Acton Ostry Architects

The Duke is a sixteen story apartment, with fourteen stories dedicated to residential spaces, and the remaining two stories dedicated to commercial sections.[8] 25% of the residential suites are two bedroom family suites, whereas the remaining 75% are utilized for single bedroom studios.[9] The Duke housing is designed to focus on providing more affordable shelter within the neighborhood of Vancouver, which establishes this by extending the residential suites to the lot lines to maximize the potential space for these suites.[10] Some of the unique physical features that the Duke complex provides are a trapezoid shaped building, multi-colored doors for each suite, and a multi functional rooftop with various amenities, such as a children play centre, urban agriculture, friendly dog setting, and a social seating section.[11]

The UBC Aquatic Centre is a facility oriented around water domains for the student from the University of British Columbia, which is 85,000 square feet of programing.[12] The programing is divided into four separate areas within the centre, being changerooms, community aquatics, competition aquatics, and spectator bleachers. [13] This project done by Acton Ostry has been designed to be LEED Gold standards, and is also focused on achieving "Regenerative Neighborhoods," to integrate with the campus standards. [14]

The Gastown Parkade Childcare project entails the construction of two one-story childcare facilities on top of an existing, eight-story parkade that belongs to the city in the city's central business district. The structures were created in accordance with the Passive House certification requirements and without the use of fossil fuels in order to uphold the City's promise to construct all new structures owned by the City with operating emissions that are almost net-zero.[15] The two 400m2 facilities provide a total of 74 child care spaces, each accommodating 12 infant/toddlers and 25 preschoolers.[16] The project — designed by Acton Ostry Architects and Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd — carried a construction cost of $17 million.[17] In the confined and bustling historic Gastown neighbourhood, prefabrication facilitated strict construction quality assurance processes and reduced construction time.[18] It can be anticipated that more roofs will be converted into different programs as various cities get denser, planners and developers try to make the best use of the limited urban area available.[19] Due to the location and conditions of the facility, Safety and efficiency come at the expense of intrigue and mystery. There are no hiding places, no shadows, no poetics of space due to strict rules and regulations by the City standards.[20] The entire rooftop daycare centre will be run by the YMCA of Greater Vancouver. The Downtown Eastside and Strathcona neighbourhoods' low-income families will receive at least 24 of the daycare places free of charge. The province, the YMCA, and an annual $60,000 city grant are all contributing to the cost of these places available.[21]

Acton Ostry Architects and Moriyama & Teshima Architects were the winners of a 2018 architectural competition for a new timber building in Toronto.[22] The winning design, dubbed The Arbour, will be a net-zero tower that will house a new computer technology school as part of an expansion at George Brown College.[23] This Project is designed to be the first of its type in Ontario, a low-carbon structure showcasing ecological innovation over its full life cycle and functioning as a paradigm for smart, sustainable, green building innovation throughout Canada.[24] The 10-story building has a sloped roof and plenty of windows, allowing visitors to glimpse the timber inside from the outside. The structure of the building likewise resembles a tartan grid, with a big space of circulation flowing through the centre.[25] The periphery features a variety of labs and classrooms that have the flexibility to change size and shape over time due to the building’s large-span beamless structure.[26] The grid-like layout of the mass wood construction measures seven by nine metres, with access to light and vistas, the outer bars hold the administrative offices, laboratories, and classrooms.[27] Vertical circulation cores are housed in the centre bar, which is surrounded by a network of double-height, interactive social areas for employees and students.[28] The inner core spine is a comfortable place to host computer laboratories.[29]