Since they were students, Sophie Robitaille and Andrew Curtis have been fine-tuning their design language. “The outside and inside need to relate to one another,” says Andrew, providing a concise description of Robitaille.Curtis’ approach to architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.
In the same spirit that Robitaille.Curtis has recently designed a bright and contemporary mountain side chalet in the Laurentians, their office is a calm, light-filled and welcoming store front on Victoria Avenue in Westmount. And just as the chalet was designed to preserve trees, rock outcroppings and natural topography, Robitaille.Curtis' studio is poised in their urban neighborhood, where they generate and transform ideas to the benefit of their clients' enjoyment of the environment, both indoor and out.
“We didn’t want to be buried in an anonymous office somewhere. Our studio and its location in Westmount’s Victoria Village, provides us with visibility and connects us to our neighbourhood and community. Our clients drop in and we like that,” Sophie explains.
The façade of large, transparent windows faces the sidewalk, allowing patrons a rare peak into a real live architecture practice. A conference table at the front invites discussion and beyond it is a long continuous desk where the four team members work openly and collaboratively. Teressa Peill and Marie-Eve Brodsky complete the Robitaille.Curtis team. In the back of the functional studio is an extra-long drafting table strewn with drawings, sketches, colouring pencils, scales and tracing paper.
