As an architect and not a writer, it is always a challenge to articulate my thoughts in words. It is simpler to detail the most complex of corners. I appreciate Elsa Lam’s invitation to write about how the pandemic can affect change in our offices via inclusionary practices. Here is a taste – please visit…
BMD covers the March issue of Canadian Interiors. Thank you for including this project in your run-down of new workspaces for A+D firms that foster collaboration in the creative process. The talent at BMD is unparalleled and it was an intense experience to bring this space to life. A special thanks has to go to…
“As architect Betsy Williamson describes, for a home that needed to manage intergenerational living, the client brief was refreshingly succinct. “The client is a couple and the parents of one of the members of the couple are elderly and needed an accessible apartment effectively within the home so that they could all live together. It was…
“Custom rift-cut white oak tables and steel structural beams painted the company’s signature Pilot Yellow brighten up a sunny staff cafe at its rooftop administrative office.” Thank you Interior Design. It is always an honour to be included in your pages.
“Canadian architecture firm Williamson Williamson has added administrative offices on top of a coffee roastery in Toronto, where structural elements are highlighted in bright yellow. Pilot Coffee Roasters is an independent company with a handful of cafes in the greater Toronto area. Its roasting facility was designed in 2014 inside a former warehouse by local firm Williamson Williamson. The studio…
Wallpaper* publishes the freshest work in office design and features Pilot Coffee Roasters new head office. “Williamson Williamson’s new office for Pilot Coffee upgrades an earlier project by bringing a head office into an established roastery and cafe….When it came to extending this burgeoning business’ space, the best option was a rooftop addition, hung on…
“What were the design needs you had to meet in building an inter-generational home? For this house, it was clear the communal living was going to be on the ground floor. It was where the parents would have their privacy and connections to the backyard but also be able to connect and share time with…
“In true summer-house fashion, Pilot Coffee Roasters’ seasonal pop-up in Ontario’s Prince Edward County distills the burgeoning espresso empire’s primary outlets into a smaller version that opens up to the great outdoors. Credit Williamson Williamson for the skillful downsizing. Back in 2013, Pilot co-founders Jessie and Andy Wilkin enlisted the architecture studio – then Williamson…
“Ancaster Creek is Williamson Williamson’s first dual-generational residence set in a semi-rural context, allowing the architects the luxury of opening the plan to a wetland site. Situated in a bedroom community of Hamilton, Ontario, its lower façade is clad in locally quarried Algonquin limestone. Its progressively compressed courses—diminishing in height from 12” at the top…
” This Ontario home rethinks suburban norms, sticking all the standard pieces on a highly unusual floor plan. And it won’t be the last of its kind. Every family is different. Why are so many family homes the same? The North American ideal of the nuclear family has shaped the way we live for a century…
“For a certain doctor in Ontario, there was never any doubt. He always knew that he would take care of his mom and dad in their old age. When the time came, they moved into the basement of a bungalow that he shared with a social worker, the man he planned to marry. After an…
Last night was a beautiful evening spent at the Palais Royal enjoying the late summer warmth and the lake view while celebrating the winners of this year’s Toronto Urban Design Awards. Betsy spent two days on the jury in June with Elsa Lam, David Anselmi, and Gary McCluskie visiting nearly three dozen projects before narrowing the…
We are always honored to be featured by Architectural Record. It is a publication that we have admired since we were students and to be included in its pages, digitally or in print, is something that we never take for granted. Thank you to the amazing editorial staff for always looking out for out best…
“On Tranby Avenue, history is for the birds. Stained-glass birds nest in almost every transom on this narrow east Annex street, the work of the artisan Robert McCausland when its houses were built around 1890. Most of these birds have been preserved and refurbished – including the one on No. 66, which was cleaned up…
Our renovation of an 1892 Victorian House in the Annex has caught the attention of Designlines’ editor Tory Healy. Along with Darcy and Alexis of 3Gen Developments, our job was to make this complicated renovation look effortless. As noted by writer Matthew Hague, “The strategy was simple: rooms that were in good condition were preserved,…
Grange Triple Double is profiled in the recent issue of Monocle as part of a piece titled Generation Gaps [Housing]. Sophie Grove puts forward the preface that “Our grandparents deserve a better standard of care and that calls for a multigenerational approach – hence a new model that makes the presence of youth in old people’s…
The Grange Triple Double House was chosen for the WOOD 2016/TRÄ 2016 exhibition in Virserum Art Museum in Sweden. The projects of the exhibition were chosen via a triennial, international architecture competition, Architecture of Necessity. The competition and exhibition aim to gather and present ideas and solutions for sustainable architecture. The WOOD 2016/TRÄ 2016 exhibition…
As the recipient of a 2016 Canadian Green Building Award, Grange Triple Double is featured in the Summer issue of SABMag (Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine)
Writer Martha Breen eloquently tells the story of the Grange Triple Double. The house is a contemporary contextualization of the site and neighborhood while at the same time, a forward thinking solution for the ‘sandwich generation,’ describing how a young family can accommodate the needs of both children and parents on an urban lot in…
“Canadian architecture practice Williamson Chong has transformed a narrow Edwardian property in a suburban neighborhood of Toronto. The existing home was a poorly renovated residence, and required a complete overhaul in order to provide spacious and comfortable living accommodation. Beginning at the front elevation, every effort was made to produce open and airy family-oriented spaces out…
“Young adults are getting squeezed out of the housing market. Their parents, meanwhile, want to downsize without leaving familiar neighbourhoods. The solution couldn’t be simpler to a growing group of designers: Rethink (and rebuild) the family home to suit several generations for the long haul. …Such adaptability can be built into a house’s architecture. One…
Architectural Record reports on the latest work being developed in our office. We are excited to be featured in their February issue. “The architects are further investigating multigenerational living in their Ancaster Creek House (set for completion this April), an elegant modernist dwelling composed of two double- height volumes, linked by a central glazed dining…
Designlines Annual Homes issue has come out and features an article on the house we recently completed on Roxborough Street in Toronto. The thoroughly modern clients encouraged us to strip away the dark and deteriorated parts of an old Toronto home and re-engage light and space. Creating a four story curved volume through the home…
In an interview with the Architectural League of New York’s program director, Anne Rieselbach and executive director, Rosalie Genevro, Paul Makovsky writes about Emerging Voices’ enduring mission. We are so proud to have been a winner in the 2014 Emerging Voices Series. In this article, the work of Williamson Chong is prominently featured alongside Steven…
Each year, Wallpaper Magazine publishes a list of 20 firms that they see as the rising star and breakthrough practices from around the globe. We are pleased to announce that the 2015 Architects Directory has been announced and Williamson Chong is featured on the list. A full digital feature is featured on the Wallpaper website.
“The breeze flowing over your table as you’re sitting down to dinner on a summer evening,” the owner says, is one of the best experiences they’ve had in the house: “There are those magical moments when you feel you’re connected to the place.” When nature provides you with magic, sometimes the wisest course is to…
“Now in its fourth year, the AJ’s Women in Architecture programme continues to promote equality in the profession and to host the annual WIA Awards.” England’s The Architects’ Journal has a wonderful issue out on women in the profession. Betsy is featured as a finalist in the Emerging Architect Prize Category and the magazine is…
On the heels of the finals of the Interior Design Best of Year Awards, Pilot has been published in Interior Design Magazine with the other winners.
Designboom just posted some great images and an article about Pilot Coffee Roasters. It was great to meet Birgit Lohmann and take her through the space. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your time in Toronto.
The House on Fox Lake, which won an award of excellence in the 2014 Canadian Architect Awards, is featured on the cover of the the awards issue of Canadian Architect. Inside, you can find the jury comments, project images, and great coverage of the other award winners.
“Williamson Chong’s installation of sculpted forms and prints is a tribute to wood’s beauty and malleability, and to the expressive lyricism that wood, trees and forests have inspired in poetry, art and architecture since antiquity,” John Bentley Mays eloquently writes on the Living Wood exhibition now installed at the Corkin Gallery in the Distillery District.…
Ellen Himelfarb profiles Williamson Chong as part of The New Radicals series in the Globe and Mail. The article speaks to our research travel in the last two years as well as the exhibition that opens on November 20, at the Corkin Gallery. “They’re at the forefront where theories of design and technological advancement come…
It is an honour to have Domus publish the House in Frogs Hollow in their online publication. The layout is beautiful and the format suits the project well. You can see the project here.
Of 700 entries and 26 victors, Williamson Chong took home three awards at this year’s Residential Architect Awards! “These winners represent some of the best residential architecture that North America has to offer… The assembled winners represent the hopefulness of a market that is recovering, if not recovered, and transitioning, if not transformed. Such are…
“One of the most striking features of the house is the sliding east window wall at the rear of the house, which blurs the distinction between interior and exterior space. This absence of boundary is further enhanced by the wraparound condition at the corner, where the north wall of glass also pulls away, creating a…
The House in Frogs Hollow is now live on the Phaidon Atlas! Here is a link. The Phaidon Atlas is now an on-line idea as opposed to a printed volume. This allows projects to be uploaded by the editors as they are completed which makes it current and timely. We have already starting exploring the website…
Ninan and his team have put together a fantastic issue of EDITION29 on the House in Frogs Hollow. It is designed for the iPad and is accompanied by an oral description of the house culled from a conversation between Ninan and Betsy last month. We are very excited to show our work this way and…
Alex Bozikovic from The Globe and Mail recommends a visit to Pilot Coffee Roasters in Doors Open Toronto: 10 things you need to see this weekend. This weekend’s Doors Open festival is an opportunity to explore some of the best of Toronto’s architecture. Running both Saturday and Sunday, the event features 155 of Toronto’s most interesting places, and each…
“Towards a New Pro Forma: Making the case for a new urban prototype where multi-generational living is the natural buy-in.” Metropolis Magazine invited us to envision a multi-generational home for this century. We responded by featuring the Grange Triple Double and showing how it can accommodate a flexible three- or four- generational living condition that…
“From roasting to cupping, Pilot’s micro-roastery offers coffee aficionados and baristas a one stop shop for mastering their brewing…” Thank you to Azure for spreading the word on this great coffee shop and especially to Alison Garwood-Jones for the wonderful article.
blogTo calls out one of our newest projects completed for Pilot Coffee Roasters. Pilot Coffee Roasters have outdone themselves. They moved the roaster at Te Aro into 50 Wagstaff Drive, making a combination roastery, lab, tasting bar and distribution centre that’s slick, gorgeous and technically impressive. It’s unlikely that you’ll find another place in the city (or the country…
It was a pleasure working with the editors of Arch Daily to post this project. You can find the link here.
“Torontonians are finally rejecting fussy Victorian architecture and going bold. In almost every neighbourhood, there’s a house or two that stands out…Here, a look inside some of our favourites.” The November issue of Toronto Life features Blantyre House in a feature on new homes in Toronto.
“Betsy Williamson ’88 is an artist. Her medium is wood, her palette is very large, and her official job title is architect, but in Williamson’s mind, the two disciplines are inextricably linked.” Many architects will tell you that they have wanted to be architects since they were kids. Betsy locked in after taking a series…
“For a Toronto couple with a love of minimalist Japanese architecture, a sleek, storage-packed kitchen was the first priority in their home.” Dwell Magazine has done us right this month with a double page feature on the Blantyre House kitchen. Writer Alex Bozikovic talks about the design of the “kitchen studio” as the centre of this new…
The Canadian Wood Council just released a publication celebrating the 2011-12 North American Wood Design Award Winners. This is a follow-up feature for the House in Frogs Hollow which has now been recognized for a 2010-11 North American Wood Design Award and a 2011-12 Ontario Wood WORKS! Award. The jury for this past year included…
Sometimes the details get noticed…On the Pleasures of the Window Seat in today’s Globe and Mail. The window bench in the House in Frogs Hollow was conceived of for a fairly practical reason. The Loewen window we used only came about 7-1/2′ tall. We didn’t want to have a transom above the window to fill the 9′ tall…
It was a pleasant surprise to get a call from the Globe and Mail this week when they decided to feature the residence we renovated in the Annex. The full article is featured on their website and there is a nice slideshow as well. We are happy that the convertibility of the student lodging on the upper floor…
This is the first time we have had a project in Architectural Record and we couldn’t be more excited about it. The Blantyre House, with its ‘kitchen studio’ that opens the ground floor up to become a contiguous space with the street and the back yard, has been chosen for the 2012 Record Kitchen &…
“Advances in building technologies are expanding the architectural possibilities of wood. Toronto-based Williamson Chong Architects will be spending their Prix de Rome winnings on a road trip to scout out new uses for high-tech timber.” – John Bentley Mays We have already started planning our first trip for Spring 2013. We are getting great responses from the folks working in…
Our favorite freebie in Toronto has got to be Design Lines. Listing all the best places to shop, eat, and mine for inspiration, we always end up with a few on the coffee table. We are very happy to have a project featured in the fall issue. Our Howland Avenue Residence modernizes a former rooming…
“Too many newly-built homes in Toronto are muscle-bound hulks bullying their way into established neighbourhoods. Williamson Chong’s new Scarborough project shows a thoughtful, sensitive alternative.” – John Bentley Mays The Blantyre House is an example of one of our ground-up infill projects that contributes to our developing notion of ‘incremental urbanism’ in Toronto. Thanks to…
We just received the publication put out by the City of Edmonton that chronicles the entries for the Park Pavilion Design Competition held last year. Our Victoria Park entry, Aspen Overpass, is on pages 108 and 109. When we look at the competition boards, all we smell is pizza. So much work went into these…
We are so pleased to be included in this year’s City Home guide. Look for us on page 105. There is a nice photo of the office and descriptions of the 16 most incredible offices in the city!
Dean Kaufman’s aerial photo of the Galley House garden in bloom is one of our favorite images of this space. Thanks again to Dwell for its continued support of this project.
The House in Frogs Hollow has been included in Architectural Record’s March 2012 “All in the Details” section of featured houses. Special thanks to Alex Bozikovic for the write-up.
Abbey Gardens is in distinguished company in this year’s Awards of Excellence. The December issue of Canadian Architect highlights all the winning projects.
The Canadian Wood Council just released a publication celebrating the 2010-11 North American Wood Design Award Winners. The House in Frogs Hollow is featured along with the work from Studio Gang Architects, IwamotoScott Architecture, Cutler Anderson Architects, David J. Agro, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, Mankouche/Bard/Schulte, Flansburgh Architects, Robert M. Cain, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects, HGA Architects and Engineers, The Miller Hull Partnership, StructureCraft…
We spent a lovely afternoon with John Bentley Mays at the House in Frogs Hollow and enjoyed his reading of the house featured in last week’s Globe and Mail. The article can be found on The Globe and Mail’s website with a slideshow of images by Bob Gundu. John Bentley Mays, “Grey County Home Rides…
Will Jones introduces Toronto’s infill housing to Croatia. The Galley House is featured this month in Oris, a magazine for architecture and culture that is published bimonthly as a Croatian-English edition.
Our firm has be profiled in the April 2011 issue of Canadian Builders Quarterly, featuring the House in Frogs Hollow.
Thank you to Lucie Lavigne from La Presse for including two of our projects in the French language publication Construire, Renover, Transformer.
Plan Magazine, out of Dublin, Ireland, has chosen The House in Frogs Hollow as one of its featured “one-off houses.” Bob Gundu’s photographs look amazing.
Jin-Young Yoo, “Unique Homes: House in Frogs Hollow,” Casa Living, April 2010; p. 211.
Night shots by Colin Field are featured in this article.
Galley House, Small Fridges Make Good Cities, and our competition entry for the New National Library for the Czech Republic have been published in Twenty + Change.
Door with Peephole is featured in Lisa Iwamoto’s new book on digital fabrication.
Look for Stock Space alongside the work of Andrew Kudless and Kevin Klinger in the May/June issue of AD.
One of our CNC milled pieces from the Topologies series lands on the cover of Canadian Architect this month. Also be sure to check out the back page which features Smoke Tray. Chodikoff, Ian. “Smoke and Mirrors.” Canadian Architect June 2007: 50.
PAP did a wonderful job on the publication that accompanies the Young Architects Award from the Architectural league of New York. It has just been published.
Shane contributes a paper to this year’s ACADIA Conference Proceedings. Williamson, Shane. “Stock Space.” Synthetic Landscapes | Digital Exchange. Ed. Cory Clarke, Gregory Luhan, Phillip Anzalone, and Mark Cabrinha. University of Kentucky: Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA), 2006. 546-47.
Williamson, Shane. “Stock Space.” Responsive Architectures: Subtle Technologies 2006. Ed. Philip Beesley, Sachiko Hirosue, Jim Ruxton, Marion Trankle, and Camille Turner. [Cambridge, Ont.]: Riverside Architectural, 2006. 152-57.
Published twice a year, Designlines Toronto is brought to you by Azure, Canada’s leading magazine of architecture, design, and art. It serves as a city and neighborhood guide to the best design sources Toronto has to offer. Our digital design and fabrication work is featured in an interview with Elizabeth Pagliacolo. Pagliacolo, Elizabeth. “New Wave.”…
DogTrot was featured on Inhabitat in March of 2006. The link is no longer active.
Scalar is featured in the latest issue of Thresholds.
http://www.architectureweek.com/2004/1215/tools_1-1.html
Shane Williamson co-chairs “FABRICATION: A Conference Examining the Digital Practice of Architecture,” the 23rd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Technology and Practice (TAP). The FABRICATION conference was held November 11-14, 2004, at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Waterloo and the Faculty…
Shane juries the 2004 Digital Media Awards sponsored by Canadian Architect. “Speculative Conception: Digital Media Awards 2004,” Canadian Architect, vol. 49, no. 6, June 2004; 19-25.
