News Archive
May 5, 2010
Check out our Waters Edge Home on YouTube
The homeowners of this stunning project in Mississauga have put a video of their home on YouTube. Completed in 2009, we entered this home in the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association Housing Design Awards competition and it won the coveted “People’s Choice Award”. Have a look at the video – showcasing both the exterior and interior – and you’ll see why!
May 3, 2010
Chris Simmonds and RND Construction team up on LEED Gold retrofit for 4té inc.
The partners of the interior design firm 4té inc. (formerly Gansen Lindsay Design) are delighted with their new office space. Chris Simmonds and Roy Nandrum (RND Construction) collaborated once again – this time on a renovation of a 12,000 sq.ft. warehouse on Breezehill Avenue in the Hintonburg area of Ottawa – and turned it into a bright, modern, minimalist office space. Better yet, the client’s interest in being environmental responsible meant making this retrofit as "green" as possible – which is right in line with the thinking of CSA and RND Construction. Together, everyone worked to achieve this goal - from the design of the new building, to the demolition practices of the existing warehouse, and to the materials and energy system choices for the new building. The result is a building that will likely achieve LEED Gold for commercial interiors.
The April 2010 issue of Ottawa Construction News tells the whole story of this project.
Our firm and RND Construction have partnered on a number of projects – have a look at the "work" section of our website where you can see our joint endeavours including: "Accu-Lift Flooring System", "Beament Green". "43/45 Eccles", "Wind & Water", "Courtyard Home", "Butterfly Garden". "Arbour Court", "Kenwood Renovation" and "Swans Way renovation".
May 1, 2010
Genuine Sustainability: the future of green communities
Chris Simmonds and Greg Searle, Executive Director of BioRegional North America, are jointly presenting at GOHBA’s “Build Green Ottawa” tradeshow and dinner meeting on Tuesday May 4th, on the topic of "Genuine Sustainability: the future of green communities"
Greg, who is responsible for building partnerships to create One Planet Communities in Canada and the United States, is an expert on sustainable lifestyles. He has led teams in developing Sustainability Action Plan and Green Lifestyle programs – setting the most ambitious targets for green communities yet seen in North America. BioRegional has worked on many of the leading green developments in North America and is deeply networked with cutting-edge developments and sustainability initiatives worldwide. With our firm’s strong interest in these issues and practices, it is a perfect partnership that Chris Simmonds will join Greg to speak on this subject.
April 27, 2010
Café Scientifique
Christopher Simmonds will be part of a panel on Tuesday April 27th to discuss “Living well or living fair – is there an ecobalance?” Café Scientifique are a series of discussions organized by the Canadian Museum of Nature in partnership with the Canadian Science Technology Museum. The other two panelists for this event are Lori Gadzala, Executive Director of the Ottawa Regional Chapter, Canada Green Building Council; and Woytek Kujawski, Senior Researcher Sustainable Housing Group with CMHC.
The panelists will be asked to comment on the fact that more and more 21st century homes are embracing the principle of sustainability as technologies improve with better ecological materials. But it can be challenging to have an environmentally sensitive home that is also affordable and satisfies personal taste. Can we leave it up to individuals to pursue their own eco-balance, or should be expect government to get more involved?
The public is welcome to attend this panel discussion which takes place at the Fox and Feather Pub at 283 Elgin Street, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
January 27, 2010
Have a look at 5 more great projects
We’re proud to showcase five more projects on our site – have a look under “Work” where you can find two more “community and public” projects –Wakefield-LaPêche Community Centre and the Ottawa offices of MHPM. We’ve also added a bungalow renovation (Swans Way) and boathouse under “custom homes & gardens”; and lastly in the “traditional homes & restoration” category we’ve added the Rolling Hills home.
With the exception of the community centre, all of these projects are finished with our clients happily living or working in their new spaces. The Swans Way bungalow was able to accommodate large parties through the month of December – something the original house could not have coped with!
The Muskoka Lakes boathouse is a fabulous building in an amazing setting. This structure will be magnificent in every season. In fact, we used a water colour version for our Christmas card this year:
Our renovation of the MHPM offices in Ottawa provides their staff with an elegant and fully efficient office space. The use of materials and finishes with an environmental conscience was a focus for this project.
Rolling Meadows is indeed just that. The house nestles into a slope, and is surrounded by rolling hills, woods and streams. Visual sight lines throughout provide vistas of the stunning exterior courtyard which is a main focus of this home.
We continue to work on the Community Centre in Wakefield, which has a tentative completion date of Spring 2011. It is a pleasure to work with the community to design a building in a wonderful setting that is going to be a gathering spot, cultural hub and recreational centre for the people in the area. We have posted some of the renderings of the building.
January 15, 2010
Congratulations to our new LEED Accredited Professionals
We consider looking after the environment to be a critical part of our way of doing business. So we want our architects to have a thorough understanding of green building practices and familiarity with LEED building requirements, resources and processes. We are therefore proud to announce that three more members of our architectural staff have become LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professionals. Congratulations to Paul Cooper, Ryan McLennan and Don Peterman.
January 4, 2010
We’re growing!
Paul Cooper has joined our team, bringing with him nine years experience in residential and commercial architecture. He hit the ground running, and is totally immersed in and enjoying (so he tells us!) many projects at CSA.
You can view his profile here.
October 23, 2009
Welcome to our new site!
Well, it's not really new - but it is improved and we hope easier to navigate and to get a more complete feel for what our firm is all about. To that end, we have added some features; not the least of which is this "news" section which we hope you will visit often to see what we're up to.
We have added some new features; one of which is to introduce you to our team of extraordinary architects. Under this same section you will find an expanded discussion of our firm profile and design philosophy - all under the umbrella of "holistic and sustainable design."
Lastly, some bragging rights. You can now see our award winning designs via two ways - we have identified a project's awards or honours under each project description, plus you can view them as a group under the separate link "awards and publications".
We are delighted with our new look. We think you'll enjoy the wonderful photography and will find the site informative as you click through the different pages.
As always, we appreciate your comments - let us know what you think! We look forward to hearing from you.
October 19, 2009
Awards, Awards, Awards...
The Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association (GOHBA) held their annual Housing Design Awards Gala on October 17th where our firm took home honours in four categories:
- Best Renovation/Addition, $350,000 to $499,000
- Best Green Renovation
- Best Custom Kitchen over 220 sq.ft,, under $75,000
- Ottawa Citizen People's Choice Award
The first three awards listed above were won by our renovation project on Kenwood Avenue. Have a look at it on under our "work" pages.
And it turns out that Ottawa likes "gorgeous," as the Citizen's People's Choice award went to a home in Mississauga with a definite WOW factor. Be inspired and take a look at our "Waters Edge" home.
Plus...
The Ontario Home Builder's Association Awards of Distinction selected three of our projects at this year's gala event in Niagara Falls.
- Best Kitchen went to the eclectically styled Kenwood Avenue Kitchen in Westboro.
- Best Low-Rise High Density Development was awarded to our 93/95 Riverdale project.
- Best Custom Home, 2,500 to 5,000 sq.ft. was awarded to Arbour Court Home (which also won two years ago at the Greater Ottawa Home Builder's Awards).
And...
We are also delighted to announce that the Rideau Valley Conservation Centre was awarded first place in the Ontario Builder's Awards, for projects under $10 million, by the Ontario General Contractor's Association. Thank you to Lundy Construction for submitting this project on behalf of the project team.
