hcma architecture + design

We’re thrilled to be part of this transformational project! Breathing new life into an underutilized office tower, together we'll deliver an inspiring vertical campus for the next generation of designers, planners, and city builders.

Join us and fellow alliance members at the UEA Symposium: Downtowns on May 1st at Emily Carr University for a day of talks from Canada's leaders in urban placemaking. Together, they will confront the challenges their downtowns face and how they can use their unique positions to address them. The Urban Experience Alliance believes that the most vibrant downtowns are places where life and culture intersect. But doing right by our downtowns is becoming increasingly challenging as they face a myriad of unprecedented challenges. We're proud to be a sponsor of this year's Symposium! Find tickets here:  https://lnkd.in/g6J3NjaD

Aiden Callison has been an integral part of the hcma team for over a decade. We're delighted to now re-introduce him as one of our newest Principals! A Coast Salish architect and member of the Hwlitsum First Nation, Aiden is interested in the role architecture can play in decolonization. The impact of colonialism has meant his family experienced generations of removal from their cultural heritage, which drives him to continue to ask how architecture can support and strengthen Indigenous cultures and communities. As a Principal at hcma, Aiden leads a dedicated team within hcma focused on working with First Peoples. Building on deep experience in civic and recreation facilities – including the award-winning Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre and Clayton Community Centre – he is now focused on advising and supporting Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their lands. With an emphasis on co-creation and capacity-building, Aiden brings his lived experience and understanding of Indigenous design principles to local contexts and projects. He is committed to ensuring that the aspirations, ideas, and considerations raised through engaging with First Peoples are reflected in all aspects of the process and project delivery. Projects include the award-winning Wii Gyemsiga Siwilaawksat student residence, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) Land Development Strategies, and a forthcoming longhouse and cultural centre for Gitxaała Nation. 📸: Missy Shana

Thanks to Architectural Record for featuring Rosemary Brown Recreation Centre! As Canadians, we're all too familiar with the traditional, freezing cold, black-box arenas we grew up with. For Rosemary Brown, we took a different approach. The centre provides a state-of-the-art experience, not just for those on the ice, but also for anyone getting up at 5 a.m. to bring their kids to hockey practice. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/gePg8bev

As the 2024 Artist in Residence at hcma's Edmonton office, Heraa Khan is a Pakistani visual artist currently living and working on Treaty 6 territory. She began her artistic journey studying the traditional Indo-Persian practice of miniature painting. Through her work, she investigates how human desires for control and order impact the natural world. During her residency, Heraa explored how illusion can both conceal and reveal, uncovering the intricate relationship between identity, land, and history. The grid, a reflection of human desire and our need to impose order. Yet, nature cannot be contained. It slips through the cracks, fragments, and flows beyond the boundaries we set. It exists in its own rhythms, untamed and free. The works created during the residency are an exploration of home, land, and self. They reflect on how we, like the earth, are always shifting, always becoming, never fixed. Our identity, shaped by the places we come from, the places we move to, and the spaces in between, is as fluid as the land beneath our feet. We are always finding our place, always learning to exist within the ever-changing cycles of nature. Learn more, and see the other works she produced as part of the residency here: https://lnkd.in/gVqF8Wz2

Thanks to Canadian Architect magazine for amplifying this exciting news! We're so thrilled to have Aiden, Ali, and Darin join the partnership at hcma. “The addition of Aiden, Ali, and Darin to our partnership reflects hcma’s dedication to fostering leadership from within. Each one’s unique contribution to our practice has helped to shape how we work, how we build community, and how we push the boundaries of what’s possible. With their shared passion and vision, we are in excellent hands for the years ahead,” - Darryl Condon, Managing Principal Read the article: https://lnkd.in/g2X-VRtX

More than an arena—Rosemary Brown Recreation Centre is a community hub ready to raise the next generation of athletes, weekend warriors, and recreation enthusiasts. The facility is a home for ice sports, pilates, pickleball, and playoff watch parties alike. It's designed to provide a rich, dynamic experience for those on and off the ice. Rather than the traditional black-box arena many of us grew up with, a unique structural approach floods the rinks with north-facing light—without impacting ice quality—while an exposed mass timber roof creates a warm and inviting space for both players and spectators. Nestled in Burnaby's emerging Southgate community, the site's tight footprint led to a non-traditional arrangement of its two NHL-sized ice sheets: a right angle with a lobby where they meet. This creates greater transparency and openness between the lobby and the ice, and a friendly, animated elevation to the street and community beyond. Balancing informal and formal play, parents can cheer on their children from a warm viewing area on the second floor, while their siblings rumble and tumble in the informal play area. 📸: Ema Peter

This announcement follows the appointment of five new Associate principals in November 2024. 

It should come as no surprise that Canada—recent victor of the National Hockey League–hosted 2025 4 Nations Face-Off—is home to more indoor ice rinks than any other country. Nearly 2,900 of them are spread across its 13 provinces and territories—and most of them are, broadly speaking, similar.⁠ ⁠ The typology has experienced little change over the decades. The result? A prevalence of what Paul Fast, principal at Vancouver-based hcma architecture + design, calls “largely dark and cold steel-joint truss structures designed to get people in and out of a sheet of ice as quickly and practically as possible.”⁠ ⁠ “Every Canadian feel it’s their God-given right to be able to go and skate on a sheet of ice,” adds Fast. “This has caused a proliferation of arenas that aren’t always very well thought through for the sake of making them as fast and cheap as possible.”⁠ ⁠ A new public ice arena in the city of Burnaby, just east of Vancouver, aims to shake things up with a fresh take on the indoor rink that foregrounds community. The hcma-designed Rosemary Brown Recreation Centre broke ground in 2019 and finally opened last spring following a bumpy, prolonged construction process. The 92,000-square-foot complex, anchored by a pair of NHL-sized rinks, employs an innovative hybrid steel-timber roof system and that floods the space with daylight without negatively impacting the ice quality. An oversized lobby and rooftop patio, joined by two large, multi-purpose community rooms and an informal children’s play area, help frame the facility as a skate-centric community hub.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Words by Matt Hickman Photos © Ema Peter⁠ #architecture #design #canada

hcma is hosting "Breaking Barriers: AIBC registration through alternative pathways" in collaboration with the Architecture Foundation of British Columbia! Join us as we explore non-traditional paths to AIBC registration and break down barriers in the architecture industry. We'll cover pathways like the Broadly Experienced Applicant Program, Broadly Experienced Foreign Architect, Mutual Recognition Program, and RAIC Syllabus Program. Thursday, March 6, 2025 6pm - 8pm PST Don't miss it! Secure your spot here:  https://lnkd.in/gYX3KpVr