MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects is an architecture firm based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with an additional studio in Boulder, Colorado, USA. The practice is led by partners Brian MacKay-Lyons and Talbot Sweetapple. Their firm focuses locally and internationally on architectural and urban design services for residential, cultural, and institutional projects.
MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has received numerous international, national and regional awards for its work. This recognition includes the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Gold Medal in 2015 and RAIC Firm Award in 2014, six Governor General Medals, two American Institute of Architects National Honor Awards of Architecture, thirteen Lieutenant Governor’s Medals of Excellence, eight Canadian Architect Awards, four Architectural Record Houses Awards, and ten North American Wood Design Awards. Their work has also been featured in various international exhibits and over 300 publications.
Background
In 1985, Brian MacKay-Lyons founded the original firm as Brian MacKay-Lyons Architecture Urban Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The firm evolved into MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited when Talbot Sweetapple partnered with Brian MacKay-Lyons in 2005.
In 2018, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects opened a satellite office location in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. The Denver office is their first location outside Nova Scotia. The office was opened as a response to the firm's work on Summit Powder Mountain in Utah, and will allow them to better serve their American clients and communities.
Currently, the Halifax head office is headed by the two principals, Brian MacKay-Lyons and Talbot Sweetapple. It also includes one Managing Principal, Melanie Hayne, and one Design Associate, Shane Andrews. His interest and background in public architecture, along with Brian and Talbot's aligned architectural philosophies, led to the successful partnership of the firm. Since 2005, their partnership has led to the growth of the firm as they began to undertake more urban projects.
Talbot started teaching in design and technology studios as an Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University in 1997. While there, he was a sessional design instructor, but also taught throughout the United States as a guest professor. In 2004, he taught at Syracuse University, the University of Arkansas, and was also appointed as the Ruth and Norman Moore Chair at Washington University in St. Louis.
Partnership
Talbot was originally a student of Brian MacKay-Lyons at Dalhousie University. Talbot was drawn quickly to Brian as a teacher who was already established as an architect at that time. Both individuals grew up and have strong cultural roots in Atlantic Canada. Brian's heritage includes Acadian ancestry from Nova Scotia, and Talbot's includes ancestry from Newfoundland. Both learned to understand, listen and draw inspiration from their cultural heritage for their work.
MacKay-Lyons and Sweetapple tend to draw their inspiration from reading, listening and seeing the site context. By reading the regional landscape, cultural, climactic, material knowledge is revealed. In combination with listening to the context, they understand the social ambition of the place. Both of these ideas are elemental for providing the intellectual content for the firm's projects. Brian MacKay-Lyons says, "Half of the design of a house, for us, is getting to the front door, being taken through the landscape in a journey." Much of the architecture they design, is inspired by the landscape that it sits on, through creating and crafting an experience for the user that takes them through the environment and into the architecture.
Notable Works
Private
Two Hulls House
Port Mouton, Nova Scotia (2008 - 2011)
Two Hulls House is a family of four's permanent residence, located in the maritime climate on a glaciated coastal landscape. The design is composed of two pavilions, a day pavilion for living spaces and night pavilion for sleeping, both separated by a central foyer. The two forms rise above the shore like two ship's hulls that are docked for the winter, while also shaping protected exterior spaces between and beneath them. Resembling a pair of binoculars, the residence acts as a tool to view the landscape, resting lightly on the land and looking outwards to the ocean. A steel-frame structure, composed of a bridge truss and board-and-batten cedar cladding, characterizes the building with deliberately crafted details and durability to withstand the rough climactic conditions.
Enough House
Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia (2015)
Enough House is a prototype house built on the Shobac Campus at Brian MacKay-Lyons' farm. The project is an exploration of the concept of a "minimum" house, where the essential elements of a house is limited to an economical building footprint. The house prototype is meant to be flexible, to allow for replication and customization to be applicable to site specific conditions. Its traditional gable roof response to the adjacent reconstructed Chebogue Schoolhouse, which was first built in 1830. A bite taken out of the house's southwest corner provides solar gain and opens up towards the sea. Its opposite north façade frames views towards the nearby rolling hills and pastures. The Enough House modestly engages with the neighbouring buildings and landscape, while quietly conveys its own subtle, modern character to the site.
Public
Shobac Campus and Ghost Architectural Laboratory
Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia (2005 - 2019)
Shobac Campus is a historic and cultural site that has been passed down from generations for centuries. Named after the original land grant of Christian Shoubach, the name "Shobac" also refers to the adjacent high cliffs that overlook the LaHave River estuary on the coast of Nova Scotia. For thousands of years, the land has been used as a seasonal encampment by the indigenous , French fisherman as a fishing and farming village, Acadian, German, Swiss and French Protestants for agricultural uses - overtime, the area has had a rich history of settlement. In 1988, Brian MacKay-Lyons began to re-clear the abandoned farmland, to recreate and cultivate it into an agricultural village at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
Several projects designed by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects are located in the Shobac Campus. Many of these projects belong to the Ghost Architectural Laboratory, started by Brian MacKay-Lyons and ran from 1994 for thirteen iterations, before going on a hiatus in 2011. The structures from the Ghost Lab are products of the two-week design-build symposium, which provide accommodation for the event and a venue for the community events. Through the Ghost Lab, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple's commitment and innovation in teaching methods thus led them to win a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2017.
The result of the Shobac Campus was built around the Ghost structures, and is an expression of utopian architectural ambitions. Showcasing an argument for land stewardship and constructed through modest methods, the buildings form courtyards and "microclimates" that preserve surrounding areas for agriculture.
Canadian Chancery and Official Residence
Dhaka, Bangladesh (2002 - 2005)
An embassy as an architect's commission is considered a very privileged opportunity, to not only represent the cultural values of the guest country, but to also respect the culture of the host country. Talbot Sweetapple was the project architect for this project, he states that one of their key focuses for the embassy was to incorporate Bangladeshi culture into the design. To do so, they had to understand the local culture, population, climate, materiality and context. The material palette of the building was developed in partnership with RDH Architects, which involved an elongated brick wall and folded metal cladding elements that enclosed an inner courtyard. The courtyard reflects the Islamic cultural principle of outward modesty and providing a welcoming public realm, while also takes into account security requirements and the tropical climate conditions. Making use of the local materials and resources, the Canadian Chancery strikes a balance between modernity, traditional and vernacular values - thus respecting the host Bangladeshi culture and bringing forward a multicultural representation of Canada.
Academic Resource Centre, University of Toronto
Scarborough, Ontario (2001 - 2003)
The Academic Resource Centre is located in the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, established in the 1960s when Brutalist architecture was popular. The resource centre includes renovated programs and new construction, consisting of a central library, a 500-seat lecture theatre, and a small art gallery that would serve the entire university campus. The building was envisioned to become the heart of the university. Through the design process, various user groups were invited to participate and contribute to organizing the programmatic requirements. The interior space involves a series of five "boats" that are parallel and contain the essential programs. A double-height circulation corridor with clerestory windows and suspended walkways connect between the boats. Interior courtyards were introduced to break the rhythm of the parallel gridded space, while also providing a gathering place for students and staff of the university. The materiality of the resource centre includes a colonnade of concrete columns, suspended walkway system in steel, and cherry plywood that highlight ceiling features and millwork throughout the complex.
Awards
MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects have received numerous international, national and regional awards since their establishment. The following is a list of the practice's awards, most notably, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal in 2015 and Firm Award in 2014, six Governor General Medals, and two American Institute of Architects National Honor Awards of Architecture.
* 2017: North American Wood Design Merit Award, Point House, NS
* 2016: Architect Magazine, Residential Architect Design Awards Citation, Enough House & Point House, NS
* 2016: Honoree Award, Interior Design Best of Year Award, Budget Category, Enough House, NS
* 2016: AIA International Region Honor Award for Open International, Two Hulls, NS
* 2016: Record Houses Award, Architectural Record, Mirror Point Cottage, Annapolis Royal, NS
* 2016: Royal Institute of British Architects, International Fellowship
* 2016: AZ Award Finalist, Azure Magazine, Enough House, NS
* 2016: Nominated, Mies Crown Hall America’s Prize, Refuge, NS
* 2014: North American Wood Design Honor Award, Refuge on the Bay of Fundy, Redbank Farm
* 2014: Nominated, Mies Crown Hall America’s Prize, Two Hulls House, NS
* 2014: AZ, Jury Award Azure Magazine Cliff House, NS
* 2014: Architizer Awards People’s Choice Award, Two Hulls House, NS
* 2013: Residential Architect Design Award, Merit Award Sliding House, N S
* 2012: AZ People’s Choice Design Award, Azure Magazine, Two Hulls House, NS
* 2011: Record House Award, Architectural Record, Two Hulls House, NS
* 2011: American Institute of Architects Honor Award, Ghost Campus, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2011: North American Wood Design Ron Thom Award, Ghost Campus, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2011: North American Wood Design Honor Award, Cliff House, NS
* 2011: North American Wood Design Design Citation, Two Hulls House, NS
* 2010: Fallingwater On-Site Cottages, Invited Design Competition, Finalist
* 2009: North American Wood Design Award, Citation, Hill House, South Shore, NS
* 2005: Record Houses Award, Architectural Record, Hill House, South Shore, NS
* 2005: North American Wood Design Award, Citation, Ghost VI, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2003: American Institute of Architects Honor Award, Howard House, West Pennant, NS
* 2002: North American Wood Design Award, Merit, Messenger II House, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2001: Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, (Hon. FAIA)
* 2000: Record House Award, Architectural Record, Howard House, South Shore, NS
* 1998: Wood Design Honour Award, Leahey House, Pugwash, NS
* 1990: ‘New Room’ for Architecture, First Prize, International Design Competition for an Extension to The School of Architecture, Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS
* 1990: ‘New Room’ for Architecture, First Prize, International Design Competition for an Extension to The School of Architecture, Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS
* 1988: Royal Society of the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce, Honourable Mention
Canadian Awards
* 2016: Canadian Building Trades Monument Competition, Winner (in partnership with John Greer)
* 2015: Canada Council for the Arts Assistance for Organizations and Firms, Book: Economy as Ethic: Work of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects
* 2015: Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 2015 Gold Medal
* 2014: Bigwin Island Block 78 Design Competition, Winner
* 2014: Royal Architecture Institute of Canada Firm Award
* 2013: Heritage Canada Cornerstone Award, Adaptive Reuse, Troop Barn, Kingsburg NS
* 2012: Governor General’s Medal for Architecture, Cliff House, NS
* 2011: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Two Hulls House, NS
* 2011: Canada Council for the Arts Assistance for the Promotion of Architecture, Ideas in Things: Ghost Sessions
* 2008: OAA Design Excellence Award, Academic Resource Centre, University of Toronto - Scarborough, ON
* 2003: Canada Council for the Arts Assistance to Practitioners, Critics, and Curators of Architecture, Plain Modern: The Architecture of Brian MacKay-Lyons
* 2002: Governor General’s Medal for Architecture, House on the Nova Scotia Coast # 22, Lower LaHave, NS
* 2002: Fellow of Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, FRAIC
* 2002: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Messenger House II, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2000: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Howard House, West Pennant, Nova Scotia
* 1999: Canadian Architect Award of Merit, “Between Two Rocks,” Digby County, NS
* 1999: Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Election
* 1999: Advertising & Design Club of Canada Merit Award, for Public Services Design for TUNS Press Documents in Canadian Architecture, Brian MacKay-Lyons: Selected Projects 1986-1997
* 1999: The Alcuin Society Citations for Excellence in Book Design in Canada, Adult Picture, Photography and Museum Catalogues Category, TUNS Press Documents in Canadian Architecture Brian MacKay-Lyons: Selected Projects 1986-1997
* 1998: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Northwest Cove Productions, “Studio Retreats" Big Tancook Island, NS
* 1997: Governor General’s Medal for Architecture, House on the Nova Scotia Coast #12
* 1996: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Howard House, West Pennant, NS
* 1994: Governor General’s Award for Architecture, Leahey House, Pugwash, NS
* 1993: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Leahey House, Pugwash, NS
* 1992: Governor General’s Medal for Architecture, 2042 Maynard Street, Mixed Use Infill, Halifax, NS
* 1988: Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, Nielsen/White House, Halifax, NS
* 1988: Olympic Arts Medal, Gate for Olympic Games, Olympic Arts Festival, Calgary, AB
* 1988: Heritage Canada Restoration Award, Windemere House, Restoration/Renovation, Charlottetown, PEI
* 1987: Prix De Rome (Finalist), First Canadian Prix De Rome
* 1986: Governor General’s Medal for Architecture, House on the Nova Scotia Coast, Renovation, Upper Kingsburg, NS
Regional Awards
* 2017: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Colchester East Hants Public Library, Truro, NS
* 2016: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Enough House, Kingsburg, NS
* 2016: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Mirror Point, Annapolis, NS
* 2015: Atlantic Wood Works, Atlantic Architect of the Year
* 2013: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Lean-to House, NS
* 2012: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Sunset Rock, NS
* 2012: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Sliding House, NS
* 2011: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Two Hulls, NS
* 2011: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Leahey II, NS
* 2010: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Martin-Lancaster House, NS
* 2010: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, UPEI School of Business, Charlottetown, PEI
* 2010: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Cliff House, NS
* 2009: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Bridge House, NS
* 2009: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Ghost Campus, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2009: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, House on the Nova Scotia Coast #22 Spa
* 2009: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Port Campus, Halifax, NS
* 2009: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Canadian Chancery and Official Residence, Dhaka, Bangladesh
* 2007: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Brock University Plaza Building, St. Catharines, ON
* 2007: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Regan House, Halifax, NS
* 2007: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Creighton St. Townhouses, Halifax, NS
* 2006: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Young Ave. House, Halifax, NS
* 2006: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Mason House, NS
* 2005: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Fischer House, NS
* 2004: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Hill House, South Shore, NS
* 2004: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Academic Research Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough, ON
* 2004: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, New Office of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited, Halifax, NS
* 2004: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Ship’s Company Theatre, Parrsboro, NS
* 2003: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Messenger II House, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 2002: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Agnew Residence, First South Cove, NS
* 2002: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Special Award, in recognition of achievements in architectural design, attaining national and international acclaim while practicing within a firm in Nova Scotia, to the overall benefit of the profession.
* 2000: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Howard House, West Pennant, NS
* 2000: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, Dalhousie University Faculty of Computer Science Building, Halifax, NS
* 1999: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Kutcher Residence, Herring Cove, NS
* 1999: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, House on the Nova Scotia Coast #22, Lower LaHave, NS
* 1999: The Alcuin Society Citations for Excellence in Book Design in Canada, Adult Picture, Photography and Museum Catalogues Category, TUNS Press Documents in Canadian Architecture Brian MacKay-Lyons: Selected Projects 1986-1997
* 1998: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Banque Royale, West Pubnico, NS
* 1997: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, House on the Nova Scotia Coast #12
* 1996: Lieutenant Governor’s Citation, White/Leger House, Antigonish, NS
* 1995: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Leahey House, Pugwash, NS
* 1994: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, 2086 Maynard Street, Halifax, NS
* 1993: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, LeGallais House, Bedford, NS
* 1992: Lieutenant Governor’s Award, Honourable Mention, Dalhousie Campus Plan, A Collective Vision; Halifax, NS
* 1992: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Yaukey Cottage, Blanche Peninsula, NS
* 1991: Lieutenant Governor’s Award, Honourable Mention, Lea House, St. Margaret’s Bay, NS
* 1991: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, 2042 Maynard Street, Mixed Use Infill, Halifax, NS
* 1991: Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit, Wicht Cottage, Lower Kingsburg, NS
* 1991: Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, Gibson-Livingston House, Sherbrooke Lake, NS
* 1989: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Citation, Nielsen/White House, Halifax, NS
* 1989: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Award of Merit, 2098 Creighton St., Infill Housing, Halifax, NS
* 1987: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Medal of Excellence, Peninsula North Infill Housing Strategy, 2020 Maynard Street, Halifax, NS
* 1987: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Citation, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Competition, Waterloo, ON
* 1986: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Award of Excellence, First Baptist Church, Renovation to Housing, (Emodi/MacKay-Lyons) Halifax, NS
* 1986: Nova Scotia Home Award, House on the Nova Scotia Coast, Renovation, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 1986: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Citation, House on the Nova Scotia Coast, Renovation, Upper Kingsburg, NS
* 1985: Halifax Non-Profit Housing Society Competition, First Prize, Infill Housing, Halifax, NS
* 1985: Nova Scotia Home Award, Lyons Tower, Addition, Five Island Lake, NS
* 1984: Nova Scotia Home Award, Garrison House, Renovation and Infill
* 1983: Nova Scotia Association of Architects Award of Merit
Publications
*2017: McCarter, Robert. Work of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects - Economy As Ethic. Thames & Hudson published April 2017
*2014: MacKay-Lyons, Brian, Edited by Robert McCarter, Local Architecture: Building Place, Craft and Community. Princeton Architectural Press (December 2014)
*2008: MacKay-Lyons, B. Ghost: Building an Architectural Vision. Princeton Architectural Press: New York, 2008
*2005: Quantrill, M. Plain Modern: The Architecture of Brian MacKay-Lyons. Princeton Architectural Press: New York, 2005
*1998: MacKay-Lyons, B. Brian MacKay-Lyons: Selected Works 1986-1997. TUNS Press: Halifax, NS, 1998.
*1996: MacKay-Lyons, B. Design Quarterly 165, Seven Stories from a Village Architect. Jensen, R.A. (ed.). M.I.T. Press: Cambridge, MA, 1996.

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