Corporate

Our corporate work is designed and built to the highest sustainable standard. It has an eye for style married with an enduring quality and a solid understanding of the practical needs of an effective workplace. Our goal is to create a rich spatial experience, using green initiatives to achieve better air quality, more natural light and fresh air for increased comfort and health. We also strive to ensure our work environments easily accommodate and facilitate change, allowing space for the future growth, reconfiguration and development of the corporation.

There is no distinction between “architecture” and “interior design”.  For us, all aspects of design are equally important and engaging. We see the opportunity to provide interior fit-out design as a natural extension of our work as architects and as our duty to provide a unique expression of the company’s brand. These projects include the BMW Canada Headquarters, President’s Choice Financial Services, Home Depot Canada and Loblaw Digital.

Projects

BMW Group Canada, Loblaw Companies Limited, PC Bank, Loblaw Digital 

Residential

Private residences created by the Finlayson Practice are carefully conceived designs that exhibit a high level of craft with a seamless relationship to their context. The Klein House, the Principal’s House at Branksome Hall and Erin Acres are excellent examples. The Practice is also exploring precedent-setting flexible designs for downtown living that will house families on small downtown lots.

Projects

20 Meredith Crescent, 1621 Dundas Street West, 326 ½ HowlandKlein Residence504 Wellington Street West, Branksome Hall Residence, Erin Acres, Yolles House, 620 King Street West

Institutional

The award-winning CNIB Centre and several projects with both the Toronto District School Board and Branksome Hall illustrate the flexibility and design excellence of The Finlayson Practice. The school projects provided an opportunity to breathe new life into some of the oldest school buildings in Toronto while creating some incredible educational spaces that address the needs of the 21st century student.

Projects

CNIB, TDSB, Branksome Hall, OCADU, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Ministry of Education – Provincial Schools (William Ross MacDonald School)

Urban Design and Master Planning

The Finlayson Practice has extensive experience with institutions and municipalities producing visionary master plans and working with authorities to get projects approved and built. We call this visionary pragmatism. We take projects from the initial steps of client/community engagements right through to completion.

Our Campus planning and design processes seek to establish an understanding of the principles by which a campus will change over time physically, economically and socially. The social/cultural component is the most elusive, but the most important to understand as it is what makes people want to occupy a place and what ultimately activates the space. We have insight and understand this dynamic between buildings, spaces and circulations routes and how they can be deployed/integrated to elevate the work beyond mere placement of buildings and give meaning to a place.

Projects

CNIB, Branksome Hall, OCADU, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Ministry of Education – Provincial Schools (William Ross MacDonald School), TDSB at Bloor and Dufferin, Bridgewater Wharf, Trinity College

1621 Dundas Street West
“Stylistically, I hate to use the word ‘timeless,’ but it has a nice combination of, not slick, but clean details while remaining rough around the edges. This gives a comfort level that you don’t find when everything is pristine and precious and people are afraid to touch it. This house is very robust. Not counting pre-existing materials, such as the brick, we used one stone and one wood throughout. This simplicity helps to tie everything together and make the spaces flow.”
David Lasker – Associate editor of Canadian Interiors and former Fashion & Design editor at The Globe and Mail.

“The Master Plan, led by Mary Jane Finlayson, gave WRMS a solid plan to develop facilities for the next 15 years, including new residences, the project challenges ranged from very specific client needs to limited site information. She provided services for planning, feasibility, assessment, design and cost estimating, effectively leading an inter-disciplinary team of professionals. Her focused expertise, caring professionalism, excellent problem solving and design skills exceeded all the client’s expectations.”
Mary Jo (MJ) Harris, Project Manager | Southern Ontario – MHPM, William Ross MacDonald School  (WRMS)