“Working for SOM was amazing,” she adds. “We got to get out feet wet and work on some big projects. It was a great experience.” After a few years of working “intense hours,” however, Monica and Stephen decided to move on. Initially, they intended to go to Europe and only meant to swing through New Brunswick long enough to drop off their things. “We filled a U-Haul full of stuff and we said, ‘We’ll stop in New Brunswick,’” Monica remembers. “My dad had a warehouse there, so we thought we would just drop by, leave our stuff, and then decide where we were going to go. When we got here, we discovered there were only 11 architects under the age of 40 in the whole province. We used to have lunch with more architects than that in New York every day.” “So, we decided to do our exams there,” she continues. “Then we worked for a local firm, where we earned a lot of great experience designing hockey arenas, which made us feel very Canadian. By the time we were licensed, and we could go anywhere, we looked around and realized there were still so few architects. It was like every project we took on had an impact and had an opportunity to create change. So, we said ‘Hey, let’s invest in our home.’” That was back in 2010. In the almost-15 years since, Acre Architects has grown at a steady but measured pace. They have purposely remained small and fast-acting. They have opened an additional studio in Nova Scotia, and they will soon be opening another studio in Ottawa, but their vision is to keep those studios small and intimate. DECEMBER 2024
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