“We love the idea of being nimble,” Monica says. “We want to be able to tackle big things, but we want to be able to move quickly, and we want to be able to look after our teams. Quality of life is very important to us. We want to build quality of life for our people and the people that we work with.” These days, Acre Architects primarily works across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, though they can venture a lot further – they have proved that on successful projects in Texas and elsewhere in the United States. They have been involved in projects over $100 million, but Monica describes their “wheelhouse” as projects valued between $2 million and $20 million. In particular, they like working with municipalities and on projects that involve community spaces, as those are projects “where we can actually affect transformative change.” Projects in the $2-to-$20 million range also tend to be realized a lot faster than projects where the contract values get much higher. A $100 million project might take a decade to be delivered. Monica and Stephen prefer to move a bit faster. “Our vision is to change the world by creating 100 transformational stories by the year 2030,” Monica says. “We want to do projects that allow us to really see changes before then. They don’t have to be epic changes, but we want to see change happen.” Again, Monica and Stephen particularly enjoy working on projects where they can “create change in the community.” In terms of typology, those projects can run the gamut. Acre Architects’ portfolio includes a variety of custom homes, community centres, recreation complexes, restaurants, long-term care facilities, centres for women, wastewater treatment facilities, spas, fire stations, breweries, wine bars – the list goes on. Currently, they are designing a community recreational complex including a 10 lane performance pool in Riverview. Monica stresses that the typology is not what matters to her or Stephen or anyone on the team at Acre Architects – what matters, she explains, is the opportunity to create change and contribute to a better, more sustainable, and more just community. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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