Architect Nima Javidi and landscape designer Behnaz Assadi's JA Architecture Studio, and its transformation of this Toronto home, have made it into the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022, our annual list of exciting emerging practices from across the globe.
Who: JA Architecture Studio
Toronto-based JA Architecture Studio was established by architect Nima Javidi and landscape designer Behnaz Assadi in 2013. Working across residential, cultural and curatorial projects, the co-directors have been recognised for their proposals for a Bauhaus Museum in Dessau and a Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki. Among their accolades are a Progressive Architecture Award and four Canadian Architects Awards of Excellence; and they have been shortlisted twice to represent Canada at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Their studio, as well as a few of the homes they have built (such as 44 Foxley Street, pictured, and The Corbel), sit within the neighbourhood of Beaconsfield Village in Toronto. Javidi explains the challenges of designing homes there: ‘There is a lot of opposition to projects beyond three storeys, so there is this push to find ways to densify a low-rise neighbourhood.’ Therefore, each of their residential projects becomes ‘an experiment in typology’.
When asked about what they envision for their future, they say: ‘We are in the process of shifting in scale, towards medium-sized cultural and public projects. Not cultural as in a cultural institution, but the culture of the city.’ This can be seen in projects such as Forno Cultura bakery, a repurposed mechanic garage; and Underscore Gallery, an art gallery and artist workspace with inverted bay windows. ‘Toronto is a multicultural city, and generally, multiculturalism expresses itself at the level of food, but architecture does not quite engage with that. We want to express that in our design – not in a way that is recognised or a one-project statement, but something that emerges over time in the body of the city,’ say the duo.
What: 44 Foxley
44 Foxley sits between standard post-world war brick terrace houses. Situated in Beaconsfield Village, a traditionally Portuguese area, the four-storey infill residential project (with a separate unit at the back, divided from the other units by a courtyard) has been designed flexibly to accommodate one or multiple families. ‘It isn’t a one-off project but a collage onto a fabric,’ explains Javidi. This is the second project the studio has built on this road – The Corbel, a house it recently completed, is located nearby. ‘We like infill urban projects. They are much more difficult to build as we have to maintain the existing wall and insert the new dwelling. But there is something about the fabric of the city that is exciting, when you gradually change things one by one,’ says Javidi.
Conscious of its surroundings, the new, brick-clad building feels at home within its context. ‘When you are walking, you don’t notice it at first and then you notice the anomaly,’ adds Assadi. What grabs the attention of passers-by is the barrel-vaulted window which boldly protrudes on top of the front façade, clearly marking the new construction, while still ‘conversing with the neighbouring dormers and gables’.
Why: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022
Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 22nd edition. Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, the USA, and Vietnam with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.
INFORMATION
-
At Design Miami Paris, an artful menagerie tells a story of scent and natureVikram Goyal and Sissel Tolaas present ‘The Soul Garden’ at Design Miami Paris (until 26 October 2025), ‘a contemporary fable where the animals take new forms, reimagined for the world we live in today’
-
Check in at Aman Rosa Alpina, a modern Alpine cocoonSan Cassiano’s historic hotel has been reborn as a pared-back Aman refuge in the heart of the Dolomites
-
‘It’s really the workplace of the future’: inside JPMorganChase’s new Foster + Partners-designed HQThe bronze-clad skyscraper at 270 Park Avenue is filled with imaginative engineering and amenities alike. Here’s a look inside
-
Cosy-up in a snowy Canadian cabin inspired by utilitarian farmhousesInspired by local farmhouses, Canadian cabin Timbertop is a minimalist shelter overlooking the woodland home of wild deer, porcupines and turkeys
-
Buy yourself a Sanctuary, a serene house above the British Columbia landscapeThe Sanctuary was designed by BattersbyHowat for clients who wanted a contemporary home that was also a retreat into nature. Now it’s on the market via West Coast Modern
-
La Maison de la Baie de l’Ours melds modernism into the shores of a Québécois lakeACDF Architecture’s grand family retreat in Quebec offers a series of flowing living spaces and private bedrooms beneath a monumental wooden roof
-
Peel back maple branches to reveal this cosy midcentury Vancouver gemOsler House, a midcentury Vancouver home, has been refreshed by Scott & Scott Architects, who wanted to pay tribute to the building's 20th-century modernist roots
-
A spectacular waterside house in Canada results from a radical overhaulSplyce Design’s Shoreline House occupies an idyllic site in British Columbia. Refurbished and updated, the structure has been transformed into a waterside retreat
-
Hilborn House, one of Arthur Erickson’s few residential projects, is now on the marketThe home, first sketched on an envelope at Montreal Airport, feels like a museum of modernist shapes, natural materials and indoor-outdoor living
-
This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coastBishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
-
In Canada, The Nest is a three-dimensional puzzle redefining remote livingOn a wooded site on the country’s West Coast, this prefabricated retreat designed by Daria Sheina Studio is a nurturing space for low-impact living
