Gow Hastings Architects is a Toronto-based architecture firm founded by Valerie Gow and Philip Hastings that specializes in post-secondary, commercial, and public buildings. Since 2002, the firm has designed over 350 teaching and learning spaces for post-secondary institutions across Ontario.
Firm History
Both graduates of the University of British Columbia, Valerie Gow and Philip Hastings founded Gow Hastings Architects in 2002 in Toronto after working independently in Vancouver and London. From 2003 onwards, the firm won progressively larger commissions from post-secondary clients across Southern Ontario. In the late 2000s, the firm was considered the “village” architect for Humber College, where it completed over 30 projects and cemented its reputation in educational design. At the same time, they became recognized for their postsecondary culinary expertise. Valerie Gow was inducted to the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada College of Fellows in 2016. Philip Hastings was bestowed Fellowship to the RAIC in 2018.
Designed with Kearns Mancini Architects in 2009, the George Brown Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts and The Chefs’ House Restaurant introduced transparency and hands-on learning to the design of Canada's culinary schools. To engage passersby and encourage enrolment in the program, both buildings feature a glass wall that exposes the activities of the chefs’ and teaching kitchens to the street. In the culinary labs, cameras and screens help students get close up views of live cooking demonstrations. In 2009, the projects won an OAA Award for Design Excellence from the Ontario Association of Architects, an ARIDO Award, and the Best of Canada Award.
Humber College (2009-2010)
As Humber College's "Village Architect," Gow Hastings created numerous hands-on learning environments that closely replicate professional working scenarios. For example, the Centre for Trades and Technology includes two full scale townhouses in which students can practice woodworking, welding, plumbing and electrical work. Another example is the Music Production & Recording Studio which required retrofitting the 1980s building to create the optimal environment for music recording. The design team also converted several non-institutional buildings for educational purposes; for example, they converted a car sales centre into the Centre for Justice Leadership, a former ice hockey rink into a Performing Arts School, and a bar into a Fashion Institute.
The Durham College W Galen Weston Centre for Food at is an infill building located in Whitby, Ontario. The building embodies the school's farm-to-fork values and nods to its agrarian setting. There is a two-storey edible herb wall on the interior and glass partitions that provide views into laboratories and kitchens. The building also incorporates such sustainable elements as solar panels, an insulating green roof, and a rooftop apiary. The project won a 2016 ARIDO Award for its innovative green design.
One of several projects completed for the university, the Ryerson University Student ServiceHub is a 1,210 square metre renovation project of a Brutalist-era cafeteria into a unified space for the Registrar's Office. Previously, Ryerson's admissions, enrolment and financial services were scattered across three different buildings on the downtown campus. Gow Hastings designed a hub that integrates environmental graphics and coloured glass space dividers to reflect the school's branding and address the services’ formerly disparate feel. The project won a 2016 ARIDO award for its interior design.
In 2018, Gow Hastings completed the Odeyto Indigenous Centre, a multi-purpose facility for First Peoples at Seneca College in Toronto. The Odeyto building takes its name from the Anishinaabe word for “good journey” and is inspired by the image of a canoe pulling up to a dock. Odeyto was named one of the 10 Best Canadian Architecture Projects of 2018 by Azure Magazine. In 2019, Odeyto received a Toronto Urban Design Award in the category Public Buildings in Context.
In 2019, the firm renovated and upgraded Fleming College’s A-Wing building at its Sutherland Campus in Peterborough, Ontario, cladding the imposing brutalist institution with yellow and white-coloured folded aluminum panels, and adding extensive glazing to draw natural light indoors. The project was considered an exercise in “overwriting” a dated building with a contemporary aesthetic.
