A Green Design Philosophy And Deep Dive Customization Create Unique Client Experiences
VICTORIA – Waymark Architecture is on a mission to make a future with net zero carbon buildings, both new and old, a reality.
“Last year we brought the first Passive House office building to Western Canada, with Charter Telecom‘s new headquarters in Langford,” says company Co-Founder Graeme Verhulst. “Its design reduces the heating and cooling needs you’d see in a standard office building by ninety-percent.”
From left, Will King, Christina Lenic, Graeme Verhulst and Kyla Tuttle, the creative quartet behind Waymark Architecture
Founded in Victoria’s historic Chinatown in 2015, the expertise-driven, ecologically mindful company embraces the future of cleaner, greener, more personal architectural design.
Verhulst and Co-founder Will King compose half of a dedicated team of four, collectively pushing beyond the standard approach to projects, utilizing a granular methodology to maximizes understanding of owner needs, and impact of their work on the surrounding world.
“We use what we call a ‘Needs and Opportunities’ assessment in our design work, which includes a thorough review of perceived project parameters extremely early on,” elaborates Will on their process.
Designed by Waymark, the Rock Street Passive Home is a single-family residential dwelling in Victoria
“Once broken down to their core elements, these established project parameters offer a great deal of opportunity to bring a more fulfilling building product to the owner. This study and analysis is one of our cornerstones, and we don’t proceed any further into a design process until it has been completed.”
From homeowner to business, this rare, key component creates a customized path through conception to completion that is deeply individual to each client, catered to create the most meaningful impact on the building occupants.
This dedication to craft goes beyond those dwelling in a Waymark structure however, with a design process including engineers, builders, user groups, neighbours, the public at large and other consulting professionals. This ultimately coalesces into projects contributing to their environments visually, as well as environmentally.
Waymark also looks to the future by embracing the past, working with the University of Victoria‘s Building Sciences Department to research the most significant ways to improve the life carbon emissions, structural integrity and envelope performance of existing buildings.
This is particularly relevant of heritage buildings, rehabilitating them not only to reduce their carbon footprints, but to protect, maintain and allow future generations to appreciate the cultural significance of the historical buildings in their cities.
The Charter Telecom Head Office mixes state-of-the-art design and Waymark’s reduced-energy building techniques
“Improving the technical aspects of older and heritage buildings will do more to reduce our carbon footprint than any improvement to new building stock,” Will adds.
Both co-founders share a goal of advancing the science of architecture, advocating for building using affordable, environmentally-sustainable, natural materials. These tenets of Waymark’s architectural philosophy demand an all-in approach from every firm member.
On the challenge of this dedication Graeme notes, “It’s easy in our society to have a lot of bluster without any real substance to back it up. We have dedicated our craft to improving the world and environment as much as we can, in everything we do.
“Without the dedication and commitment of each member of our firm, both at the office and in our private lives, this mission could not be realized. It’s with the collective devotion of our team that we aim for the betterment of the world we all live.”
