D'AMBROSIO architecture + urbanism is a Victoria-based architectural practice with principal, Architect, Franc D'Ambrosio MAIBC MRAIC.

Located on a one-acre site in downtown Victoria, the Atrium Building comprises approximately 20 000 square metres of class A office and retail space spread across seven levels, with two levels of underground parking. Its design holds aesthetic distinction, user comfort, and civic responsibility as its guiding principles. The seven-storey form is clad in pre-cast concrete panels, zinc, and glass. The proportions and façade-scaled detail responds to the historic context of Victoria’s downtown. The street-level retail and orientation of the atrium and office entries serve the specific use patterns of the site. The project has achieved a LEED Gold rating based in part through the use of passive energy saving and daylighting strategies made possible by the incorporation of an internal atrium. Green roof technology, street-edge rain gardens, and a high-efficiency envelope also contribute to the environmentally sustainable design.

After assisting Reliable Controls with the acquisition of the site and renovation of the existing building, this project brings an addition to accommodate their expanded operations and growth. The design concept reflects the company’s image: professional, progressive, modern and sustainable. The building targets a LEED Platinum rating and includes design strategies such as natural ventilation, rainwater harvesting and reuse, rehabilitating green space and showcasing local sustainable timber construction.

Built among the trees atop a rocky outcropping, this single family home was envisioned as a series of spatial and structural ‘frames’ that ascend a challenging topography. The shape and layout of the house emerged through a dialogue with the clients and a careful response to the complex and inspiring site. The main floor features exposed wood beams and an open floor plan, with expansive window walls that frame dramatic views of the surrounding forest. With no yard proper, the house provides a south-facing patio carved out of the rock. There is also a large roof terrace, from which one can hear a nearby stream and songbirds from the adjacent nature sanctuary.

This urban design plan is for the central and waterfront areas of the Royal Bay development in Colwood, BC. It is a brownfield site, a former gravel quarry on the water front with views to Victoria, the San Juan Islands and the Olypmic Mountains.

Conceived as both attraction and connection, the GH is a distinctive framework for a new museum that will be synergistic with its host city. Set on the edge of this spectacular urban harbour, it is both a framing proscenium arch and participant in a context rich in local history and important in international design culture. The urban frame concept of the new GH is complimentary to this city of classic urban form, on a harbour that is an international gateway to the country.

The proposed GH will join the distinguished architectural ensemble of the harbour with a calm, rhythmic gesture, in a modern interpretation of a classical colonnade. The repeating structural frame encloses and supports internal spaces while on the exterior, the frame defines its place and allows views of its inner volumes and tectonics. The urban frame is an instrument of connectivity and engagement with its place.