Teeple Architects and Norrplan Form a Strategic Collaborative Partnership
to Advance Industrial and Commercial Architecture in North America 

Teeple Architects, an award-winning North American architectural practice, and Norrplan, a Danish architectural firm renowned for its global expertise in industrial, logistics, warehouse, and commercial architecture, have entered an exclusive partnership.

Norrplan’s specialist expertise has been built over 40 years of practice and deepened through experience executing projects on four continents. In North America, Norrplan has collaborated with leading international clients, including Oxford Properties, DSV, Maersk, and Novo Nordisk, and is currently engaged in several new, large-scale projects.

Teeple Architects has contributed to shaping North American architecture for nearly four decades, establishing a reputation for strong contextual grounding and rigorous technical execution. With studios in Toronto, Vancouver, and Raleigh, and project offices in Los Angeles and Seattle, Teeple’s experience, culture, and values position the firm as an ideal strategic partner.

The Teeple + Norrplan partnership represents an exciting opportunity to jointly pursue and deliver industrial and commercial projects across North America, including light industrial warehousing, manufacturing, distribution facilities, pharmaceutical warehousing, food production and storage facilities, data centres, and office facilities, responding to the demands of rapidly evolving supply chains and increasingly complex development and construction contexts. The two firms have been collaborating over the past several months, and are excited to begin sharing the outcomes of this partnership.

Chuck Beamish, Managing Principal at Teeple Architects, adds: “Norrplan brings an approach grounded in design clarity, functionality, and people-centered work environments that will add significant value to the North American market. Combined with Teeple’s four-decades of client partnerships, this collaboration forms a strong foundation.”

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“This is a significant milestone in this project,” said Åsa Kachan, Chief Librarian and CEO, Halifax Public Libraries. “The selected team demonstrates a deep understanding of Halifax North Memorial Public Library’s history and a design philosophy rooted in co-creation with the community. Their proposal featured innovative approaches to address the complexities of renovating a mid-century building, a commitment to accessibility and climate resiliency and strong technical experience renovating public libraries.” 

Halifax North Memorial Public Library opened to the community in 1966. During its history, North Branch, as it’s commonly referred to, has been the home for many social justice movements, including the first meeting of the Black History Association in 1987, the first Black History Month Youth Quiz in 1991, and the challenging community conversations regarding the unfair street check policing practices in 2019.

The Halifax North Memorial Public Library Renovation is a transformative civic project with an ambitious scope including deep energy upgrades, cultural preservation, improving accessibility standards and climate resiliency, and updating modern library infrastructure. The Library renewal project will reflect the voices and values of its neighbours.

“This project is not about reimagining the branch but about strengthening the place that has already shaped so many lives in the North End,” said Wes Wilson, Principal at Teeple Architects. “It isn’t about grand gestures but about giving the community a space that is resilient, accessible, and open enough to continue the legacy of care, empathy, and connection.”

Public engagement and community conversations have already started; members of the community can visit HalifaxPublicLibraries.ca/YourNorthBranch to share ideas and learn more.

For media inquiries, interviews, or questions, please contact:
Laurel Taylor
Manager, Integrated Communications & Fund Development
E. taylorl@halifaxlibrary.ca
M. 902.490.5869

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Teeple Architects is pleased to announce the addition of five new partners: Richard Lai, Myles Craig, Wes Wilson, Avery Guthrie, and Tomer Diamant.

Each new partner, integral to Teeple’s success for many years, brings specialized expertise and will strengthen the firm’s commitment to its innovative, technically advanced, client-focused projects.

“This is an exciting new chapter for the firm, one that builds on the foundation of collaboration and creativity that has always defined us,” said Stephen Teeple. “These leaders are not new to Teeple Architects; they have been instrumental in shaping our practice for years, and their perspectives will help guide us forward while maintaining the values we’ve always held.”

This marks a significant milestone in Teeple Architects’ 35-year history. The expanded partnership strengthens the firm’s ability to continue delivering benchmark-setting projects, channeling its expertise and creativity to tackle the increasingly complex, interconnected challenges faced by clients and communities—such as climate change, housing affordability, and community resilience.

“Steve’s incredible vision and mentorship have been transformative for all of us,” said Tomer Diamant, Partner. “As we step into this new phase, we are excited to continue to work closely with Steve to carry the Teeple legacy forward.”

As the new partners join Stephen Teeple in shaping the firm’s future, they create opportunities for growth and reinforce its legacy as a celebrated, award-winning architectural practice.

Watch the announcement video here

For media inquiries, interviews, or questions, please contact:
Lindsay Cooper, Head of Business Development
E. lcooper@teeplearch.com
T. 289.200.3254

Wilf Dinnick, Mission A Communications
E. wilf@missiona.ca
T. 647.766.8307

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Connect with us on LinkedIn: Teeple Architects Inc.

bluwatr.
Bluwatr is a unique growth platform managed by Architects and Engineers, designed exclusively for firms within the Architecture and Engineering sector. Their mission, centered on fostering positive, disruptive innovation through technology, aligns with Teeple’s ethos and legacy of innovative design. Bluwatr brings large-scale project expertise, valuable business intelligence, and a commitment to investing in forward-looking technological innovations within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry.

Full Press Release:
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/12/04/2790290/0/en/A-E-industry-leaders-launch-growth-platform-Acquire-Teeple-Architects.html

Bluwatr. Website:
https://www.bluwatr.io/

We are pleased to share our design for the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Our scheme imagines a heritage centre shaped by place, celebrating the unique seasonality of Nunavut including, and carefully sited in response to the rock formation of the site so as nestle the form to minimize cut and fill to the site.

The overall design emerged from a collaborative listening process with our Inuit Design Advisory Council (IDAC). Our scheme, named ᐊ ᑖ ᕐ ᑐ ᑦ (A Long Journey), celebrates the journey it has taken to realize a Heritage Centre in Nunavut as well as the journey of Inuit and Inuit artifacts to make their way back home. The building and its near and far context is experienced by visitors dynamically as they move from space to space. The design is shaped by the ingenuity of material culture, creating moments of home, and places to share stories inside and out.

At the commencement of the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre (NIHC) Design Competition, a Design Week in Iqaluit, where members from all four shortlisted teams attended, initiated the process and our connection to the project. The Design Week program, a welcomed and forward-thinking process, included a site visit, community consultation, Elder’s Gathering, presentations from various technical and cultural advisors, and concluded with Design Team Presentations.

Following the Design Week, Lateral Office, Teeple Architects, and our Inuit Design Advisory Council developed a unique collaboration for evolving our design vision of the NIHC. We met as a group every two weeks, with Teeple Architects and Lateral Office meeting weekly to share values and ideas.

The five all-team meetings were focused on:
Design Vision
Site Response
Building Organization
Building Expressing Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
Material Expression and Naming of Spaces.

From these design discussions, three essential priorities emerged that governed our design intent and values.

The NIHC:
Will be welcoming to all and feel like home;
Will protect and celebrate traditions and objects;
Will create diverse connections between inside and outside representing all seasons.

In our initial collaborations, a series of cards were developed that guided the team in determining priorities. Following this, collaborations involved sketching ideas and spaces, creating moments reference images, and annotating plans and models. This led to a vision co-designed by many and addressing the interests of all.

We will be sharing more images on the process and project soon.

Design Team:
Teeple Architects and Lateral Office
Stephen Teeple, Tomer Diamant, Robert Cheung, Dhroov Patel, Richard Lam
Lola Sheppard, Mason White, Kearon Roy Taylor, Vincent Chuang, Josh Kirk

Inuit Design Advisory Council (IDAC):
Elisabeth and Attima Hadlari, Rassi Nashalik, Jessica Koterierk, Special Kusugak, Goretti Kakuktinniq, Shirley Tagalik, Theresie Tungilik

Technical Team:
Mechanical, Electrical, Civil: WSP Canada
Structure: Fast & Epp
Renderings: Tango Studio

The National Centre for Indigenous Laws supports and embodies the University of Victoria’s groundbreaking approach toward reconciliation of divergent legal traditions under one roof. A dedicated home for the world-first JD/JID Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders degree program, the NCIL is a direct response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Report’s Calls to Action 27, 28 and 50. The NCIL is being constructed on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen peoples, and has been designed to honour the host Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ nations while welcoming Indigenous students, staff and community members from across the country.

Attendees of the construction ceremony were welcomed by Songhees Elder Dr. Skip Dick, who reminded the group of the great importance the NCIL on the path of reconciliation. Attendees were led on a tour of the site by Patricia Barkaskas, NCIL Strategic Advisor to the Dean, and Acting Dean of Law, Professor, and Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance, Val Napoleon, and saw how the NCIL will be the new face of UVic’s Law School, signifying the importance of Indigenous legal practice, and uniting the existing Fraser Law Building and the surrounding landscape in an integrated path of learning.

The design was the result of a rich collaboration led by Two Row Architect of the Grand River First Nation and Tkaronto, in collaboration with post-secondary experts Teeple Architects, and Victoria’s Low Hammond Rowe Architects, together with a dedicated and highly engaged team representing the University of Victoria and Faculty of Law. Driven by learnings from Elders and knowledge-keepers, the design foregrounds respect for the land; the mass timber structure was sited to minimize disturbance to the existing wooded site and nearby watershed and will reuse mature trees displaced by construction as visible structural elements, making the practice of environmental stewardship part of the experience of the place.

“This physical structure represents a sanctuary where our laws, which enable us to be peoples, will be safe, and where both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students will learn about those laws, creating the foundation to a multijuridical Canada.”

― Val Napoleon, Acting Dean of Law, Professor, and Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance.

“The NCIL is inspired by the ways of knowing and being, legal traditions and architecture of the Coast Salish world. In the tradition of the Coast Salish big houses, we have created the Centre as a place where Indigenous law is practiced, oral traditions are transmitted, legal issues and important decisions are deliberated over, and relationships are fostered and strengthened through visiting, feasting, singing and dancing. Our dream for the Centre builds on the enduring practices of hospitality central to the Indigenous Peoples of this territory. We look forward to hosting all our relations in the work of standing up our collective Indigenous laws and legal orders.”

― Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye), Building Committee Member, Associate Professor, Coast Salish and member of the Cowichan Tribes

To read more about the NCIL groundbreaking click here

Elevated Ellis: bring 63rd Street to life with the life of the building!

To learn more about our proposal watch our concept video here

To learn more about our team click here

We encourage community members to view all finalist proposal submissions and take the community survey at the link provided below.

To take the Community Survey click here

“Poised to breathe new life into Toronto’s Entertainment District, Madison Group broke ground on Nobu Residences Toronto in mid-2017. Publicized by Nobu Hospitality co-founder and actor Robert De Niro, the development launch promised a new Toronto landmark dedicated to luxury, the incorporation of historical facades from the Pilkington Glass Factory and the fusion of striking architectural details in a contemporary aesthetic. 700 rental units will span two distinct 156-metre towers and a podium complete with indoor and outdoor amenities including commercial retail, an outdoor Zen Garden and, of course, Toronto’s first Nobu restaurant.”

To read the full article click here