March 28, 2012
“Joan Rivers House” makes the cover of Style Magazine!
A major renovation project that we recently finished is the feature article of the Spring 2012 issue of Style magazine.
Dubbed the “Joan Rivers House” because of all the facelifts it had endured with, well - disappointing results - our firm was called in to rescue the house once and for all. With its many additions over the years, the house had some major heating issues – with lack of insulation in some areas causing the homeowners to sit in the family room in their winter jackets in order to stay warm! So the plan was to solve the heating issues, reclad the exterior, design a more welcoming (and obvious) front entrance, and basically unify and open up all the small spaces that had been created over the years. Mission accomplished say the homeowners.
We will have photos of the house – with before and after shots – up on our website soon. In the meantime, take a look at the article for some great shots of the interior of the house.
March 12, 2012
Ottawa Citizen features “House in the Forest”
We’re delighted that one of our homes was the front story of the “Homes & Condos” section of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper on March 10th. This multiple award winning home has garnered a lot of attention from people visiting our website, and from comments we receive it is often cited as being “one of our favorities”.
Many thanks to the homeowners who graciously agreed to the Citizen’s request for an interview. You can see the article here, and more photos of the home on our website here.
February 1, 2012
The popular blog “Freshome” features our Muskoka Boathouse
It is a very fun site to see what’s happening in the world of design. Their mission is to “uncover and share the latest and greatest in architecture and design” - so we are delighted that they love our Boathouse. Click on the link to the feature where you can see fabulous photos of the boathouse and read all about it.
January 25, 2012
“MAN, you guys do some beautiful work.”
We received a very complimentary email from a creative service manager of a publishing company and, with apologies for bragging, we thought we’d pass it along…
“I just wanted to say that I saw your work on Freshome.com, navigated to your web site to look around....MAN, you guys do some beautiful work. I view the freshome blog from time to time... something about modern architecture that just grasps me... love to look at it. I have to say by far, your work, site and projects are tops in terms of anything I have seen. Just wanted to pass that along, that is all. Be proud of what you do. It is inspirational.”
Our firm has garnered a lot of publicity lately as one of our projects, the Fraser Residence, was featured on both the ArchDaily and Architizer websites.
For fans of modern architecture, we have a couple of projects in progress now that we think you’ll love. Stay tuned.
January 10, 2012
Green Building and Design magazine
We were pleased when the folks from Green Building and Design magazine asked to interview us for their November/December 2011 issue. This issue has a theme of “holistic healing - and how to design for it” and features firms and projects that have a sustainability focus. The article on our firm “Ascetic Tendencies” (page 91) talks about Chris’ philosophy on relating our buildings to the environment, and specifically looks at our Rideau Valley Conservation Centre building, and our Hilltop House.
November 18, 2011
CSA Celebrates 15 years in Business
Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc. is 15 years old. To celebrate, we held an Open House last night to thank all those who we have worked with over the years. We were delighted to see more than 130 clients, consultants, suppliers, contractors, friends and colleagues – all of whom have helped us grow from a one-man show in 1996 – to an award winning firm of very talented architects, designers and technologists. Together we have created and built great residential, commercial and public projects. Thank you to everyone.
To those who attended – it was great to see you. And to those who couldn’t make it – sorry we missed you but we look forward to seeing you at a future event when we’ll be celebrating another milestone!
November 8, 2011
Best Carport in Town and Winning Living Room
Coverage of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association (GOHBA) housing design awards continued this past weekend in the Ottawa Citizen. The November 5th edition featured our winning project in the “Housing Details” category for a carport, and also our winning entry for “Any Room in the House” for the living room in our Forest House.
Carport/Gateway
“It’s the best carport in town”, - so says one of the judges of the competition. The carport’s design incorporates Shoji panels that slide out along the side to stop the winds and snow in winter, but can be moved out of the way in summer. This was an important feature as the property has a fabulous view of the Ottawa River and has wonderful gardens and landscaping – the design of the carport allows for these elements to be featured. The Ottawa Citizen article can be found here.
House in the Forest Living Room
In the Ottawa Citizen article “Rooms that Count”, our Living Room won in “one of the toughest categories to judge”, so says the judges of this year’s design awards. This is an open-concept room that very much blurs the line between interior and exterior. The living room is part of an overall project (House in the Forest) that won best custom home in its size category.
Have a look at the full article here:
October 24, 2011
GOHBA Awards 2011
Our firm wins big at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association Housing Design Awards. We are delighted to tell you that we won 6 awards at GOHBA’s Housing Design Awards Gala on Saturday night. Our winning entries were:
-Most Outstanding Custom Home less than 2400 sq.ft – House in the Forest
-Best Custom Infill – Fraser Residence
-Best Custom Kitchen 160-219 sq.ft – Manotick Country Estate Home. This kitchen also won at the recent Ontario Home Builders Association Awards
-Any room in the house – House in the Forest (living room)
-Housing Details – Residential Carport – (not yet on the website – but will be soon!)
-Open Category (for projects anywhere in North America) – Muskoka Lakes Boathouse
The gala was held at the newly built Ottawa Convention Centre. Congratulations to all the organizers for a great event.
Check out the Citizen Article here.
October 21, 2011
“We’ve been remiss“
Our staff has grown and we neglected to tell you. Architects Samantha Schneider and Gabe Prost have joined us, bringing over 23 year of experience with them. And technologists James Hawley and Roger Patry have also come on board. Take a look at the Team section of our website to see the full team - and read a bit about the great people who work here.
September 26, 2011
Most Outstanding New Home Kitchen
We’re delighted that our Manotick Country Estate House won for Most Outstanding New Home Kitchen on September 22nd, at the OHBA (Ontario Home Builders Association) Housing Design Gala. This category is judged on overall appeal; innovative design and features; use of materials and building forms; creative use of space; and functionality of floor plan.
This home could also receive another design award, along with 5 of our other projects,as they are finalists in the upcoming GOHBA (Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association) housing awards – being held on October 22nd.
