sg_architecture is an architectural studio in Penticton, British Columbia that focuses on regionally responsive design for small and medium-sized development in rural communities. Partners Will Green and Warren Sanders met while working for a local firm in 2016 and bonded over their shared desire for a process-driven design workflow that addressed the needs of small-town western Canada.
They now seek to develop architectural design in this region that is sensitive to its surroundings and that resonates with its place.
Previous collaborators include Kevin Dolphin, Felix Mayer, Thomas Perl, and David Teed whose collective expertise continues to inform and enrich the firm’s architectural endeavors. sg_architecture remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering sustainable, contextually sensitive design solutions that resonate deeply with the communities they serve.
When sg_architecture was incorporated in 2021 it marked an initiative aimed at helping local communities rethink prevalent development practices through a critical lens by providing examples of alternative approaches to land, environment, sustainability, and landscape.
The built environment in the local communities of rural British Columbia felt very ‘imported’ and disconnected from local climate, topography, and landscape. The okanagan valley, where the firm is based and primarily active, is distinguished by its semi-arid climate featuring hot, dry summers and mild winters. The region’s landscape is typified by bunchgrasses, sagebrush clusters, and stands of ponderosa pine.
For years, Will and Warren observed the widespread practice of clear-cutting hillsides and extensive terraforming to provide wide road access with on-street parking for new developments. They saw enormous retaining walls constructed to create artificial flat building sites for catalogue house plans; large lawns planted, fertilized, chemically treated, and irrigated. This led them to question: Is this the appropriate way to live and work in this part of Canada? Is it the only way?
Beginning with a single-family house designed to be built on the rocky hillside above the village of Naramata, the firm explored ‘light touch’ foundations in combination with wildfire-resilient materials, passive solar fenestration and shading.
They sought to design a building that could connect (visually, acoustically, temporaly, olfactorally, and tactilly) to the landscape that had existed there for thousands of years. These concepts were not novel to Will and Warren, who were educated and trained in the Maritimes where local craftsmen and architects have been designing around climate, sun, land, and water for hundreds of years. However, it represented an original integration of ‘ideas from away’ with the local experience Will and Warren gained growing up in rural British Columbia.
This project resonated with many locals who recognized the intrinsic value in the natural places where new development was occurring. Coincidentally, these new ideas also happened to be low maintenance, low embodied carbon, and reflective of a sustainable and locally attuned approach to development.
sg_architecture continues to explore alternative approaches to design in other building typologies essential to the fabric of the communities in which they work. Ranging from a humble sleeping pavilion to expansive wineries, sg_architecture seeks to create calm and timeless spaces in all of the projects they engage in.
Warren Sanders, Architect AIBC
Warren graduated in 2017 with a Master of Architecture from Dalhousie University. While studying at Dalhousie, Warren was the recipient of academic honors including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Student Gold Medal for his Master’s Thesis titled “Architecture as Power: Dynamics of Spatial Configuration”, RAIC Honour Role for top academic average, Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarship, and Masters compilation entry portfolio prize. Warren also holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Dalhousie, Diploma of Architectural Technology from Thompson Rivers University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Victoria.
Warren has led a number of projects varying from large wineries to small residential renovations. Prior to that, Warren spent time in the research and development of electrical systems for hybrid vehicles and civil construction.
With a variety of experience at multiple scales, Warren believes that the details of a project must speak to and communicate the overall concept. Through an iterative design process, Warren finds that the desires of clients can be exemplified through the composition and systems of an architectural project.
Will Green, Architect AIBC
Will brings a calm and measured approach to both his design intuition and his relationships with clients and project teams.
Will graduated in 2014 with a Master of Architecture from Dalhousie University where his thesis envisioned a visitor experience centre that could co-exist with the Federal Agricultural Research Centre in Summerland. During his time in architecture school, he also received the John D. Watson Scholarship, the Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarship, and the Sexton Scholar Award. Will’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies from Dalhousie and a diploma in Architectural and Building Engineering Technology from BCIT.
While apprenticing with MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Will was project lead on the Point House (2016) which was awarded the 2018 Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Merit and the 2017 North America Wood Design Merit Award, as well as the Refuge on the Bay of Fundy (2014) which was awarded a 2014 North America Wood Design Honor Award and was nominated for the Mies Crown Hall America’s Prize in 2016.
Will believes that combining the identity and functional needs of his clients with an empathetic reading of the natural, agricultural, and urban landscapes brings authenticity to architecture.