Modern age
Neo aims to create familiar but yet distinctive buildings
Architect wants homeowners to “embrace the future”
KITCHENER — Laird Robertson is struck by a contradiction he can’t quite understand.
“We live in a modern age, we are in a contemporary society,” the architect says, our lives surrounded by — some would say dominated by — technology.
“But for some reason, we want to live in an old castle in a domestic world,” Robertson adds, shuddering at the thought of the traditional styles that tend to populate indistinguishable subdivisions.
“Why are we still living in the past in the residential realm when we embrace the future in every other aspect of our lives?”
Robertson wants that to change.
The Kitchener-based practice he formally established about 18 months ago with business partner Doug McIntosh, Neo Architecture, specializes in contemporary residential design along with commercial projects. It operates with a team of 12 from a renovated King Street East storefront.
On the commercial front, Neo Architecture is involved in a range of projects including a new hospice in Waterloo, the planned expansion for Kitchener’s The Museum, and several multiresidential buildings for Vive Development Corp.
Affiliated firm Neo Developments, run by builder Ben Eby, focuses strictly on single-family residential construction.
The residential design/build service is available as a package, although there are instances where Eby will build a non-Neo Architecture design, or Robertson will design a home that will be constructed by a different builder.
Initially, the goal was to become a speculative builder, where homes would be built and then offered for sale. But that brings with it considerable financial risk. While that may occur in the future, Neo Developments is focused today on custom builds for clients.
“Our work is not doing 8,000square-foot mansions out in the countryside,” says Robertson, a familiar face in the architectural community thanks to his prior work with practices including Robertson Simmons and RHL Architects. “We’re doing urban rejuvenation, rehabilitation, adaptive reuse, tear down/rebuild.”
The projects are generally in the 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot range. “They’re comfortably sat on their properties, they’re not towering over their neighbours,” he says. “They’re custom and they’re very personalized to their owners.”
The final product is a collaboration between a client’s vision and requirements, and the architect’s esthetic and sensibilities, Robertson says.
A Neo home is somewhat familiar yet distinctive, he says. It stands out, without being overbearing.
“I’d liken it to a brand versus a style. A style is repeated. A brand is about a vision and a belief and a philosophy.”
The prefix “neo” is used to describe something as new, or revived. But Robertson says its use in the practice’s name comes from a study of consumers that concluded there are two types of people: traditionalists, who value price over everything else, and neos, who value such attributes as quality, uniqueness and design over price.
“Those are our customers, that’s who we want,” he says. “We want people that value the reason why we do what we do.”
In speaking with Robertson — a professional registered architect for 25 years — it’s clear that “the why” is of utmost importance to him, and to the firm.
“There’s a profound sense that we affect people’s lives by what we make, and I wake up every day and get excited about the idea of creating because I know that I’m affecting people’s lives in a positive way,” he says. “There’s a meaningful contribution that we do.”