It started off as a blustery grey morning for this year’s Sun Run, but as the race got going and we started to warm up so did the day.  All the encouragement along the way was energizing and helped to spur us on.  Although I think at times we all secretly wished we were the ones sitting on the sidelines enjoying a cup of coffee while cheering on the endless stream of people instead of actually running.   

Like a can of sardines, we squeezed the six of us into the SUV - it was a long seven hour ride to Oregon, but when we finally made it to the stormy shores of Cannon Beach, we soon realized each hour was well worth the wait! Some trip highlights: Surfing (of course), visiting the Tillamook Cheese factory (so many samples), spending the day getting lost, checking the sites in Portland, sleeping in a yurt (that was heated), and the 14+ hours we had bonding in the car! Until next time - surf's up!

A group of lads from the office have joined forces with friends to form the best indoor football team Vancouver has ever seen... well, we think so at least! Last night marked the first scrimmage of the season - our first match is next week. Thanks for the great photos, Sabina!

We were going for the win, but it ended up being a four-way tie! Now, what to do with our prize money?

O, how the years seem to fly by...

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.

Office Surveillance; some offices believe they are think-tanks; a hot bed for steaming new research in architectural ideology...yikes. we say keep your dogma off our lawns! 

Nothing like Sunday afternoon football game - a little tailgating pre-game action 

If you can get past Linda, you are golden!

A friendly tournament with Patrick Cotter Architects (PCA) - 4 teams were close until the last group came in and their captain Remy gave PCA the lead with a +6 finish.  Great day of golf and company.  Next year's paintball grudge match will be interesting.

No Summer would be complete without hanging out with the office, spending the day at Bowen Island; sailing, kayaking, boccie, volleyball and having the Partners cook a nice BBQ dinner.

The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand why they're working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different.

"Great companies have both an entrepreneurial spirit and a sense of discipline. They are both necessary - without the drive to try new things, and some degree of independence, a company becomes a rigid, stifling hierarchy. Without some sense of discipline, things begin to break down as the company grows. The best companies have both latitude for individual action, as well as a culture of disciplined behavior. This begins, once again, with the right people. It’s useless trying to create rules to force the wrong people to behave correctly - it simply won’t work. Instead, you need to find people who have an innate sense of self-discipline that doesn’t come from above. There is a big difference between having a 'tyrant' that enforces a culture of discipline by fear, and finding people who naturally adhere to a disciplined approach. The former will disintegrate when the leader moves on, the latter creates a lasting system." from Jim Collins' Good to Great

Friday afternoon + spandex + beer + tricycles = insane fund raiser party one lap around the office....

mister reid taking xinmai under his wing - showing him how to plan residential units the traditional way; "i sketch - you work it out"

Tracing paper is a type of translucent paper. It is made by immersing uncut and unloaded paper of good quality in sulphuric acid for a few seconds. The acid converts some of the cellulose into amyloid form having a gelatinous and impermeable character. When the treated paper is thoroughly washed and dried, the resultant product is much stronger than the original paper. Tracing paper is resistant to oil grease and to a large extent impervious to water and gas.   It's crazy - yes we still use this stuff!

Yes - there are those moments when you do wish you were somewhere else.  must focus!!

Behind the corporate walls, lies a design factory of ideas, models, images, trace, blood, tears.  If it's not messy, we're not creating enough.

our resident model builder extraordinaire meri with one stroke can produce faster, cleaner, accurate models than a laser cutter.  watch out! 

yearly raffle of drinks and tasties before everyone dashes off for christmas holidays

The wild wild west....is still wild!   “Build for our team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and of strength to be derived by unity.”