User:Liam Shore/sandbox/Allan Avis Architects Inc.

Allan Avis Architects Inc. is an architecture design firm based in Goderich, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1993 by Allan Avis, and the practice is now led by Jason Morgan after Allan Avis’s retirement. The firm focuses locally on heritage/historical structures, residential buildings. With the office located in Goderich many of their projects are located within Goderich and surrounding communities along the lakefront of Lake Huron. With the deeply rooted history that the firm has within the town of Goderich and the benefit of a firm such as Allen Avis Architects Inc. is the perspective, they have of preserving and maintaining heritage sites.

Allan Avis
Allan Avis was born and raised outside of the town Flesherton in Southwestern, Ontario. In 1984, he received his Bachelor of Architecture at Carleton University. While travelling along the coast of Lake Huron camping, Allan Avis first visited Goderich to meet a former classmate and where he would start to work for Chris Berno, who he would later take over projects from when his own firm was founded in 1993.

Jason Morgan
Jason Morgan was born and raised in Walkerton, Ontario. In 2010 he started work at Allan Avis Architects Inc. and would later become the firm principle in January 2018 as Allan Avis prepared for retirement.

Design Process
The work of Allan Avis Architects Inc. has a large focus on the heritage sites as well as residential projects. The goal with the restoration and conservation of these heritage sites is to be able to preserve the history and impact that a project might have on a given project. The start of a project is started with the understanding of the context and history of the given site, along with the client’s vision on how the project should be. Allan Avis Architects find draw a lot of inspiration form the surrounding landscape along with the small-town architectural style that is present in Goderich. It is important to remember the past and the restoration of heritage sites in Southwestern Ontario is key in preserving the culture and architecture that was current in the past. Allan Avis found that the restoration and heritage projects were able to be creative in order to get the best design for a restricted space. Often sitting down with the client and having an early involvement of the whole project team is almost a requirement for designing in order to construct a successful design. The main concern was always doing what is best for the client and best for the project in turn. Allan Avis Design process is in fact a quite a linear process from stage to stage, but these stages often happen at the same time. Where this could differ is not in the process but in the focus of what needs to be done. This is evident when looking at a new project compared to a restoration project. After signing on Jason Morgan in 2010 the firm began to look more into sustainability and continue to add sustainable designs into their projects.

St. Peter’s Seminary
London, Ontario, Canada (1999-Present)

St. Peter’s Seminary is located in London, Ontario and is Canada’s oldest English speaking Roman Catholic Diocesan Seminary. The seminary was originally built in 1912 and opened in 1926 and has had many renovations since then. Allan Avis first started to work with St. Peter’s Seminary in 1999 and work is still on going on in 2021. In 2016 the seminary revitalization project began to demolish and reconstruct levels four and five of the Seminary. Throughout the restoration of the seminary the programmatic use of the building has still been able to remain function[2] and continue to have an occupancy within the building.

Cowbell Brewery Co.
Blyth, Ontario, Canada (2017)

The Cowbell Brewery Co. was built and opened in 2016. Located in Blyth, Ontario the building form draws inspiration from the local farmlands and the many barns that come with it. The building emulates the style of an old German barn and encloses the brewhouse and the restaurant within the building under one roof. As with barn architecture when the operation needs to expand an addition is added to the building to count for this expansion. This the is the future plan for the building and it’s owners moving forth for expansion. The goal for the building was to minimize energy use as well as the impact of local wide life. The building is clad out of SFI certified wood products while topped with a metal roof. Cowbell uses passive strategies such as stack ventilation in order to cut down cooling costs during the summer months. Allan Avis Architects were awarded The Environmental Achievement award at the London District Construction Association Project Awards Gala in March 2018.

The Livery
Goderich, Ontario, Canada

The Livery is located in Goderich, Ontario and was constructed in the 1840s and was originally a harness shop many other uses have taken place within the building over the years. The building was set to be demolished in the late 1970s until it was the town of Goderich recognized the historical significance of the building and later would be sold to a private client. Allan Avis Architects were hired to restore the building after findings in a roof and masonry report. The building is constructed out of locally sourced Maitland River stone which was in need of repair by local masons. Along with the restoration of the masonry the restoration of the large ridge flashing was removed and reinstalled.

Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Station, Goderich, ON.
Goderich, Ontario, Canada

The Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Station is located in Goderich, Ontario and provides a home for the Canadian Coast Guard to operate in Lake Huron with having a building adjacent to the lake itself. The building was built to replace the existing building on the site as the former building was inadequate for the programmatic needs of the building. The building was designed and built to the LEED silver equivalent however was never submitted for judging. The building needed to be able to regulate the surrounding sound pollution that results from the close proximity to Compass Minerals. The building also incorporates in ground heating and cooling, solar water heating, triple glazed windows, and high insulation values.

St. Joseph Church, River Canard.
River Canard, Ontario, Canada

The St. Joseph Church is a catholic church located in Amherstburg Ontario. The work that took place was the restoration of the interior. The richly decorated interior, murals, plaster modeling and symbols were repaired and painted. Renovations on the project took about two years to complete in order to ensure that the details looked the same as they did a century prior when the artists first completed them. Allan Avis Architects were later given an award for this restoration by the Architecture Conservancy of Ontario at the 2016 ACO Provincial Heritage Awards.

Awards
2016 - James D. Strachan Award for Craftsmanship from the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario

2018 - Environmental Achievement Award from the London District Construction Association Project Awards Gala