Our Services

Diamond Schmitt Architects is a leading Canadian full-service architectural practice. We work throughout North America, Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East and design a broad range of building types for cultural, civic, academic, healthcare, residential and commercial property clients. In the last five years we have designed more than 10 million square feet of completed space.

Architectural Services

The scope of services provided by Diamond Schmitt is wide in range and depth. These vary between relatively small and simple structures to projects of the greatest size and complexity. The range of types of projects undertaken includes academic, research, performing arts, sports and recreation, library, exhibition, healthcare and residential uses.

Feasibility Studies

This is one of the services that explore the means to deliver clients’ needs and aspirations. A thorough analysis of all relevant factors to be taken into account is made in order to test the extent of constraints, the potentials of the site, space program, available building technology, sustainability and the means of utilizing the budget to maximum effect.

Functional Programming

Most functional programming exercises merely establish the quantitative amounts of space required and perhaps the relationships between program components. This, in our view, is only the first step in establishing a space program.

Interior Design

There, is in our view, a symbiosis between the architecture of the exterior and that of the interior. This is not to equate the two in regard to their contexts, which clearly are different, but to relate them in terms of aesthetic consistency. Both are in service to a greater goal, which is to comprehensively serve the practical and symbolic aims of the building, while catering to very different environmental conditions.

Master Planning & Urban Design

The aim of master planning is to utilize each building component as an incremental addition to a larger whole. In other words, each building must satisfy two objectives – one to accommodate its particular function to advantage and the other as a contributor to an aggregate that is greater than the sum of its parts. Provisions for growth should be such that continue to add to the aggregate.

Building Information Modeling

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is 3D technology designed to engage a wide range of users, including architects, consultants, contractors, constructors and clients in a model environment. In addition to generating three-dimensional representations of building schemes, BIM incorporates an extensive database that allows coordination of all building elements through a single platform.

Public-Private Partnerships

Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) are a performance-based approach for procuring public infrastructure where the private sector assumes a major share of the responsibility in terms of risk and financing for project delivery, from design and structural planning to long-term maintenance. This fast-growing business model includes traditional infrastructure and projects such as La Maison Symphonique, the Montreal concert hall we designed and opened in 2011

Restoration, Revitalization & Renovation

Bringing new life and purpose to old buildings is a challenging and rewarding task, not to mention a fundamental pursuit of sustainable design. We have uncovered soaring wood-beam ceilings in a college library, transformed a derelict brick factory into a centre for sustainable cities and are repurposing a textile mill into a Fine Arts faculty. By reinterpreting buildings for contemporary purposes, we keep alive a vital link with the past and blend new and old in the fabric of urban life.

Sustainable Design

Sustainable design means more than creating a high performance building. At its essence, our objective is to mitigate environmental impacts via the considerations of context, community, landscape and building form. This is achieved by engaging our clients in defining sustainability goals. Through a collaborative and integrated design process, the most appropriate and innovative technologies and building systems are applied.