December 11, 2024
We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Spencer Rand! being the first to identify the November clue: Norfolk Family Health Team's Simcoe expansion, located in Simcoe, ON.
Spencer, let us know if you want coffee from Matter of Taste, or an ice cream gift card from Four All, and swing by our office to pick up your price! It will be really nice to see you.
A bit about the Norfolk Family Health Team expansion:
This interior fit-up allowed the Team to expand into a spacious, fully accessible, central location in Simcoe. The ground floor facility (over 12,300 s.f.) now includes exam rooms, …
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January 10, 2025
We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Tobias Gallas! being the first to identify the December clue: the Dickson Public School adaptive reuse, located at 65 St. Andrews Street, Cambridge, ON.
A bit about the Dickson Public School adaptive reuse:
Dickson Public School is a prominent city landmark as one ascends the St. Andrews Street hill from downtown Galt. This impressive 19th Century stone school building has recentlybeen repurposed into a residential building with 10 large units. The adaptive reuse of the Dickson Public School has not just saved it from falling into disrepair, but has brought into the community much needed residen…
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November 12, 2024
We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Neal Campbell! for being the first to identify the October clue: University of Waterloo Health Services Centre on Strauss Lake, and can be approached from Westmount Ave.
A bit about the University of Waterloo Health Services Centre Expansion:
Many of us at JMA graduated from the University of Waterloo, and remember the older health services building, on the edge of the pond – an early project of Moriyama and Teshima Architects in 1968. By 2010, when we (Kearns Mancini Architects and us) started working on this project, the university population had grown from 9,000 to 36,000, and health priorities and service models had changed.
…
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October 11, 2024
We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Tim Ingold! for being the first to identify the September clue: Breslau EMS/Fire Station at 51 Beacon Point Ct.
A bit about this Fire/EMS station:
Completed in 2018, this is the only station in the region that Fire and EMS share. The training room was designed to double up as a community room for public use. The massing of the building articulates a sense of address and identity for each of the occupants. Recognizing the need to safeguard response times, and a concern for safety across the site for all users, designing a successful pattern of circulation was of huge importance.
A special water saving fea…
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September 24, 2024
We recently brought an engaging and interactive booth to Kitchener’s KidsPark festival, where we were able to expose kids to architecture in a way that is inspiring and fun. Additionally, we also used this opportunity to answer questions, mostly from parents and caregivers, about what architects do. This festival presented us with a great opportunity to engage with audiences we do not normally reach.
Our booth, “Fun with Architecture" was a massive success. We were busy non-stop all day, as kids played an architectural matching game, built with wooden blocks and drew on title block. With this pilot project, we tested activities and our approach.
Recently, we were very pleased to learn that the project has generously be…
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July 16, 2024
Dickson Public School, ongoing residential conversion - How many keystones can you spot?
As we continue our office Word of the Day exercise, we’d like to share a second round of definitions.
Enfilade: In architecture, an enfilade is a series of rooms formally aligned with each other. This was a common feature in grand European architecture from the Baroque period onward, although there are earlier examples, such as the Vatican stanze. The doors entering each room are aligned with the doors of the connecting rooms along a single axis, providing a vista through successive rooms. The enfilade may be used as a processional route and is a common arrangement in museums and art galleries, as it facilitates the movement of large numbers of people through a building. [Wikipe…
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July 02, 2024
In the world of architecture, there are many specific and technical terms. As a fun office exercise, we recently started an internal Word of the Day, where a different JMA staff member is invited to share a definition with the office every day, before nominating a colleague to contribute the next day’s definition. We just thought we’d share some of the words that have come up so far:
Pastiche: an artistic work in a style (or styles) that imitates that of another work, artist, or period. [Google Dictionary]
Fanlight: A window over the door that is curved or shaped like a fan is called a fanlight. A transom is the rectangular version of the fanlight. [OntarioArchitecture.com]
Examples: http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/FANLIGHT.HTM
…
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April 15, 2024
Our staff are looking forward to participating again in Jane's Walk, the annual community-based approach to city building that uses volunteer-led walking tours to encourage people to rediscover the value of walking, and to observe, reflect, share, question and re-imagine the places in which they live, work and play. This year, both John and Scott have Jane's Walks planned for the first full weekend of May (3-5). Scott's walk will be announced shortly.
How Do you Do? The Happy Accident of Meeting a Stranger, with John
An interactive session that uses our city as a backdrop for an important conversation.
What are the spaces / places in our community that help us meet people who aren’t like ourselves? How do our actions in public affect our a…
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February 09, 2024
JMA closed up shop for a day and headed to the International Plowing Match in Roseville. Our team volunteered our time and muscles to assist the Mennonite Disaster Service in a demonstration of an “old fashion” barn raising, which took place over the course of the Plowing Match within the antique section of the event. The barn was brought in from Paris, Ontario for the demonstration and was assembled and disassembled at the event before being transported to it’s final resting place at a private residence in Collingwood.
Our day started out with a very appropriate tractor ride from the parking area to the event grounds, once we where able to find the barn raising site we grabbed our hardhats and waited for instr…
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October 02, 2023
John MacDonald Architect continues to grow.
Our forward-thinking studio of twelve or so is presently working on a wide range of projects including adaptive re-use of heritage properties, mixed use and multi-res developments, institutional projects including library renovations, public spaces, office renovations, and maintenance facilities, as well as custom residential projects. If you can bring a unique skillset(s) to our dynamic team and would like to assist us with our expanding project load, we'd like to hear from you.
The successful applicant will be involved with all phases of project development, including client / subconsultant support and will work in person at our downtown Kitchener office.
Experience and skills:
A good a…
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August 17, 2023
Doors Open Waterloo Region returns as an in-person event in 2023 on Saturday, September 16 from 10 am to 4 pm, and we're proud to be a part of it. Waterloo Region will have 20 participating sites this year, such as noteworthy buildings, interesting places & heritage sites, many of which are not usually open to the public. The list includes WPL's Eastside Branch, which we designed in joint venture with ward99 architects inc, and the historic Public Utilities Commission building in downtown Kitchener, where our office is located on the second floor. Details about each can be found below.
An interactive map showing the location of all 20 participating sites can be found here. For further information, visit Doors Open Ontario.
The excellent illustratio…
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Scott
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August 02, 2023
Thanks Nolan. If you can think of anything to add to the list, we'd be interested to hear from you.
Nolan Bentley
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August 01, 2023
I am going measuring tomorrow so this is a timely reflection :-) thx!
