With every project we help our clients identify opportunities to achieve energy efficient, cost effective and healthy living/working environments, resulting in buildings and public spaces that benefit from the use of sustainable building materials and technologies. These building systems strive to balance environmental responsibility, resource efficiency, occupant comfort and well-being, community development and the economies of building construction and operation.

This Sunday marks the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day, in honor of this special day we celebrate these vibrant, innovative and sustainable project designs:

Virtrium, University of Toronto, Society of Engineering
This design uses leading-edge sustainable and engineering technologies to transform the dark, windowless atrium into a literal living environment for its users – the University of Toronto Engineering students.  The space named Virtrium (Virtual+Atrium=Virtrium) connects users to the external natural world, digitally capturing real time changes in weather, lighting and sounds and then reflecting them internally within the building for students to experience.  Learn more about Virtrium here.

House in Kings Cross
The passive systems in this private residence include site orientation, passive solar and passive ventilation as well as geothermal, in-floor heating, solar and photovoltaic technologies will help to reduce energy consumption.  This project is slated to receive the Energy Star Rating for residential construction. Learn more about House in Kings Cross here.

#architecturematters #earthday

When we analyzed how the space had to perform for the community, users who might literally bounce off of it, we created the Crash Pad^TM concept: a wall made of rubber tubes.  To make the wall work we developed a material that had just the right combination of flexibility, rigidity and durability. The tubing allowed us to easily break the wall into a series of swinging doors, creating a surface that was more transparent, textural and alive than conventional walls.

Bortolotto’s performance solution drove the style, enabling us to rethink this wall and deliver a thoughtful, creative and unexpected design solution.

To learn  more about this project visit our website: http://www.bortolotto.com/project_crashpad.asp
Tweet This: @BortolottoArch #CrashPad #architecturematters

On Wednesday, March 13, 2012 Bortolotto was featured in Modern Toronto’s Daily Modern Blog: Bortolotto Designs Mcgregor Park Community Centre Lounge.

An excerpt from the post:

“Toronto’s Bortolotto combined their talents of architecture and design to produce the McGregor Park Community Centre Lounge located along Lawrence Avenue East.  Occupying 1500 sq.ft., the space known as “The Commons” provides a lounge, computer areas, kitchen, storage and an outdoor courtyard to a neighbourhood in need of the City’s investment.

This project represents a true community initiative that welcomed participation of everyone from area residents to council members in the design and construction process.”

Read the full post here.

Modern Toronto (MoTo) features Toronto’s cutting edge contemporary architecture, art and design. Bookmark this blog at: www.modto.com.

This pavilion provides the Town of Oakville with a beautiful, accessible rest, refresh and refuel spot for transit staff. Inspired by movement and speed, angular both in plan and section, Pit Stop is intended to evoke the image of a fast moving bus. Situated on a small vacant parcel of land, Pit Stop is encircled by a paved bus stop area behind a newly built big box mall and presents itself at the intersection of crossing pedestrian paths.

Oriented in a way that provides drives with the ability to maintain views of both their bus and the shelter, this pavilion is conceived of as a sculptural beacon that stands out against its lack luster surroundings. Aluminum panels are arranged angled and horizontal and compliment the adjacent existing bus shelters at the site. The exterior of the lunch area component is differentiated with the use of a light yellow solid core fiber cement board. The building is 124 m2 and includes an outdoor area that contains the heating and cooling unit.

McGregor Community Centre Lounge Addition is featured in the March 2, 2012 edition of the Globe and Mail and the March 1, 2012 edition of the Daily Commercial News.

In February, Tania Bortolotto, Director and Architect treated Globe writer Dave LeBlanc to a special tour of the beautiful new Lounge space, also known as “The Commons”.

“The Commons is a delight. A long corridor hugs a former exterior wall, which opens into a bright, slightly trapezoidal space with a chic, industrial look: …”

Read the full online version of the article here and view the slideshow here.

Find the Daily Commercial News article here.

Learn more about this project here.

Located in Toronto’s Summerhill neighbourhood, the driving concept in the design of the house is to connect it to the outside world. At the rear of the house which faces south, the inside is connected to the rear yard ravine through views to the spectacular landscape, the city and sky, and through outdoor decks and steps that lead down the sloped forested yard. As well, natural light is introduced to the centre of the house from the roof to the ground floor through a continuous vertical opening of a glass and wood central staircase via a skylight. Overhangs at the south side are introduced to keep direct sunlight from entering through the glazing during summer months.

Please visit  our project web page for more information…..

This newly constructed Orthodontic office designed by Bortolotto architecture and interior design is located in the corner suite of an existing office building. The office serves 10 patients at a time in the treatment areas and the design is driven by the flow of patients and staff to ensure an efficient and smooth functioning process.

The Reception, Lounge and Treatment Bay are arranged along the windows and separated by two enclosed Consultation Offices to provide a visual and acoustic barrier between the spaces. Sterilization equipment, x-ray and a semi private examination room are separated from the Treatment Bay which provides a partial level of enclosure. This element delineates the areas where patients and parents are free to move from those areas which require a staff escort. The Sterilization area, while strictly for staff use, is also treated in this way to make patients and parents aware of the importance of cleanliness and sterilization.

Bortolotto is now working with Column B in the design build of dental and medical professionals. Visit us at Columnb.com

Please visit our web project page to check out more photographs on this project.

Bortolotto is featured and on the cover of the current May/June 2011 issue of Canadian Interiors Magazine.

Titled “‘X’ Marks The Spot”, Leslie C. Smith writes how Bortolotto made LinX- a meeting space for undergraduates at Toronto’s Humber Institute X-traordinarily memorable.  Click here for a digital copy!

We are seeking an Intermediate and Senior Architect to join our team in the design and contract administration of various government and educational projects starting immediately or as soon as possible.

We offer health benefits, sick days, paid days off between Christmas and New Year’s Day, a bright open environment, an office dog and air conditioning. We meet weekly, have professional development “lunch and learns” and yearly staff reviews.

We are looking for a candidate that has:

• Over 7 years of relevant experience in an architectural practice.
• Excellent English written and verbal communication skills.
• Thorough knowledge and understanding of building systems and technology.
• Expertise in contract document production and construction detailing.
• Thorough knowledge of the Ontario Building Code is essential.
• Proficient in Revit or Autocad.

Please e-mail your resume to jobs@bortolotto.com

We thank all applicants for their interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

The Rotman South project for the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto had a budget of $2.1 million and the project came in at $2.15 million.