Diamond Schmitt

10/15/2026

Principal Peggy Theodore is on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Labs Canada (SLCan) and has chaired its Conference Committee for the past five years, giving her a close view of the evolving questions shaping Canada's science facility community.

As part of SL Can's 2026 pre-conference program, Peggy is one of discipline leads for the training session “Introduction to Advanced Laboratory Design Containment, alongside Mary On, Kevin Shea, Kevin Shelast, Magali Tremblay, and Yvon Lachance on Monday, November 16, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the Banff Centre.

The interactive course will explore the design, technical, and regulatory considerations shaping laboratory environments, from containment principles and Canadian codes and standards to architectural, mechanical, electrical, and control systems, supported by practical project examples and discussion.

A LEED Accredited Professional and experienced facilitator, Peggy will draw on her extensive work designing science, research, and institutional lab environments, including the Life Sciences Centre at the University of British Columbia, the Papadakis Integrated Science Building at Drexel University, Public Health Ontario Central Laboratory, National Research Centre in Winnipeg, and the Atlantic Science Enterprise Centre in Moncton.

Learn more about the session and register: https://dsai.ca/events/slcan-conference-introduction-to-advanced-laboratory-design-containment/?utm_source=facebooktoevent&utm_medium=slcanpeggy&utm_id=1026

10/14/2026

An award-winning green roof that brings architecture and nature together.

The LIUNA Local 183 Headquarters has won a Jeffrey L. Bruce Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities!

Featuring 153,000 sf of stepped green roofs, landscaped terraces and planted spaces, the project brings nature into the everyday experience of the building while managing stormwater, reducing heat island effects, and creating new habitat.

Supported by ZinCo’s greenroof systems, the design integrates landscape with a broader sustainability strategy that includes cistern-fed irrigation, eliminating potable water use for irrigation.

Designed as the first phase of a larger campus, the headquarters establishes an ecological and civic framework for future development, and demonstrates how living architecture can support environmental performance, wellbeing, and community.

Photos: Tom Arban

Learn more about the project:
https://dsai.ca/projects/liuna-local-183-headquarters/?utm_source=linkedintoproject&utm_medium=liunagreenroofsaward&utm_id=1026

10/06/2026

The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) returns to New York for its 18th edition!

ADFF brings together film, storytelling and the built environment through a curated program of screenings, events and conversations that explore the people and ideas shaping contemporary design.

This year’s festival opens with the world premiere of “MUNDO FRÁGIL”, a portrait of 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate and Chilean architect Smiljan Radić by filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine. From an intentionally small Santiago practice, Radić creates buildings that move between the rough and the delicate, the geological and the handmade. Travelling across Chile with Radić, the film explores how place, myth and material shape his architectural imagination.

Diamond Schmitt is proud to sponsor ADFF NY and support its ongoing conversation around the role and power of design.

Explore the full ADFF NY program, including films, speakers and special events: https://adfilmfest.com/adff-ny/

Get your tickets: https://adffny26.eventive.org/films

10/05/2026

One year into life at Oak House, the residence is doing more than providing a place to live. It is shaping how students connect with one another, to the campus, and to the surrounding urban neighbourhood.

At the University of Toronto’s St. George campus, Oak House brings together student housing, shared social spaces, heritage conservation and district-scale energy infrastructure within a residence designed around community.

Shared amenities are distributed throughout the residence to create smaller hubs for gathering and informal exchange, while its architectural massing, proportions, and materiality establish continuity with the surrounding urban context. Below ground, a geothermal exchange system contributes to U of T’s long-term carbon reduction goals.

“The project reflects a broader shift in student housing, from buildings conceived primarily as collections of stacked bedrooms to environments that support collegial community. Social interaction and the amenity spaces support informal exchange as an important part of learning and personal growth,” says Principal Don Schmitt.

“The design of Oak House draws on its urban context and proximity to St. George campus to create a residence where student life is woven into the life of the neighbourhood as well as the campus,” he adds.

Learn more about how student housing can become a collegial community and more than just student beds, reinforcing connections to the surrounding neighbourhood and positioning student housing as an active part of the university’s wider civic and environmental framework: https://dsai.ca/projects/oak-house/

Photos: Tom Arban

Oak House comprises two buildings, a residential tower and a three-storey townhouse, designed to address the growing demand for student housing.

10/02/2026

Principal Matthew Lella and Senior Associate Haley Zhou joined CBC's Découverte to discuss the role of natural light in architecture, and why it matters far beyond the function of illumination.

Light shapes how we experience a space. Views of the sky, a sense of the weather changing and the passage of time connect people to their environment, while daylight can also support interaction and a stronger sense of connection.

At the McGill Sustainability Park, these ideas are being tested through daylight studies, digital simulations and physical that help the design team understand how light will move through the building before it is built.

Matthew and Haley share the thinking behind this work in the episode “Natural Light in Architecture: So Much More Than Just Brightness.”

Read more on our news page and watch the episode, in French: https://dsai.ca/news/cbc-decouverte-natural-light-in-architecture-featuring-mcgill-sustainability-park/?utm_source=facebooktonews&utm_medium=cbcdecouvertemcgillsustainabilitypark0927

Principal Matthew Lella and Senior Associate Haley Zhou joined CBC’s Découverte for a segment titled “Natural Light in Architecture: So Much More Than Just Brightness.” The segment explores how…

10/01/2026

In our latest quarterly newsletter, we look at how architecture can create value beyond the requirements of its immediate program—strengthening connections between people, institutions and communities to contribute more fully to public life. From a new cultural precinct in Vancouver to interdisciplinary academic environments and community infrastructure, how can the places we design strengthen the institutions they serve and extend their value to the broader community?

The issue also features articles on the future of the academic campus and low-carbon EMS architecture, recent awards, leadership appointments across our studios, and where our speakers will be this fall.

Explore our latest news here:
Here is the link:
https://mailchi.mp/dsai.ca/2026-fall-newsletter-building-connection-creating-civic-value-12915766?e=6fac76251c

09/29/2026

Celebrating fifteen years of the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building at Drexel University!

Since opening, the building has brought research, teaching and campus life together — connecting scientists across disciplines and creating the conditions for unexpected breakthroughs.

Designed to move away from the traditionally closed, introspective model of science buildings, its layout is intentionally social. A signature four-storey spiral staircase links disciplines along a shared route, turning daily movement into an opportunity for spontaneous encounters. Balconies and lounges on every level give researchers, faculty and students spaces to relax and gather outside the lab; and where informal meetings can lead to the next big idea. Transparency and public-facing spaces at grade invite the wider community into the building.

Together, these spaces make collaboration a part of the everyday, turning routines into opportunities to meet, exchange ideas and build knowledge across teams.

A decade and a half later, Papadakis remains a benchmark for how science can be integrated into academic life while fostering openness and exchange—recognized with awards including Philadelphia Project of the Year, the Interior Green Wall Award of Excellence, and Most Innovative Glass Project.

Photos:
Halkin Mason Photography
Tom Arban

09/28/2026

At Fanshawe College Innovation Village, architecture is shaped by the people, histories and cultural knowledge, shaping a learning space that is designed to support participation, exchange, and a strong sense of belonging.

An Indigenous engagement process led by Guy Williams, Special Advisor in Indigenous Education and Development at Fanshawe College, helped shape the project through ongoing dialogue, teachings and cultural references. Ideas including Turtle Island, the four cardinal directions, the lunar calendar, traditional gathering spaces, and the Seven Grandfather Teachings informed the design of the building at multiple scales, from spatial relationships and materials to graphics and connections to landscape.

The Kalihwíy̲o̲ Circle is one expression of this work, providing a dedicated place for ceremony, teaching, storytelling, and gathering. Alongside elements woven throughout Innovation Village, it reflects a broader effort to make Indigenous knowledge visible and a part of the everyday life at the College, offering Indigenous students a place to see themselves reflected in their surroundings, and the broader community opportunities to engage with Indigenous stories and teachings.

Our latest Explorations looks at the Indigenous engagement process that shaped the design of Fanshawe College Innovation Village, and how those conversations helped inform the spatial design and experiences of the place.

Our latest Explorations looks at the Indigenous engagement process that shaped the design of Fanshawe College Innovation Village, and how those conversations helped inform the spatial design and experiences of the place:
https://dsai.ca/explorations/indigenous-engagement-at-fanshawe-college-innovation-village/?utm_source=facebooktoexplorations&utm_medium=Indigenousengagementfanshaweinnovationvillage&utm_id=0926

Photos: Tom Arban

09/23/2026

St. Paul's Hospital's Clinical Support and Research Centre (CSRC) has reached a major milestone with the installation of its two-storey prefabricated skybridge! The team celebrated as the structure was lifted into place by a 750-ton mobile crane—one of only three in North America.

Connecting the CSRC directly to St. Paul’s Hospital, the skybridge is more than a physical link between the two buildings; it creates a path from lab to bedside. By bringing research and clinical care into closer proximity, it supports the translation of discoveries into clinical application, enabling new treatments to be discovered and trialled within one integrated health-care setting, closer to the people they are intended to serve.

Stay tuned for construction updates!

09/18/2026

Fifteen years on, the Queen's University School of Medicine continues to shape how future healthcare leaders collaborate, train, and innovate—anchoring a medicine precinct connected to its community while giving the school a distinct, recognizable address.

Designed as a dynamic pedagogical tool, the building consolidates medical education into a life sciences hub, putting students, faculty, and clinicians into daily contact and closing the distance between classroom learning and real-world practice.

By bringing together Physiology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, and Anatomy—previously scattered across campus—alongside clinical exam rooms, high-fidelity simulation labs, and shared interdisciplinary spaces, the facility actively dismantles academic silos and accelerates hands-on clinical excellence.
The design directly supports that daily collaboration. A central atrium anchors four floors of teaching space, creating a shared heart where students and clinicians cross paths, discuss cases, and study between sessions. Set behind two historic houses, barrier-free infill connections create an easy flow between classrooms, research spaces, and the nearby hospital, while classic limestone cladding ensures the addition reads as part of the campus fabric.

The facility received an Award of Merit at the City of Kingston’s Livable City Design Awards.