ceiling would avoid the time-consuming erection of scaffolding, demolition, and reconstruction of an equivalent acoustic element. While acoustically functional, the existing ceiling was out of keeping with the new room and required an acoustically transparent surface to mask its appearance while retaining its performance, allowing at least 78% of the sound energy to pass through. We explored this with laser-cut paper; when stretched or pulled, it provided the necessary transparency. Cutting and pulling of repeating geometries recalled the Japanese paper-cutting art of kirigami, which became the basis for the ceiling design.    The structural properties of perforated metal in tension made it the ideal material for this acoustic surface. By pulling apart an argon laser–cut metal sheet, we could achieve a consistent 3D kirigami-like structure.    Custom fabricators EVENTSCAPE created mock-ups and it became apparent that large-scale metal sheets, cut and stretched to twice their original area, did not always deform uniformly under tension. The “memory” of metal also meant that if a portion of a panel unfolded in the wrong direction while stretched, it could not be repaired. Eventscape developed a multifingered robotic press that pushed on the metal sheet as it was being stretched to suggest the direction of deflection. Craftspeople, suspended over the panels to avoid damaging the delicate geometry, made final adjustments to the folded surface creating perforated panels with thousands of folds. The resulting draped geometric form is a tensile structure, like a fantastic medieval suit of armor. The adjustable suspended acoustic reflectors over the hall’s stage give way to the Kirigami Ceiling’s acoustically transparent panels, its metal surface glittering above the performers and audience.    David Geffen Hall’s Kirigami Ceiling is featured in Diamond Schmitt’s book SET PIECES which offers visual explorations of the firm’s designs for some of the world’s most remarkable performing arts venues. Published by Birkhäuser.    About Set Pieces:  https://lnkd.in/e9njxThS    Learn more about David Geffen Hall:  https://lnkd.in/gnZw4Cw     #diamondschmitt_setpieces #diamondschmitt

We’re pleased to announce that Diamond Schmitt has been named to Building Design+Construction Media's list of Top Museum Architecture Firms for 2024. Ranked 18th, Diamond Schmitt’s museum designs prioritize flexibility, inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainability. Drawing from site and context, we design spaces that support different artistic mediums and expressions, and create cultural crossroads that activate the community. We’re currently working on the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This new wing will increase the museum’s total space available to display art by 35% with a suite of adaptable galleries. Highly functional and highly flexible, these galleries will display the works of today’s great modern and contemporary artists, and accommodate the needs of future generations of artists working across all media.
 In Saint John, we’re designing a new contemporary home for the New Brunswick Museum - Musée du Nouveau-Brunswick — Canada’s oldest continuing museum. Leveraging the historical site’s extraordinary topography, the design captures views of both the urban centre and Harbour of Saint John, and stunning natural landscape. When completed, the museum’s research work and exhibitions will be brought together within one sustainable, decarbonized facility that fully supports the museum’s mission of preserving, researching, interpreting, and exhibiting the natural and cultural heritage of the Province of New Brunswick.

 The Black Artists' Networks in Dialogue (BAND) Gallery in Toronto is a transformative redevelopment project that reimagines every corner of BAND’s historic Victorian-era building. A cultural hub for Black artists, curators, and cultural workers, the design of the new BAND Gallery will create a more functional, accessible, and inspiring environment, dedicated to encouraging creativity, showcasing artistic expression, and building meaningful connections with the broader community. The gallery’s expanded footprint will accommodate larger and more diverse exhibitions, amplifying the visibility of Black artists and connecting their work to a wider audience. Learn more about Diamond Schmitt’s cultural and museum projects:
https://lnkd.in/gzj3YAf4
 View BD+C’s list of the Top 80 Museum Architecture Firms here: https://lnkd.in/dTUPqvqA #diamondschmitt

Wood has the power to transform buildings—not just in terms of design and construction, but also its ability to reduce the environmental impact they have. Choosing mass timber for our projects offers a renewable, low-carbon alternative to steel and concrete that is not only aesthetically beautiful, but makes buildings quicker to construct, quieter, and more energy-efficient. With each new project we ask: Can this building be made with wood? If not entirely, can parts of it be? On #WorldWoodDay, we highlight a few Diamond Schmitt projects that have used #masstimber in creative ways—shaping the way we build, and moving as toward a more sustainable future. At the National Arts Centre | Centre national des Arts in Ottawa, mass timber was used to contrast the original Brutalist concrete envelope, introducing a tessellated roof composed of triangular wood coffers infusing the space with natural warmth. The prefabrication of these timber elements ensured precision and quality, while expediting on-site speed of assembly and minimizing construction disruptions. Innovation Village at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, is a vibrant and collaborative space that caters to the different ways people learn. An exposed mass timber portico welcomes students, professors, and professionals from across the college and the broader community to engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration. In Vancouver, the new Marpole Community Centre is set to be the first community centre built by the City in a decade, with a focus on creating the most inclusive and high-performance facility the city ever constructed. The building prominently features mass timber, adding warmth and comfort to the design. It’s targeting Passive House and #LEEDGold certifications, as well as a 40% reduction in embodied carbon. The Humber Cultural Hub is the largest zero-carbon design certification development for a university or college institution in Ontario. It features a 300-bed student residence that incorporates encapsulated mass timber as part of the structure, reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with extracting, producing and transporting building materials. The expansion of the Carmen Corbasson Community Centre in Mississauga is designed to deepen its connection with the surrounding forest. The natatorium features a mass timber structure, with glulam columns and beams supporting a cross-laminated timber roof, creating a warm and welcoming interior that also diffuses the acoustic resonance of the space, creating the effect of a timber pavilion in the forest. As we look to the future of construction, we ask with each new project: Can this building be made with wood? If not entirely, can parts of it be? Learn more about the many benefits of this #sustainable material in our Explorations “Mass Timber, Not Steel, is the Future of Architecture”: https://lnkd.in/gikMPK99 #diamondschmitt #diamondschmitt_explorations