Reviews of Acton Ostry Architects Inc (Architect)

Nicolas Houillon

They designed our building (the Duke), very poor acoustic performance all over, I wonder how they have leed certification. Bribe ? Building is degrading after 3 years .

Sergio Ray

Literally thousands of times better than Mindful Homes

Ralf Gracian

Outdated management culture! Staff suffers unnecessary pressure!

Adam Parker

AOA has produced some great award winning projects back in the days and the office just celebrated its 50 years recently. It was an office that was pushing the envelope of architecture profession in Vancouver at one point back in the 80s and 90s. But fast forward to today, the company’s professional and design culture lacks progressiveness and fresh ideas and the firm seems to be still working in the past. I worked at the firm for about 4 and a half years in the past and I will be sharing my thoughts about the firm related to: - AOA’s Design Culture & - Work Environment DESIGN CULTURE: Looking at firms’ portfolio one can notice great projects from the past, nicely executed and well loved by the people. But the designs that are being produced currently are only as good as their past designs, and the firm seems to be struggling with updating their design expression as the time progressed. Now is a different world we live in compared to past, and our designs should be reflective of the times we are in, not based on the ideas from the past. In this regard AOA seems to be an “old-school” kind of firm that doesn’t like change since its design process/outcome didn’t evolve over time. There is also a noticeable difference between the number of young professionals and experienced professionals working in the office. I found at AOA that young people didn’t enjoy working in this design culture as much and as a result the firm struggled keeping them. One of the reasons being young professionals left out of project’s design phases, and are sidelined to doing only junior/technical tasks. Even people with good 5-10 years of experience are given junior tasks (just like it was back in the 80s). Where as most of the progressive firms like MJMA, Moriyama & Tashima Architects, Dialog, Perkins & Will etc. would have a nice mix of young and experienced professionals working side by side as a design team and young professionals are encouraged to have a say in design decisions. This is also one of the reasons that fresh UBC architecture graduates or students don’t like to work at AOA for internships or as their first jobs as the design exposure here is very limited compared to other firms. And this culture has a huge impact on the designs that come out of any office. Most of the designs that are being produced at AOA today lacks progressiveness, innovation, new/fresh ideas and are still stuck in the past (since the only people involved in designing are from the past), compared to the work of firms described above. Suggestions: Please have a mix of experienced and young professionals working together to produce impactful designs, and create a design culture where everyone is welcomed to share ideas regardless of their experience. -WORK ENVIRONMENT: There are people who have worked here for many years and seem to like it. But the Work culture is not for everyone. I have seen a lot of really good people work here (who left) and didn't like it. AOA struggles with lot of turnover and haven't been able to grow. Women do not particularly enjoy working here because of the lack of gender and racial diversity. Right off the bat, one can notice the “white male domination” in the office, even though this is the very thing architecture profession is being criticized for. It might be a thing back in the 80s/90s but profession has come a long way since then. A small update in that regards could go a long way. That said, there are people who have worked here for years and they seem to enjoy it. AOA also get pretty cool projects from time to time. There are free snacks offered to staff all month long, Friday BBQs and Friday beer time at 4:30 are also a few awesome things that happen at AOA that brings people together in a more casual way. In my humble opinion, there are some great things happening at AOA but there are some that needs re-thinking, and that seems to be long over due. **Former Employee - Posting it anonymously. (Please note that Adam Parker is not my real name. I did not want to give away my identity so using it as an Alias)