2025
Building
NEW TECUMSETH MUNICIPAL OFFICES 
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Here is the feature story in Building magazine we procured for our client, The Ventin Group Ltd. (+VG Architects), for their adaptive reuse of the New Tecumseth Municipal Offices in Alliston, Ont., winner of the 2024 Ontario Woodworks Award.
Note our extensive, detailed cutlines (photo captions), a crucial component of every media kit that PR practitioners often omit despite their being essential for drawing the reader into the story.
2024
Architizer
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
As a design PR firm, we’ve helped position +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd., a full-service Ontario firm, as an industry leader in education facilities. When children returned last September to McKinnon Park Secondary School in the Hamilton suburb of Caledonia, 90 minutes from Toronto, they made history on entering the prototype installation of +VG’s Hex Pod Education Hub. The Hex Pod is the ideal solution for small-group learning at a safe social distance for schools.
Canadian Architect
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
David Lasker Communications publicized an iconic, historic project for +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd., the restoration and adaptive reuse of Toronto Power Generating Station at Niagara Falls. +VG will be Prime Consultant and Architect. “This is the most important commission in our firm’s 50-year history,” says +VG Architects President and Managing Principal Paul Sapounzi.
+VG was the design leader for the winning proposal submitted by Pearle Hospitality to Niagara Parks Commission for a transformational $200 million-plus private-sector investment to restore the National Historic Site while creating an unparalleled visitor experience, including the first five-star boutique hotel at the falls, befitting its location overlooking iconic Horseshoe Falls.
Opened in 1906 to supply hydroelectric power to the Toronto market and mothballed since 1974, the palatial powerhouse was designed by Toronto-based architect E. J. Lennox (1854-1933), best-known for Toronto Old City Hall and Casa Loma.
“The sheer scale of Toronto Power is unrivalled by any other Beaux-Arts-style building in Canada other than Toronto’s Union Station,” says Robert G. Hill, author of The Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada: 1800-1950—and Toronto Power boasts finer and more prolific detailing. (Beaux-Arts, the classical style of architecture and decoration championed by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the 19th century, was the dominant style of architecture until the ascent of Modernism.)
When the 400,000-square-foot powerhouse redevelopment opens in 2027, it will provide a world-class visitor experience unlike anything currently offered in the destination or the province, including the first and only five-star boutique accommodation at Niagara Falls, a variety of culinary offerings, multiple indoor and outdoor free public viewing areas, a craft brewery, a wellness and social spa, theatre, museum and art gallery and event space.
Construction Canada
ADAPTIVE REUSE OFFICES RECOGNIZED FOR EXCEPTIONAL WOOD DESIGN
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Here is the Construction Canada feature story we obtained for the adaptive reuse of the New Tecumseth Municipal Offices in Alliston, Ont., winner of the 2024 Ontario Woodworks Award, by +VG Architects.
The 45,000-square-foot project combines the adaptive reuse of the former Alliston Union Public School, built in 1967, and the addition of a new double-height loggia to create a new seat of municipal government and offices for the town. The loggia acts as the main ordering element for the building, managing connections to the building’s primary interior functions. Public meeting spaces and the council chamber, along with customer-service counters and a new feature stair connecting both levels, are sequenced off the loggia.
“Our firm has a tradition of exploring Canadian identity through the language of materials,” says Tom Wilson, +VG Principal-in-Charge of the project. “The Administration Centre’s design continues that tradition with materials available for us to use here in a modern vernacular: spruce pine fir, maple, glulam and brick.”
Daily Commercial News by Construct Connect
NEW TECUMSETH CIVIC RETROFIT WINS WOODWORKS AWARD
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Here is the Daily Commercial News by Construct Connect feature story we obtained for the adaptive reuse of the New Tecumseth Municipal Offices in Alliston, Ont., winner of the 2024 Ontario Woodworks Award, by +VG Architects.
The 45,000-square-foot project combines the adaptive reuse of the former Alliston Union Public School, built in 1967, and the addition of a new double-height loggia to create a new seat of municipal government and offices for the town. The loggia acts as the main ordering element for the building, managing connections to the building’s primary interior functions. Public meeting spaces and the council chamber, along with customer-service counters and a new feature stair connecting both levels, are sequenced off the loggia.
“Our firm has a tradition of exploring Canadian identity through the language of materials,” says Tom Wilson, +VG Principal-in-Charge of the project. “The Administration Centre’s design continues that tradition with materials available for us to use here in a modern vernacular: spruce pine fir, maple, glulam and brick.”
National Post
BRINGING ‘THE SPIRIT OF THE OLD’
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
We procured a feature story in National Post for the gut and rebuild of a four-generation ski chalet in Devil’s Glen, a two-hour drive from Toronto, by Peter Berton of +VG Architects – The Ventin Group, to suit the family’s needs and the property’s natural surroundings.
Wood Design & Building/Woodworks Innovation Network
NEW TECUMSETH CIVIC RETROFIT WINS WOODWORKS AWARD
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Here is the Wood Design & Building/Woodworks Innovation Network feature story we obtained for the adaptive reuse of the New Tecumseth Municipal Offices in Alliston, Ont., winner of the 2024 Ontario Woodworks Award, by +VG Architects.
The 45,000-square-foot project combines the adaptive reuse of the former Alliston Union Public School, built in 1967, and the addition of a new double-height loggia to create a new seat of municipal government and offices for the town. The loggia acts as the main ordering element for the building, managing connections to the building’s primary interior functions. Public meeting spaces and the council chamber, along with customer-service counters and a new feature stair connecting both levels, are sequenced off the loggia.
“Our firm has a tradition of exploring Canadian identity through the language of materials,” says Tom Wilson, +VG Principal-in-Charge of the project. “The Administration Centre’s design continues that tradition with materials available for us to use here in a modern vernacular: spruce pine fir, maple, glulam and brick.”
2023
Building
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
We do PR for designers and we’re always thrilled to promote something new and different, especially with well-lit architectural photography by David Lasker Photography in the media kit. Inspired by nature, +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd., a full-service Ontario firm with a 50-year focus on education, updated portable classrooms with its modular Hex Pod Education Hub: a sustainable, economical “safety valve” for congested school campuses. The Hex Pod prototype officially launched on Sep. 5, 2023, at the start of the new school year at McKinnon Park Secondary School in the Hamilton suburb of Caledonia, 90 minutes from Toronto.
“This is the first innovation in portable classrooms in a quarter-century,” says architect Dan Wojcik, Chief Operating Officer at +VG and head of its Ottawa studio. “Our Hex Pod education hub boasts the most community-based, open, economical and simple systems solution for small-group learning at a safe social distance from congested school campuses,” he says. “And it’s economical enough to be mass-produced at commercial scale.”
On the lawn between the main building and the parking lot at McKinnon Park Secondary School, the vivid blue and green Hex Pods contrast starkly against the nearby existing domino sprawl of 12 aging portable classrooms, those unloved additions at overcrowded schools. The conjoined 954-square-foot Pods open onto a 1,000-square-foot wood-plank deck shaded by a canopy made of galvanized structural steel decking. Weather permitting, the area doubles as an informal outdoor classroom. Construction on the project began in June 2022 and was completed on time for the official opening on the first day of school, Sep. 5, 2023, and on budget: $1,006,134 (US$743,935).
During the COVID-19 crisis, “portables” served as the overflow safety valve. “They were the only practical way to relieve the classroom overcrowding that safe social distancing would otherwise have caused,” Mr. Wojcik says. “In short order, there was a demand for more space.”
Portable classrooms, typically 25-by-30-foot fluorescent-lit boxes, have earned a bad rap. What was seen as the go-to quick fix for overcrowded schools in the U.S. and Canada now appears to present unintended long-term costs in dollars and children’s health because they tend to become permanent. As their concrete plinths splay and vapour barriers fail, their dark interiors become dank and mouldy, triggering asthma. Inadequate fresh-air exchange can cause students to stew in unacceptably high levels of their own carbon dioxide by the end of the day, leading to fatigue. Studies show that as CO2 levels rise, student performance fails. Then there’s the likely buildup of harmful airborne substances such as dust, allergens and volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde off-gassing from paint, furniture and carpeted floors. No wonder students assigned to portables often feel like second-class citizens, unlucky and ignored.
“Sending teachers back to a room after the pandemic for six hours a day with poor or no ventilation and not enough space for social distancing was really the pitfall of Ontario’s back-to-school plan,” Mr. Wojcik says.
To make the cheap vinyl windows of portables vandal-resistant, they may be covered in wire mesh. This gives the portable the ominous appearance of a penal institution, further diminishing users’ morale.
Mr. Wojcik pondered the defects of traditional portables while gazing at the honeycomb in the jar of honey in his office’s servery. Suddenly, the Eureka! lightbulb went off in his head: He had a vision of how to build a better mousetrap. He quickly sketched the outline of a prefabricated, rapidly deployable, sustainable portable. Its hexagonal form is the most efficient way to wrap a space with the least material. The system is built around 120-degree, rather than traditional 90-degree, corners so that installations of multiple Pods cluster into honeycombs instead of grids.
The open angle at the core of the Hex Pod’s design creates inviting classrooms that encourage serendipitous communication and collaboration. The Pod’s hexagonal layout and tilted ceiling feel more welcoming, spacious and informal than a portable of comparable floorspace. “When you sit in a box, you are either up against the wall or facing a corner. In a Hex Pod, you sit amid the flowing, organic geometry of ‘open arms,’” he adds.
Pods can be erected individually or in clusters near schools on existing sites. “Our Pod can expand beyond the single-module model of the portable, so that you get a richer physical environment than you would inside a rectilinear portable.” Now that’s a lesson worth learning.
Canadian Architect
KINGSTON EAST COMMUNITY CENTRE, KINGSTON, ONTARIO
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
+VG Architects worked closely with the City of Kingston, Ont., and its participating community groups to design the Kingston East Community Centre. The 22,000-square-foot, $12-million (US$8.82-million) project, the newest recreational centre in the city, was completed in July 2022 and marks an important step in Kingston’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. As Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson said at the official opening, the centre is “a state-of-the-art facility not only in the spaces that we can offer our community but in energy efficiency. This building is really setting the mark and the standard for what city facilities will be in the future. It also sets the standard for our community as a whole.”
“The is the first +VG Architects project with such a significant solar component. It’s certainly the most sustainable building the company has ever done,” says Project Architect Dan Wojcik.
Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
Photography by David Lasker Photography
The official opening of the picturesque Shingle Style Oakville Coach House in 2022 marked the completion by +VG of the adaptive reuse of the Erchless Estate, a cultural heritage property designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as an intact surviving example of an estate developed by a wealthy settler family. This fine ensemble of historic buildings on an elevated natural embankment overlooking Lake Ontario, the mouth of Oakville Harbour, and Sixteen Mile Creek, comprises the Customs House (1856); the Italianate-style residence (1858), former home of six generations of the town’s founding Chisholm family and restored as the Oakville Museum by +VG in 1991; the Post Office (1835); and the Coach House (1901).
Canadian Interiors
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS: WINDSOR CATHOLIC CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
Photography by David Lasker Photography
The new Windsor Catholic Central High School is a lesson in adroit project management, value engineering and space-saving design.
GATES SWING OPEN: ERCHLESS ESTATE COACH HOUSE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
The official opening of the picturesque Shingle Style Oakville Coach House in 2022 marked the completion by +VG of the adaptive reuse of the Erchless Estate, a cultural heritage property designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as an intact surviving example of an estate developed by a wealthy settler family. This fine ensemble of historic buildings on an elevated natural embankment overlooking Lake Ontario, the mouth of Oakville Harbour, and Sixteen Mile Creek, comprises the Customs House (1856); the Italianate-style residence (1858), former home of six generations of the town’s founding Chisholm family and restored as the Oakville Museum by +VG in 1991; the Post Office (1835); and the Coach House (1901).
NIAGARA PARKS POWER STATION RECEIVES NIAGARA BIENNIAL DESIGN AWARDS GRAND PRIZE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Niagara Parks Power Station, the prototype for green energy generation, won the 2022 Niagara Biennial Design Awards Grand Prize. +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd. was Architect of Record and Contract Administrator in the adaptive reuse of the 115-year-old intact hydro power station into an educational and entertainment destination that brings the magic of electricity and its history alive. The project also won the 2021 Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.
The jury commented: “This magnificent project received a Grand Prize for its approach to adaptive reuse. It is like no other project submitted and is beautifully executed. The project displays the archaeology of modern tools and is a cultural heritage artifact of the pioneering electrical era. The roots of Niagara’s electrical power generation over the past century are skillfully captured in the design. It represents an incredible investment and the will of executing a project to such a high quality.”
Construction Links Network
+VG ARCHITECTS PROJECT WINS NIAGARA BIENNIAL DESIGN AWARDS GRAND PRIZE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station, the prototype for green energy generation, won the 2022 Niagara Biennial Design Awards Grand Prize. +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd. was Architect of Record and Contract Administrator in the adaptive reuse of the 115-year-old intact hydro power station into an educational and entertainment destination that brings the magic of electricity and its history alive. The project also won the 2021 Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.
The jury commented: “This magnificent project received a Grand Prize for its approach to adaptive reuse. It is like no other project submitted and is beautifully executed. The project displays the archaeology of modern tools and is a cultural heritage artifact of the pioneering electrical era. The roots of Niagara’s electrical power generation over the past century are skillfully captured in the design. It represents an incredible investment and the will of executing a project to such a high quality.”
Daily Commercial News
NIAGARA FALLS LANDMARK TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO $200 MILLION BOUTIQUE HOTEL
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
+VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd. will be Prime Consultant and Architect for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the historic Toronto Power Generating Station at Niagara Falls. “This is the most important commission in our firm’s 50-year history,” says +VG Architects President and Managing Principal Paul Sapounzi.
+VG Architects was the design leader for the winning proposal submitted by Pearle Hospitality to Niagara Parks Commission for a transformational $200 million-plus private-sector investment to restore the National Historic Site while creating an unparalleled visitor experience, including the first five-star boutique hotel at the falls, befitting its location overlooking iconic Horseshoe Falls.
Opened in 1906 to supply hydroelectric power to the Toronto market and mothballed since 1974, the palatial powerhouse was designed by Toronto-based architect E. J. Lennox (1854-1933), best-known for Toronto Old City Hall and Casa Loma.
“The sheer scale of Toronto Power is unrivalled by any other Beaux-Arts-style building in Canada other than Union Station,” says Robert G. Hill, author of The Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada: 1800-1950—and Toronto Power boasts finer and more prolific detailing. (Beaux-Arts, the classical style of architecture and decoration championed by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the 19th century, was the dominant style of architecture until the ascent of Modernism.)
The powerhouse redevelopment will provide a world-class visitor experience unlike anything currently offered in the destination or the province, including the first and only five-star boutique accommodation at Niagara Falls, a variety of culinary offerings, multiple indoor and outdoor free public viewing areas, a craft brewery, a wellness and social spa, theatre, museum and art gallery and event space.
Designlines
PORT CREDIT HOUSE HONOURS OLD AND NEW
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Rather than tear down a heritage Arts and Crafts bungalow on Hiawatha Parkway in the Toronto suburb of Port Credit and build a new, larger McMansion as is the norm, the client wanted to expand the house without violating its stylistic integrity or impacting upon the extensive mature landscape that includes a pond. They turned to +VG Architects Principal Chris Hall, who created a vertical addition.
The [Brantford] Expositor
BRANTFORD FIRM HAS PROMINENT ROLE IN MAJOR REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN NIAGARA
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
+VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd. will be Prime Consultant and Architect for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the historic Toronto Power Generating Station at Niagara Falls. “This is the most important commission in our firm’s 50-year history,” says +VG Architects President and Managing Principal Paul Sapounzi.
+VG Architects was the design leader for the winning proposal submitted by Pearle Hospitality to Niagara Parks Commission for a transformational $200 million-plus private-sector investment to restore the National Historic Site while creating an unparalleled visitor experience, including the first five-star boutique hotel at the falls, befitting its location overlooking iconic Horseshoe Falls.
Insauga
WALKING TOUR OF ERCHLESS ESTATE ABOUT THE ‘FOUNDATIONS’ OF OAKVILLE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
The official opening of the picturesque Shingle Style Oakville Coach House in 2022 marked the completion by +VG of the adaptive reuse of the Erchless Estate, a cultural heritage property designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as an intact surviving example of an estate developed by a wealthy settler family. This fine ensemble of historic buildings on an elevated natural embankment overlooking Lake Ontario, the mouth of Oakville Harbour, and Sixteen Mile Creek, comprises the Customs House (1856); the Italianate-style residence (1858), former home of six generations of the town’s founding Chisholm family and restored as the Oakville Museum by +VG in 1991; the Post Office (1835); and the Coach House (1901).
National Post
HOME DESIGN: MAKING AN OLD FAMILY HOME “RIGHT FOR A NEW GENERATION”
Client: FrankFranco Architects
FrankFranco Architects transformed a 3,800-square-foot Toronto ravine home to suit the next generation of homeowners. Situated on a wide lot in an established suburban neighborhood, the 30-year-old home underwent an extensive interior renovation. The update suits the new owners’ more-contemporary design aesthetic and captures views of the lush ravine at the rear. Francesco Di Sarra, Principal Architect at FrankFranco Architects, titled this project “Deja View” for the feeling of an experience that’s familiar yet shrouded in the mists of time.
Oakville Beaver
5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY IN OAKVILLE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
The official opening of the picturesque Shingle Style Oakville Coach House in 2022 marked the completion by +VG of the adaptive reuse of the Erchless Estate, a cultural heritage property designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as an intact surviving example of an estate developed by a wealthy settler family. This fine ensemble of historic buildings on an elevated natural embankment overlooking Lake Ontario, the mouth of Oakville Harbour, and Sixteen Mile Creek, comprises the Customs House (1856); the Italianate-style residence (1858), former home of six generations of the town’s founding Chisholm family and restored as the Oakville Museum by +VG in 1991; the Post Office (1835); and the Coach House (1901).
Retrofit
A SMALL CARNEGIE LIBRARY FINDS MORE SPACE VIA INNOVATIVE DESIGN STRATEGIES
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Ottawa’s Rosemount Public Library, built in 1918, is a vital community hub boasting the city’s second-highest circulation per square foot ratio of any library branch. +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd. persuaded the Ottawa Public Library Board to add $400,000 to the Rosemount Revitalization construction budget, finalized at $2.4-million, to increase the public floor space and make it totally accessible, provide more-comfortable reading spaces, open tight spaces between shelves, bring in more daylight, consolidate the children’s area, add rooms for group study and community use, and ensure environmentally sustainable operations by offering parking for bikes and strollers and making drop-off more accessible.
The library measures 6,089 square feet over two storeys plus basement. “It’s a tiny building,” says +VG Chief Operating Officer and Ottawa office head Dan Wojcik, “but we carved out as much utility as we could. In the main reading room, for instance, the challenge was to create unique separate spaces for the users even though they’re all essentially in the same room, while retaining open sightlines.”
Retrofit Home
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
The home renovation in St. Catharines, Ontario, by and for Paul Sapounzi, President and Managing Partner at +VG Architects (The Ventin Group Ltd.), is unusual in many respects. His family previously lived in a 5,000 sq ft house on an acre overlooking the Grand River in Cambridge; it had a very big footprint. The new, two-bedroom, carbon-neutral home is less than one-third the size and they love it. It measures 1,560 square feet over two floors and sits on 0.04 acres (50 feet by 35 feet). “My architecture firm designs big, beautiful houses, but I chose to live a more modest life with my family and it’s paying off,” he says.
The retrofit not only retains the 25 feet by 32 feet footprint of the 1911 cottage, but also its elevations and site plan. Demonstrating sensitivity to heritage context, its steel cladding and fastening details pay homage to what was the most important Canadian shipbuilding centre during the 19th century, located 20 minutes east of Niagara Falls.
On an ideological level, the project makes a polemical argument against the conspicuous consumption of McMansions and monster homes. On a personal level, the house is a remembrance of things past that makes a nostalgic yet contemporary, back-to-the-future statement about family and community.
Toronto Star
COUPLE WITH THREE KIDS AND EXPECTING ANOTHER WANTED SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THEIR HOME
Client: FrankFranco Architects
Casa Cascade is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde project: On the outside, a 7,000-square-foot traditional limestone-clad house in a subdivision north of Toronto. Inside, an interior that was updated and made more functional in an environmentally responsible way without a major gut.
The Modernist renovation by Francesco Di Sarra, Principal Architect at FrankFranco Architects, based in Kleinburg, Ont., proved acceptable to the mass market: The client bought the residence for $3 million with the intention to renovate, spent $1 million on remodeling in 2019, then sold the house in 2022 for $7 million, making it the highest-priced listing in the area.
“This project is a case study in why a builder is not an architect,” Di Sarra says. Inside, “The spaces were devoid of any logic,” he adds, with redundant entries to rooms and a large lightwell cut-out in the second-storey hallway that made no sense because there was no skylight above it to draw light from. “The owner came to me, saying about the house, ‘What do I do with it?’ That was the exact sentence. They bought it with the intention to renovate.”
The extensive interior renovation included the relocation of a secondary stair, a sunroom expansion, reorganization of the interior spaces and an updated materials palette. In contrast to the white-and-chrome “before” interior, the makeover creates a relaxed atmosphere by introducing wood, warm metals and natural stones.
In its as-found state, the interior suffered from oppressive faux-Victorian ornament such as columned archways, fussy door-panel mouldings and, in the living room, incongruously oversize octagonal ceiling coffers.
Adjoining the house is a new pool house, Sinatra Cabana, so-named because it was inspired by the midcentury Modernist Palm Springs hideaway of Ol’ Blue Eyes. The clients, who often host summer gatherings, wanted a pool house reflecting their casual lifestyle. The building is used throughout the year because it also serves the tennis court, which converts to an ice surface that the clients’ children skate on all winter long. They use the cabana as the change room for all their outdoor activities.
Toronto Sun
Client: FrankFranco Architects
Here is a budget-sensitive renovation of a space-challenged, 110-year-old semi-detached house in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood.
She felt strongly about maintaining the traditional character of the home; he hoped to achieve a boldly modern aesthetic. To satisfy both halves of the client couple, the renovation preserves the Victorian façade that contributes to the charming period streetscape while adding a contrasting contemporary extension facing the rear laneway.
“There are very limited changes you can make to these homes,” advises Francesco Di Sarra, founder and Principal Architect at FrankFranco Architects, based in Kleinburg, Ont. His firm gutted all four levels of the narrow, 12-feet-wide residence.
The living room’s floating staircase exemplifies the stylish changes: Concealed LED cove lighting outlines the stairs’ zigzagging sculptural form. A frameless glass barrier acts as a safety guard without blocking light from entering the stairwell while eliminating the need for a balustrade and its attendant clutter of supporting balusters, a boon in such a close space. “It’s a simple, elemental solution,” he says of the glass wall.
SMALLER FOOTPRINT, BIGGER HEARTPRINT
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
The home renovation in St. Catharines, Ontario, by and for Paul Sapounzi, President and Managing Partner at +VG Architects (The Ventin Group Ltd.), is unusual in many respects. His family previously lived in a 5,000 sq ft house on an acre overlooking the Grand River in Cambridge; it had a very big footprint. The new, two-bedroom, carbon-neutral home is less than one-third the size and they love it. It measures 1,560 square feet over two floors and sits on 0.04 acres (50 feet by 35 feet). “My architecture firm designs big, beautiful houses, but I chose to live a more modest life with my family and it’s paying off,” he says.
The retrofit not only retains the 25 feet by 32 feet footprint of the 1911 cottage, but also its elevations and site plan. Demonstrating sensitivity to heritage context, its steel cladding and fastening details pay homage to what was the most important Canadian shipbuilding centre during the 19th century, located 20 minutes east of Niagara Falls.
On an ideological level, the project makes a polemical argument against the conspicuous consumption of McMansions and monster homes. On a personal level, the house is a remembrance of things past that makes a nostalgic yet contemporary, back-to-the-future statement about family and community.
2022
Architecture-Building
+VG ARCHITECTS UNDERTAKES THE ADAPTIVE REUSE OF HISTORIC NIAGARA PARKS POWER STATION
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
Architizer
ACUITY BRANDS FEATURED PRODUCT: PEERLESS LIGHTING INSTALLATION AND HILLSBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
+VG Architects wraps a new addition around a 19th-century farmhouse.
ROSEMOUNT PUBLIC LIBRARY, OTTAWA, CANADA
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
+VG Architects’s adaptive reuse transforms Ottawa’s last remaining Carnegie library into a more welcoming and inclusive destination.
Award
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Cover story: “For more than 50 years, +VG Architects has been making the impossible, possible.
Building
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
IN MEMORIAM: EBERHARD ZEIDLER’S ARCHITECTURE DEFINES THE TORONTO STYLE
Former client: Zeidler Partnership Architects
Text by David Lasker
“…when it comes to the astute mixing of uses — where a building contains more than one type of component, such as office, retail or housing — Zeidler created the archetypes: Eaton Centre (1979) and Queen’s Quay (1983). A 1986 readership survey by Progressive Architecture ranked the Eaton Centre among the “greatest architectural complexes in North America,” and declared Queen’s Quay among the “best restoration or adaptive re-use projects of the past five years.”
Canadian Interiors
GOOD GOVERNANCE EMDODIED: GREY COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
+VG Architects updates Grey County’s administration building, gathering previously dispersed services into an accessible, community-friendly hub.
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Renovation, with Johnson Chou Design, of the restaurant and retail mall at historic Table Rock House, Niagara Falls, Ontario.
AN INSIDE JOB: KINGSTON PUMPHOUSE STEAM MUSEUM
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
Photography by David Lasker Photography
An expansion and interior renovation of the Kingston Pump House Steam Museum distinguishes between old and new while respecting the original structure’s Victorian industrial vernacular style.
Former client: Zeidler Partnership Architects
Text by David Lasker
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Zeidler’s autobiography, Buildings Cities Life, was published in 2013, and Canadian Interiors had the pleasure of attending the launch party. Below is the segment by David Lasker that appeared in our Who’s Who department of the November-December 2013 issue.
“Please bring a strong arm to take away your complimentary book,” said the invitation to the book launch of Buildings Cities Life, the massive, heavy autobiography of Eberhard Zeidler, architect of Toronto’s Eaton Centre and Queen’s Quay, Vancouver’s BC Place and many another important building here and abroad. The event was a joyous reunion for friends of the Zeidler clan, taking place as it did in daughter Christina’s hip Gladstone Hotel.”
Metropolis
NIAGARA FALLS POWER STATION IS NOW AN EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT DESTINATION
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
Mortarr
ACUITY BRANDS FEATURED PROJECT: PEERLESS LIGHTING INSTALLATION AT HILLSBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
+VG Architects wraps a new addition around a 19th-century farmhouse.
Municipal World
ONTARIO’S UNOFFICIAL MUNICIPAL ARCHITECT FOR 50 YEARS
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
David Lasker Communications created a full-page advertorial feature story in Municipal World to celebrate the 50th anniversary of +VG Architects.
Officeinsight
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
Retrofit
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Cover story photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
Retrofit Home
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Rather than tear down a heritage Arts and Crafts bungalow on Hiawatha Parkway in the Toronto suburb of Port Credit and build a new, larger McMansion as is the norm, the client wanted to expand the house without violating its stylistic integrity or impacting upon the extensive mature landscape that includes a pond. They turned to +VG Architects Principal Chris Hall, who created a vertical addition.
Revitalization
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
Toronto Star
TURNING TYPICAL LAKE HOME DESIGN ON ITS SIDE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
This upscale +VG Architects cottage project links the exterior to the interior, visually and spatially.
MODERN RENO RESPECTS PORT CREDIT HOME’S 1950S COTTAGE CHARACTER
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Rather than tear down a heritage Arts and Crafts bungalow on Hiawatha Parkway in the Toronto suburb of Port Credit and build a new, larger McMansion as is the norm, the client wanted to expand the house without violating its stylistic integrity or impacting upon the extensive mature landscape that includes a pond. They turned to +VG Architects Principal Chris Hall, who created a vertical addition.
Treehugger
NIAGARA FALLS POWER STATION IS RESTORED AND REPURPOSED
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
+VG ARCHITECTS UNDERTAKES THE ADAPTIVE REUSE OF HISTORIC NIAGARA PARKS POWER STATION
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
Niagara Parks Power Station launched the modern electrical industrial era. This is where AC current was first generated and distributed over long distance on an energy grid at commercial scale using generators provided by George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla. +VG Architects restored it as a new iconic entertainment, education and tourism destination.
2021
Building
KINGSTON PUMPHOUSE STEAM MUSEUM
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
Images by David Lasker Photography
+VG unveils a contextually attuned transformation of Kingston’s historic waterworks.
Canadian Interiors
BEAUTY IN CONTRAST: HILLSBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
Photography by David Lasker Photography
+VG Architects wraps a new addition around a 19th-century farmhouse.
COTTAGE DESIGN PRINCIPLES FROM A TO Z
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
+VG Principal Peter Berton offers some lessons for the lakeside.
RCYC ISLAND CLUBHOUSE: CLEAN SLATE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
+VG Architects Principals Peter Berton and Chris Hall renovate the historic Toronto Island Royal Canadian Yacht Club Clubhouse.
Foodservice and Hospitality
TABLE ROCK HOUSE RESTAURANT, NIAGARA FALLS
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
At historic Table Rock House overlooking Niagara Falls, The Ventin Group Architects (+VG) and Johnson Chou Design create a destination restaurant evoking the iconic view.
Toronto Star
WITH ITS NEW RENO, RICHMOND HILL’S OBSERVATORY STILL SEEING STARS
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Photography by David Lasker Photography
+VG Architects renovates the historic David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
2020
Azure
HOW GOOD DESIGN CAN HELP SCHOOLS SAFELY RE-OPEN
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
How can schools welcome students and teachers back? Through the inclusion of learning commons adaptable to all curricula. (The photo shows the soaring, 40-foot-high, wedge-shaped daylit atrium at +VG’s St. Mary’s High School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.)
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Paul Sapounzi, President and Managing Partner at +VG, reveals how to make schools more versatile.
Building
+VG: ONTARIO’S UNOFFICIAL MUNICIPAL ARCHITECT
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
+VG has an unusual business model: designing public facilities for smaller municipalities, getting ratepayers on board, then securing provincial and federal aid to get the thing built.
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
To enable public schools to reopen safely during COVID, +VG reimagines the portable school classroom.
Canadian Architect
The Oomph Group, headed by Johanna Hoffmann, relaunches to deliver integrated marketing and business development services to architecture, engineering, planning and interior design firms.
Media contact: David Lasker Communications
BURLINGTON POA COURTHOUSE OFFERS DEVELOPMENT MODEL FOR CASH-STRAPPED MUNICIPALITIES
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Images by David Lasker Photography
“We applied contextual inspirations to evoke the spirit of the place and imbue the facility with an imaginative sense of place and poetry that pays homage to the primeval forests, the lake and even the weather,” says Ed Bourdeau, Partner and Architectural Project Manager at +VG.
+VG ARCHITECTS RESTORES MIDCENTURY-MODERN COURTHOUSE IN HAMILTON
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Images by David Lasker Photography
An iconic midcentury-modern heritage building in Hamilton, Ontario, has undergone an extensive revitalization that blends elements of the building’s proud heritage with new and modern amenities.
+VG ARCHITECTS RENOVATES THE PETERBOROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARY
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
The renovation and addition to the main branch of the Public Library in Peterborough, Ontario, exemplifies an important trend in urban living, explains +VG’s Peter Berton, the project’s Partner-in-Charge. “It’s a very big thing. More than just a library with books and internet, this is a community hub.”
+VG ARCHITECTS RENOVATES BROCK UNIVERSITY’S GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
The project will have a big impact on Goodman’s 2,900 undergrads and 520 graduate students, said Barry Wright, Interim Dean, when it launched. “This is about giving Goodman students a better advantage in launching their careers. Yes, the architecture will be beautiful, but importantly this project brings a new generation of teaching and learning facilities that are truly state-of-the-art.”
Canadian Interiors
A TANGIBLE CONNECTION: HOUSE ON HALIBURTON LAKE
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
This upscale +VG Architects cottage project links the exterior to the interior, visually and spatially.
Client: Stacklab
Stacklab works with regional Merino wool manufacturers to take surplus off-cut and end-of-bolt felted wool out of the waste stream and turn them into furniture.
Canadian Press
CANADIAN SCHOOLS FACE DAUNTING, UNIQUE REOPENING CHALLENGES DURING PANDEMIC
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
We arranged for Canadian Press Reporter Michelle McQuigge to interview +VG President and Managing Partner Paul Sapounzi about making schools safe during COVID. Her story appeared in dozens of newspapers across Canada including, as shown here, The Toronto Star.
Construction Links Network
+VG ARCHITECTS MANAGING PARTNER PAUL SAPOUNZI “ONTARIO’S MUNICIPAL ARCHITECT,” APPOINTED RAIC FELLOW
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Our press release on +VG Managing Partner Paul Sapounzi’s appointment as Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada included the moniker “Ontario’s unofficial municipal architect.” The nickname, in full or shortened form, evidently appeals to editors.
Municipal World
THE NEW, COMMUNITY-FRIENDLY FACE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
“I call this a community-friendly police building.”—Chris C. Herridge, Chief of Police, St. Thomas, Ontario.
Officeinsight
CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS COPE WITH COVID-19
Clients: Nienkamper, Teknion
Text by David Lasker
How are Canadian contract manufacturers coping with COVID? Better than expected. We interviewed the presidents of three Toronto-area firms: ErgoCentric’s Terry Cassaday, Nienkamper’s Klaus Nienkamper and Teknion’s David Feldberg. They’ve found imaginative ways to turn the massive economic disruption to advantage, even having fun along the way.
Toronto Star
SEE MUSIC THE WAY THIS KING CITY ARTIST PERCEIVES IT AT THIS TORONTO GALLERY
Client: Gallery 133
For feature editors at mass-market publications, abstract painting isn’t necessarily the most appealing topic. But by creating a story hook about synesthesia, we made Ernestine Tahedl’s music-inspired canvasses “sexy.”
2019
Blue Line
A BUILDING SUITED TO THE CHANGING FACE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Ontario’s new St. Thomas Police Service building depicts the evolving change in crime patterns and the trend to more community- and detainee-friendly policing
Building
IMPROVED PUBLIC REALM STARTS TO TAKE SHAPE AT UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
To mark the University of Windsor’s 50th anniversary, the school engaged +VG to create a campus master plan with a vision for the next 50 years.
CAYMAN MARSHALL: LAKESIDE DISRUPTOR
Client: Cayman Marshall International Realty
Text by David Lasker
Move over, Toronto and Vancouver. Look to the wilds of Muskoka, where Cayman Marshall International Realty has created Canada’s latest real estate hothouse.
Canadian Architect
+VG ARCHITECTS COMPLETE FIRST PHASE OF U OF WINDSOR MASTER PLAN
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
To mark the University of Windsor’s 50th anniversary, the school engaged +VG to create a campus master plan for the Ontario institution with a vision for the next 50 years.
Canadian Interiors
Client: Cecconi Simone
Text by David Lasker
How Cecconi Simone creates a cohesive vision of condominium amenity spaces, from presentation centres to the finished product.
Interior Design
COMMUNITY AGENCY AND STACKLAB THINK GREEN FOR TORONTO’S DESIGN EXCHANGE MUSEUM
Client: Stacklab
Amid recycled wood chips and pine seedlings planted in glass vials strung from biodegradable polymer fishing line, winding maple plaques in Stacklab’s Wild Abode exhibit told the story of how natural wood makes its way into homes.
Officeinsight
Client: Integral Business Interiors
Text by David Lasker
Images by David Lasker Photography
Integral Business Interiors, a Toronto furniture dealership and workplace design firm, acts as a one-stop shop for startups making the transition from shared space in an incubator to their own office premises. “We mentor them once they’ve signed the lease,” says Integral co-founder Lorne Roberts.
Spaces4learning
BRINGING OUT THAT COMMUNITY FEEL
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
For the University of Windsor’s 50th anniversary, the school engaged +VG to create a campus master plan with a vision for the next 50 years. The plan aims to enrich the student and community experience, update the feel of the campus and make the university more competitive.
2018
Building
CREATING THE “FUTURE-PROOF” SCHOOL
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
“Even if we can’t see what’s coming, our schools are flexible enough to accommodate it.”
80,000 SQUARE FOOT THEATRE PLANNED FOR OAKVILLE’S SHERIDAN COLLEGE.
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
For Sheridan College, +VG designed a multipurpose hall with an orchestra pit and a tall fly tower, making it capable of hosting chamber music, dance, drama, musical theatre and orchestral performances as well as conference, film and lecture presentations.
Canadian Interiors
STACKLAB AND JEFF GOODMAN STUDIO LAUNCH MURA LOW TABLE
Client: Stacklab
The Mura table will be produced in a limited-edition run of 25 units, with a list price of $US 60,000. It will be available exclusively at Maison Gerard, a leading New York gallery specializing in fine furniture, lighting and objets d’art by 20th-century masters and emerging contemporary designers.
STACKLAB INSTALLATION A FINALIST FOR SBID INTERNATIONAL DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARD
Client: Stacklab
Stacklab’s Wild Abode installation was a finalist in the 2018 SBID International Design Excellence Award in the Public Spaces category. The competition, based in London, England, ranks among the most prestigious interior design award events on the global design calendar.
A VISIT TO THE STUDIO OF FIG40: A DESIGN DUO TO WATCH
Client: Fig40
Text by David Lasker
Images by David Lasker Photography
By their works shall ye know them. If the Toronto-based industrial design firm Fig40 doesn’t sound familiar, many of the products they’ve designed for American and Canadian manufacturers are. To mention only their 2017 introductions: Nienkamper’s CernOffice casegoods collection, which won a Silver award at NeoCon 2017; the F4 conference chair for Stylex, that won Gold; and Tayco’s Switch systems furniture. This year will see the launch of Cache, a high-density stacking chair designed for Groupe Lacasse; desktop divider panels designed for Symmetry Office made of a felt lookalike – PET (polyethylene terephthalate recycled from soda bottles); and, at NeoCon, a table collection for Tuohy and two concrete lines for Nienkamper: Cern Accessories and the Perplex Bench.
2017
Building
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
Text by David Lasker
This past September, a cadre of suitably awed journalists saw the fruits of a 14-year, $128-million renovation of historic St. Michael’s Cathedral, the principal church of Canada’s largest English-speaking Catholic archdiocese, located at 65 Bond Street in the heart of downtown Toronto. Previously, the 169-year old monument, designed by Toronto architect William Thomas, seemed dark, drab and dreary. Now it is light, bright and resplendent.
NEW PROJECT TARGETS EMPTY-NESTER MARKET GAP
Client: Culver & Henderson Building Design
What’s an empty-nester baby boomer to do? There are plenty of options for group and assisted living. But up to now, downsizing boomers who want to continue to live independently and age gracefully in place in their own house have had little to choose from.
Canadian Architect
+VG ARCHITECTS CELEBRATES COMPLETED RENOVATION OF HISTORIC ST. MICHAEL’S CATHEDRAL
Client: +VG Architects – The Ventin Group Ltd.
The project is part of a series of extensive renovations by +VG instigated by the Archdiocese of Toronto and further encouraged by Cardinal Thomas Collins, who arrived in 2007 and had a vision to develop the cathedral as a centre of evangelization. To that end, “The cathedral should be a thing of beauty,” says architect Terrance White, Partner-in-Charge of the +VG team at the cathedral, who was assisted by David Ecclestone, +VG Partner and project architect. As the lead consultant, they worked with the archdiocese to create the renovation strategy and hire subcontractors.
Canadian Interiors
Client: Cecconi Simone
Designed by Taylor Smyth Architects and Cecconi Simone Inc., Kishti on Meads is a luxury two-villa enclave on fashionable Meads Bay Beach in the Caribbean island of Anguilla. The villa with six main bedrooms has ensuite bathrooms offering garden or ocean views, rooftop and courtyard gardens, an infinity pool with ocean view beyond, and a hot tub.
The Globe and Mail
HOME-BUILDER’S DIP INTO THE RED A PAINFUL LESSON
Client: Derek Nicholson
The houses that contractor Derek Nicholson builds are not your everyday, cookie-cutter suburban homes.
Zoomer
Client: Culver & Henderson Building Design
Text by David Lasker
“Taking the waters, right at home? According to David Lasker, hydrotherapy pools might be an answer to easing pain and wear-and-tear on the body as we age.”
David Lasker Communications
Banner photo: AM Studio booth, IIDEX 2008, Toronto, Ontario, copyright © David Lasker Photography.