Wheatley native, spouse win prestigious Young Architect Award for 2017

Leamington-area native Jodi Batay-Csorba and her husband Andrew always wanted to open an architecture practice together, and after the 2008 recession, they took that leap of faith.

Since founding Batay-Csorba Architects seven years ago, they have managed more than 96 projects in 38 different cities across 11 countries. Earlier this year, they received the 2017 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Young Architect Award for their work.

“It’s an award that we have always striven for,” Jodi BatayCsorba said.

An architect in Canada under the age of 40 is selected for the award annually “but in our case, they actually selected both Andrew and myself,” she said.

“We actually had, in our application we submitted together, we explained that really there was no way to separate one from the other … just because we’re so intertwined in our past and our work.”

The jury commented that the architecture was “good and mature work that is innovative and fresh” and that the “design and built resolution of space and surface detailing ” was excellent.

Batay-Csorba said they were “ecstatic” when news of the award arrived — especially because she is 39.

“This was actually the last year that I could apply for it,” she said. “It was kind of our last chance. We were so happy. The people that have gotten it in the past, you know, we really look up to. We’re just so happy to be included in that company.”

Batay-Csorba was born and raised in Wheatley, until she moved to Windsor at age 18 to study architectural technology at St. Clair College.

After graduating, she moved to Southfield, Mich., to study at Lawrence Technological University, where she and Andrew — from Thunder Bay — met. Their work brought them to Los Angeles, but after spending nearly a decade in the United States, they began considering a move back to Canada.

“We always wanted to have our own practice together,” BatayCsorba said.

When the recession hit, the pair packed their bags and decided to move to Toronto.

“Toronto is starting to get more into contemporary design, and we wanted to be part of the growth of Toronto,” she said.

They began working in the east side of Toronto, but now are located near Jane and Bloor streets.

“We’re definitely a progressive firm that does a lot of … contemporary work,” Batay-Csorba said. “We’ve done a lot of residential work, just starting on our own. Our background is larger scale institutional, mixed-use museums and things.”

But when they relocated, they began focusing on houses.

“When we came to Toronto, there’s so much residential work (and) that’s what we dove into. All of our projects really explore sight and materiality and space. That’s the thing we focus on.”

The firm recently finished a double duplex project in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood.

“It’s two duplexes that are side by side, and they have a large — the whole front facade — is a wood brise soleil, like a wooden screen, that shades a two-storey porch on the front of the building,” BatayCsorba said. “It actually lets in really awesome, filtered shadows into the house from this screen.”

Hidden in the facade are animal figures.

“Based on different lighting conditions, the time of day, the altitude of the sun, and shadows from the neighbouring trees, at different times and angles you see different animals that we embedded into this wooden screen,” she said.

“So every piece of architecture that we do has a story with it.”