Although a relatively new firm, the partners of RVTR already have a history of innovative designs in steel, from a large scale university and cultural buildings, public school prototypes, and civil infrastructure projects, to multi-dwelling urban designs and single homes.

“We prioritize the use of steel for a range of reasons from appearance and fabrication precision to construction flexibility and even contract procurement logics,” Kathy Velikov, one the firm’s four partners, says. “Steel is extremely predictable to use, with a very clear process of manufacture and common set of assembly standards.”

RVTR with Team North: North House, 2009

In the Thomas H. Wells Public School, Toronto’s first sustainable prototype public school, RVTR partner Geoffrey Thün, then a project architect with Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, relied on steel to provide a formal dexterity demanded by the project’s articulated façade that provides passive shading, light shelves, and unique interior reading areas for students.

Luminous Veil Bridge, 2003

“Perhaps my most unusual experience with steel construction is the “Luminous Veil,” Thün says who collaborated on the project with Toronto artist Dereck Revington. Spanning Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct, the 1,550 foot-long public art piece serves the sobering civic purpose of preventing suicides on what previously was the second most frequented site of its kind in North America.

Beirut House of Arts and Culture, 2009

“In addition to its visual lightness, durability and ability to marry to the existing historic structure, steel was easy to assemble and its precision permitted tolerances to 5mm on critical safety components over the entire continuous span,” he notes.

RVTR: Latitude Housing, 2008

In the case of the renovation of the Fred Kaiser Computer Engineering Building at the University of British Columbia, RVTR partner Kathy Velikov working as project designer with Architect’s Alliance, used steel as the primary structural system, in part, to serve as a bridge spanning existing facilities, enabling them to function while the new building volumes were erected.

RVTR: Latitude Housing, 2008

Steel also was essential in RVTR’s “Latitude” concept, the firm’s entry in Living Steel’s Third Extreme Housing Competition last year.

For example, all building components use steel for their primary structure. Floor and roof panels are extremely efficient, light-weight honeycomb steel. The walls comprise a system of highly insulated steel sandwich panels with high-efficiency glazing and louvers that modulate passive heating in winter and cooling in summer.

RVTR: Pampas House, 2008

Looking to the future, RVTR is encouraged by the evolution of steel production to more environmentally friendly methods and sees global demand for sustainably produced steel products increasing.

UBC’s Architecture by Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd. and architectsAlliance. Photography by Terry Guscott