OFFICE
The O4A Team
Alex
Interests:
Lunch spot by the office:
Dessert choice:
Drink choice:
Architect/Designer:
Book/Movie:
Birthday:
O4A Skills:
Deacon
Interests: Music, Cycling, Live shows, Drag artists, Festivals, Costumes, Sewing. Nails and hair
Lunch spot by the office: Lotus Seed Vegan (sadly just closed)
Dessert choice: Anything vegan made with chocolate, earl grey, oreos or cardamom
Drink choice: Moscow Mule
Architect/Designer: Moshe Safdie
Book/Movie: The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive)
Birthday: March 20th
O4A Skills: Accessibility, Revit, Planning, Drawing conventions, Office management, Scheduling, Monograph
Jasmin
Interests: Editing + Journaling, Volleyball, Snowboarding, Travel, Food, Cats
Lunch spot by the office: Meat + Bread (when I want to splurge) but other than that, Tim Hortons for cheap and fast
Dessert choice: Coffee Bun (specifically green tea bun with tiramisu cream)
Drink choice: Matcha Iced Latte!
Architect/Designer: Toyo Ito
Book/Movie: Hunger Games
Birthday: December 21
O4A Skills: Design, Graphics, 3D Modeling, Researching + Precedents, adaptable, proactive
Kaden
Interests: Music, Travel, Architecture
Lunch spot by the office: 33 Acres
Dessert choice: Tiramisu
Drink choice: Old fashion
Architect/Designer: Dorte Mandrup
Book/Movie: Place Beyond the Pines
Birthday: June 5th
O4A Skills: Providing the backup everyone needs lol not too sure what to say to this...I'm just a student!!
Marta
Interests: Chess
Lunch spot by the office: Caffè Cittadella
Dessert choice: Cheese cake
Drink choice: Cafe con leche
Architect/Designer: Alberto Campo Baeza/ George Lois
Book/Movie: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Haddon / Call Me by Your Name
Birthday: April 20th
O4A Skills: Urban Design, Concept Development, Visual Communication (and the Creative Suite), Structures, Passive Design, MEP
Natalie
Interests: Art, Music, History, Travel, Life stories (i.e. people) the Clean Energy Transition
Lunch spot by the office: If buying, the International Sandwich Co., otherwise the parking lot
Dessert choice: Cheesecake or Lemon tart
Drink choice: Tea (various types)
Architect/Designer: Lina Bo Bardi
Book/Movie: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
Birthday: February 28
O4A Skills: Specifications, Contract admin documentation, Cost estimates and Contractor costing, Door hardware, Lighting, Special detailing
Braedon
Interests: Volleyball, Cooking, Hockey, History Documentaries, Geography, Surfing, Backpacking, Fitness.
Lunch spot by the office: Dalina
Dessert choice: Tiramisu/ or Anything Chocolate.
Drink choice: Alcoholic? Whiskey. Non Alcoholic? Coffee.
Architect/Designer: Larry Haun
Book/Movie: John Wick Movies, Lord of the Rings, Jason Bourne, The Daniel Craig James Bond Movies
Birthday: May 6th
O4A Skills: Personality Hire, BIM, Envelope Detailing, Building science and Heritage Conservation
Elizabeth
Interests: Crafting, Crochet, Making something with my hands, Junk journals
Lunch spot by the office: Granville Island Market
Dessert choice: Tiramisu, Apple Pie, New York Cheesecake, Canoli
Drink choice: Orange Soda, Prosecco, Water
Architect/Designer: Iris Apfel, MIke M
Book/Movie: The 100 Year Old Man who..... by Jonas Jonasson / Shirley Valentine
Birthday: January 14
O4A Skills: Anything to do with accounting-payroll-billing, Listening to all the playlist
Josh
Interests: Music, Psychology, Art, Story telling, Wilderness, Aesthetics, Wisdom traditions, Human flourishing
Lunch spot by the office: Deja Brew
Dessert choice: Milkshakes
Drink choice: Milkshakes
Architect/Designer: Fujimori, Rossi, Zumthor
Book/Movie: The Overstory
Birthday: April 10th
O4A Skills: Document clarity / Formatting, InDesign, Rhino, Grasshopper, Detailing, Writing, Research, Theory, Precedents Research, Cross-Disciplinary Precedents Research
Luis
Interests: Philosophy, Tennis, History
Lunch spot by the office: Mon Pitou
Dessert choice: Citrus-flavoured desserts
Drink choice: Vermut / Matcha latte
Architect/Designer: Anne Lacaton/Charlotte Perriand
Book/Movie: Ficciones by L. Borges
Birthday: October 5
O4A Skills: Housing, Urban Design, Composition and layouts, Precedents and theory
Mike
Interests: Gardening, Constantly thinking about learning how to play the guitar
Lunch spot by the office: Dalina, La Taqueria
Dessert choice: Peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. Yum
Drink choice: Manhattan
Architect/Designer: Rick Joy, Tom Kundig, Enric Miralles
Book/Movie: Of Human Bondage by Maughan
Birthday: September 6th
O4A Skills: Being a generalist, Practice advice, Construction Materials and Methods
Valia
Interests: Sketching, Watercolors, Mixology, Movies
Lunch spot by the office: Winter - Deja Brew. Summer - Caffè Cittadella. For special occasions - Mon Pitou Bistro & Bakery
Dessert choice: Tarta de queso
Drink choice: Espresso Martini
Architect/Designer: Rafael Moneo, TEd’A Arquitectes
Book/Movie: Blindness by Saramago / The Lobster
Birthday: July 20
O4A Skills: Public space, Concept and representation, Precedents, Illustrator and Photoshop, Website management
Key Information
Office Etiquette
Attend meetings on time, for internal meetings, if running late or unable to attend please let the team know in advance.
Participate in team meetings, we want to hear from everyone.
Respect, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to us. Just treat others kindly.
Our unofficial office dress code has been termed “design professional”. This dress code is meant to accommodate your creative expression as a design professional. Keep in mind that you contribute to the culture and reputation of O4A through the way you present yourself in your interactions with clients, consultants, suppliers, colleagues and other office visitors. When attending an external meeting, a higher level of professional dress is often warranted. PPE is a must for construction site visits. Hardhats and vests are provided by the office but you must bring your own steel-toed boots; feel free to keep your boots at the office for your convenience.
Professional Development
Dependent on which course, professional development courses are something that the firm benefits from and pays for within reason through the year through a phased approach.
25% after 1 year,
50% after 2 year,
75% after 3 years and
100% after 4 years.
Prior approval of coursework, schedule and cost is required.
O4A does not remunerate ExAC or NCARB examination, or AIBC mandatory coursework fees.
O4A will pay annual AIBC, and IDIBC, dues for those employees registered with each organization.
Health and Safety
The office undergoes regular cleaning and it is the responsibility of the employee and staff to keep the space neat and orderly.
It is O4A policy that if the employee feels sick or is unwell - no matter how minor or slight, that the employee must stay home. We encourage everyone to use their allocated flex time as needed.
Hardware
Our firm works off laptops and REVIT we will supply the equipment and software, this is not intended for you to take home your work, but to work within our mobile office. The ability to work from home is inherent in the office and physical structure of O4A.
All project and O4A related work must be occur on O4A cloud computing drives available through network. All work must at minimum be saved daily to O4A cloud servers.
Limited personal use of the laptops is permitted. If the employee feels their personal use and information is too sensitive and the employee is not open to having this information potentially accessible by O4A management or other IT staff through regular computer maintenance cycles, then the employee is advised to not use the laptop for personal use.
Policies
O4A offers extended health benefits to employees after their 3-month initiation period.
Annual reviews are scheduled with each employee alongside informal check ins through out the year.
O4A may grant employees a bonus at the end of each year dependent on firm and or employee performance.
Hours
Work week consists of 37.5 hours. Standard 7.5 hour work day.
Holidays: Paid Statutory holidays.
Flex Time: A total of 52.5 hours which are at your disposal for appointments, sick days, holidays, you decide. Flex time cannot be transferred to the next year and restarts after the new year.
Vacation: Hours are accumulated each pay period as noted in your letter of employment. Everyone is encouraged to use their vacation each year, but the accrued amounts do carry over into the following year.
Banked time: Any overtime worked during the week will be added here and can be used similar to vacation time.
O4A Culture
Mondays!
Weekly check-in and project updates. This meetings serve as a way to let the team know of any milestones and major updates in the projects they are working on.
There is also a weekly project highlight where we a project is shared with the team at different stages and serves as an opportunity to receive feedbacks or answer any questions.
And lastly it’s a chance to say Hello to the team!
Annual Duck Awards
Let’s have a laugh at all our blunders.
At the end of each year the O4A team gets together to celebrate and laugh and our yearly mishaps. Just as much as we enjoy celebrating milestones and accomplishments, we also take the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and the impossible to miss blunders from our team.
So, make sure to keep track of all those blunders and nominate yourself or a team member at the end of the year!
Music Hour
We takes turns creating a music playlist to share with the team. It takes place on Thursdays, and is an opportunity to get to know each other better.
Celebrations
Birthdays, milestones, new member, etc.
We enjoy taking the time to celebrate each other, this can take form as an office lunch, dessert or drinks.
Digital Collective Sketchbook
In this virtual space (Teams Group), we aim to capture the essence of our creative ideas while maintaining team connectivity amidst the multitude of concurrent design processes that occur at our offices in Vancouver, Windsor and Europe each day.
📷 Capture + Share: Whether it's a quick doodle, a napkin sketch, an intricate technical drawing analysing a detail, a watercolour of a precedent or a digital rendering, we encourage you to snap photos or screenshots.
🤝 Exchange Ideas: Our Collective Sketchbook encourages collaboration. By sharing our visual representations, we're fostering an environment where an exchange of ideas can flourish. Whether you're seeking feedback from the team, sparking discussions, or simply sharing your creative process, this our dedicated joint space to do it.
🔗 Develop Visual Communication Skills: As designers and architects, sketching is at the core of how we design, capture and communicate ideas. By actively participating in our Collective Sketchbook, we'll individually and collectively enhance our ability and confidence to convey complex ideas and concepts visually – an invaluable skill for our profession.
Please don't feel the need to share only polished or curated physical or digital works. Works-in-progress are almost always more saturated with ideas. Even the seemingly unskillful and messy combinations of jagged lines on trace paper turn into beautiful built work. We appreciate each individual style of representation and encourage you to embrace it. Here are a couple examples of Architects' Sketchbooks:
Now, we invite you to join us in making this chat a vibrant hub of inspiration, expression, creativity and collaboration!
The O4A Flexibility
We are proud of our office flexibility and work-life balance.
What does this mean? Well, we understand you have a life outside the office. Some days you might come in late - just let the team know. You might like to go to the gym during lunch - just make sure to freshen up afterwards and attend necessary meetings. You might want to take a long weekend - just check in with the team and make sure no deadlines are in the way. We also, encourage a balance of being in studio when possible, this helps us maintain a vibrant work environment for the team.
Point is, we are flexible and do our best to accommodate to team members routines, but always let the rest of the team know if this will impact the offices’ day to day.
O4A Development
Our team strives to continuously improve ourselves and the office. One of the steps we take to achieve this is our weekly PD meetings. The team gathers to discuss and present different topics that will benefit the office and the team.
We have outlined a list of goals and objectives to provide a clear direction, align our efforts, and serve as benchmarks for evaluating our progress. By using the SMART method and setting measurable and actionable targets, we foster accountability, motivate each other, and ensure that our strategic initiatives are well-defined and purposeful. These goals lay the foundation for our success, guiding us towards realizing our mission and vision.
Goals:
Foster a shared sense of purpose
Achieve consistency in Branding + Identity
Enhance Innovation
Foster a collaborative work environment
Enhance personal and professional growth
Be an advocate for the user
Sign up here under the categories you are interested in participating.