Services

We aim to support our clients in strategically planning, designing and building their projects, with a view to providing safe, comfortable, healthy, and adaptable spaces, in which to host all of life’s most ordinary and extraordinary moments. At the same time, SHED considers how the action of individuals, businesses, and developers can contribute to local, regional, and national agendas for the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, climate change mitigation, including decarbonization of the built environment.

Check out our services to take advantage of our integrated design process, along with our projects for ideas on how to bridge the gap between people, building, and the natural environment, and work towards a restorative and just future for all.

SHED reviews clients’ objectives, applying the best of strategic, systemic, and regenerative design lenses. Through scenario and feasibility planning, clients discuss how to plan their architectural, urban design and long-term housing strategies to enable wellbeing, generate revenue, age in-place with dignity and lower their overall ecological footprint. We also outline options for both short and multi-phased stages of development.

Strategic Planning

SHED works with clients to select the best housing solution to fit their long term needs, budget and climate zone.

Clients have three (3) options;

1) select a pre-existing design from our catalogue

2) work with us to develop a custom design (see our project page for examples)

3) engage with us for high-performance building consulting.

High-Performance Design

SHED provides 'value added' project management at every stage of your high-performance building project, including building feasibility and site analysis. We can prepare pre-construction contracts, budgets and schedules; select and manage sub-trades; specify and supply high-performance materials, systems and prefabricated building assemblies and advise/guide on regenerative, carbon compatible construction processes.

Integrated Project Delivery

SELECT FROM OUR DESIGN TYPOLOGIES

FLEXIBLE SPACES

...FOR HEALTH AND WEALTH

The conventional single-family home can be costly to maintain, and has led to high levels of space and resource consumption in the development of both urban and rural areas. Adding existing properties with live-work suites and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) not only creates new, affordable housing options within the urban core, it also optimizes the footprint of the built environment. Homeowners can customize ADUs for the purpose of hosting relatives, tenants, caregivers, refugees, new Canadians, employees, and clients. Through these types of additions, SHED’s clientele has enjoyed remaining close to loved ones, enabling dignified aging in place for elderly relatives, and generating income through their properties.

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS

...FOR OPTOMIZED PERFORMANCE

As clients endeavour to lower their overall ecological footprint, SHED is complementing this effort by applying the most cutting-edge approaches to sustainable, high-performance, and low-carbon design, as this pertains to all aspects of systems planning, spatial use, building assembly, and material sourcing. Clients can also request alternative systems by which to capture energy, collect water, and produce food on site, for greater self-sufficiency, healthier living environments, and lower operational costs. SHED is a member of Passive Buildings Canada and the International Living Future Institute.

ADAPTIVE AGRITECTURE

...FOR RURAL CONNECTION

The traditional agricultural homestead is a staple of our local culture, yet many of these are being lost due to urban growth, cost of land management, and changing livelihoods. For landowners contemplating how to manage rural properties in the face of land-use change, SHED is reorganizing sites in ways that preserve their cultural and natural heritage. This includes incorporated uses for multiple families and generations, and finding ways for owners to deepen their connections with land through water, energy, and food harvesting.

ECOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS

...FOR REWILDING PLACES

As the resilience of local ecosystems is tested by urbanization and climate change, SHED is considering how to build in harmony with natural environments, minimizing ecological disruption, and facilitating hands-on immersion in nature. At the outset of each project, we complete detailed site analyses, identifying natural assets and local species, and plan for post-construction restoration, as necessary. Following from biophilic design approaches, we can incorporate green features, such as living walls and planted rooftops, into indoor and outdoor spaces, improving indoor air quality, reducing heat island effect and water runoff, and enriching overall quality and experience of place.

RESTORED HERITAGE

...FOR REVITALIZED CULTURES

As building and housing stock continues to age and degrade, we confront the question of whether to restore and renovate heritage structures, or replace them with new construction. SHED works with families, businesses, and developers to breathe renewed life into older sites and spaces, by adapting them for contemporary uses. SHED’s projects have preserved culturally and historically significant properties and features, while also updating building envelopes and systems to meet code requirements—resulting in healthier, more ecologically responsible programmes.

RESPONSIBLE ENTERPRISE

...FOR MULTIPLE BOTTOM LINES

As the corporate world transitions towards socially and environmentally conscientious practices, SHED can help businesses meet quadruple-bottom-line accounting measures (people, planet, profit, purpose). Through regenerative design approaches, business owners can create inviting working environments that enhance employee productivity, improve public health and safety, and lower overall ecological footprint. SHED has designed and built interior spaces for an art gallery, yoga studio, veterinary hospital, along with a variety of retail establishments.