A home in rugged Nova Scotia by Place of Work is an extraordinary take on the ordinary

The Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2026 includes Place of Work, a young practice out of Canada, which joins our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios.

Who: Place of Work

With two bases, in Halifax and Toronto, Canada, this young studio was only founded four years ago by architects Jennifer Esposito, Duncan Patterson, and Will Perkins. The trio enjoy taking their cues from each project’s context and the region’s vernacular, just as much as they do from the everyday experience, they explain. ‘Ordinary things excite us,’ they say. ‘The way light angles across a wall. The sound a door makes when it closes. The coolness of stone under bare feet. We’re drawn to these specifics because they contain what is essential: ritual, site, material, time.’

Bridging the gap between ‘representation and reality,’ the real and the imaginary is ‘where architecture happens,’ they add. Place of Work may still be emerging, but it has a range of ongoing projects across Atlantic Canada and Ontario. It consciously picks commissions that allows them to work closely with clients and get stuck into the particulars and the detail in each and every design, the team emphasises.

Yet if you ask what the architects primary references are, the discussion comes back to context and setting. ‘[Our biggest influence is] Place. Not as a romantic idea, but as a physical and cultural reality that architecture either responds to or ignores. Architecture requires deep listening. Climate, topography, material culture, and history are forces that shape our approach. But place doesn’t mean anything without people. What we share is a belief that architecture begins with human ritual: how people wake, gather, retreat, and rest.’

What: House In A Meadow Between Forest And Sea

One of the team’s newly completed works, only delivered this summer, House In A Meadow Between Forest And Sea, is a bespoke single-family home in the rugged coast of Nova Scotia. The project, conceived as a summer retreat for a retired couple on the west coast of Cape Breton Island, offers a design that negotiates the dramatic environment with its powerful winds and the daily needs and rituals of its owners.

Working in close collaboration with landscape architects Brackish Design Studio, Place of Work crafted a floorplan that is orientated to offer both protection from the weather and views out towards nature. Two wings, one containing the primary suite, the other housing guest rooms and a den, are united by a central living space that connects movement and functions both inside and out.

True to their overarching values, the architects draw from the site’s conditions to elevate their proposal: ‘Light is treated as an orienting element. Clerestories bring warmth and a sense of time into the main living spaces, while north-facing openings frame views across the meadow. The resulting architecture is shaped by site, climate, and use—distinct from the landscape, yet deeply tied to it.’

Why: Architects Directory 2026

When the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory was conceived in 2000, it was built as our bespoke international index of emerging architectural talent. Now in its 25th edition, our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe (now comprising over 500 alumni) champions the best and most promising young studios - a snapshot of talent showcasing inspiring work from all corners of the Earth with an emphasis on the residential realm.

This year’s anniversary survey includes 30 young studios (one for each of the 30 years of Wallpaper*), from Australia, Bahrain, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, France, Ivory Coast, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, India, Morocco, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the USA, and Vietnam. Welcome to the promise, ideas and exciting architecture of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2026.

placeofwork.ca