Toronto's Most Accomplished Architectural Firm

[interchange42]

Throw some votes this way - let us know who you think Toronto's best architects are...

...baring in mind that I've already got a shortlist of 10 here for you.

I'd love to hear who you think shouldn't be on this list at all, and who you would replace them with. Or go crazy, and rank them all in your post.

Have fun.

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[ShonTron]

1. Zeidler (mostly due to the projects from the 1970s through to the mid 1990s)
2. KPMB
2. Diamond and Schmitt (tie - apart from some of the recent stuff like Project Symphony, it's an impressive portfolio)
4. aA
5. Montgomery & Sisam
6. Baird Sampson Neuert
7. Core
8. Quadrangle (though I love Morgan)
9. Teeple
10. Shim + Sutcliffe (I hate their website)

And if there was to be an all time all-star list, then John Parkin would be near the top, as would EJ Lennox.

1. Pearson and Darling
2. Parkin and Associates
3. Zeidler
4. EJ Lennox
5. Diamond and Schmitt/KPMB

 

[alklay]

The 'best' and the 'most accomplished' are two different things. Zeidler, because of Eaton Centre, Ontario Place, Sick Kids, Queens Quay, etc. has had a profound impact on the city and is certainly the most 'accomplished' in terms of pulling off successful projects of importance. KPMB, though, IMO, is presently doing the best work of all the firms listed.

 

[ShonTron]

Absolutely right. Within 10 years, my list above will certainly shift as KPMB rises closer to the top. It would be a real accomplishment to top the likes of Pearson and Darling or Parkin as all-time great, but it's achievable for this firm. I also expect aA to rise, but they've got to broaden out beyond glass condos.

 

[Hipster Duck]

My current favourites are probably Hariri + Pontarini (sp?), with their fantastic Schulich school and McKinsey offices. I think that Quadrangle is the most underrated of the firms you have up there, maybe because they don't have an identifiable style.

The most accomplished is Zeidler, or possibly WZMH. Both of these firms are producing lamentable buildings these days: WZMH is building forgettable casinos and Zeidler has latched onto a Flintstones aesthetic with their godawful Ryerson school of business and that horrible pile of crap at York University.

 

[azzo]

I have to say that Shim-Sutcliffe architects are definitly the best architects in the city right now, there work is absolutly beautiful and not among the shit modern knock offs being built in this city ie. KPMB, or diamond or aA, the work overall is boring and not inspiring at all. Or maybe im just biased as im an architecture student lol.


azzo

 

[GovernorARNOLD]

I voted for AA. Although I don't like verything they do, I think they get most of teh projects in town. Why is Page an Steel not on teh list?

 

[interchange42]

Because there is only space for 10 entries in the poll.

At this point I wouldn't pretend that the options are the definitive ones, and I am quite interested in which firms people think are missing, and how others would word the question in the first place.

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[ShonTron]

I am curious why aA is so high on the list. They really only do one thing (neo-modernist residential glass boxes), though they do it well (whether the site is appropriate or grossly inappropriate, though this isn't Clewes' fault), and only recently been big.

They have yet to get into the office, commerical and institutional projects in a big way, and I think this is generally where the "accomplished" architects usually make their mark.

(In my all-time list, I forgot Peter Dickenson - he'd come into the top few for sure).

 

[talulamadison]

what about &Co Architects? what do you think about them?

 

[alklay]

I am not sure either as to why there are so many votes for aA. They hardly have the portfolio of institutional and commercial work that others have.

 

[interchange42]

what about &Co Architects? what do you think about them?

&Co are in joint venture with Adamson on the Telus Tower, right? That's promising. What else have they done?

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[AlvinofDiaspar]

interchange:

They are lined up for a office to residential conversion project on Bloor.

AoD

 

[interchange42]

Why does that conversion seem to be going nowhere? I want everything NOW NOW NOW!

I liked the look of it.

42

 

[talulamadison]

&Co's site is http://www.andco.com
they've got a list of projects there...