Hazlitt Garden Home Client
We hired Bruce Greenway, a dear friend and neighbour, to design a new home for us after the personal and total loss of our long time family home to a fire. In regular meetings he guided us through a creative process that culminated in the wondrous home we have today. It should be appreciated that we were grief stricken and distressed during this time, and Bruce showed great sensitivity and patience while we came to terms with what we had lost, and the challenges ahead.
Bruce combined his artistic skills in drawing, and architectural skills in 3D modeling and computer rendering together with his knowledge about us, our property and our unique neighbourhood, to support our developing vision. He spent hours on site, tracking the sunlight, and studying the relationship of the building site to its surrounding natural environment. Due to time pressures, Bruce worked in a ‘real time’ highly successful iterative and collaborative relationship with ourselves and our builder.
As we reflect back, Bruce was able to bring his skill and knowledge and friendship, to help us navigate through a tough time, and a totally unknown process that culminated in a beloved home that reflects beautifully our priorities, our way of being, especially in relationship to our unique Highlands environment.
Leah and Ambrose
La Mariposa Youth Centre Client
Bruce Greenway was asked to work with our teenagers in remaking a building on our campus for their use. He translated their needs and dreams into a creative, ingenious, and flexible solution. Along with help from many volunteers, he then worked to bring it into reality.
Bruce works with wood, metal, concrete, masonry, and ceramics. I cite this because it is illustrative of his broad design skills and building competence. He has unusual capacities in solving the practical while maintaining the overall design. While being truly creative, he is versed in cost analysis, public relations, and does what it takes to complete projects.
David
Forest Cabin Client
My husband and I worked with Bruce to design a major addition to our very small house with the intent of getting a more spacious place to live and age in place. The design process was intense and very interactive, with Bruce taking our needs and wishes and iteratively coming up with a final design that reflected them. His skill and creativity really showed in the way he took our ideas, our existing house, and his own aesthetic sense and integrated it all into a very successful design. It feels like the spaces flow naturally from the old house to the new and from one area to the next. Bruce worked well with our builder as well as the building inspector and structural engineer during the building process. As we get used to inhabiting the new space we are constantly struck by the beauty and aptness of the design; not only does it function as we had hoped, but it is a lovely place to be.
Jane
Westshore Community Heath Centre Client
Pacific Centre Family Services Association worked with Bruce on a major renovation project to incorporate a medical clinic into existing services. Bruce took the time needed to consult with all staff and stakeholders to ensure the design was well thought out and flexible to the needs of the varying services. He was also able pivot when a re-design was needed to incorporate new ideas as well as budgetary constraints, without taking away from the essence of the project. Not only is Bruce skilled at the building design and architectural process itself, but he is also incredibly gifted at guiding clients through the creative process of working together to design the best space possible. He also worked very well with the engineers, contractors, interior designer, and others involved in the project right through to completion. We are extremely pleased with the space and would not hesitate to recommend Bruce as an architect for any project. He listens to his clients and is a wealth of knowledge and creativity.
Liz
Testimonials
Contact information are available upon request. Everyone mentioned here has given permission to be contacted if you have questions from how we really are to work with, how we work with team memabers, to our fairness in billing and fees.
Grotto House Client
Bruce is tremendous at guiding clients through the creative process of building design in a collaborative and highly engaging way. During our initial meetings, he listened closely to our design ideas, the concepts we wanted to integrate into our spaces, our must-haves, wants, and don't wants and he looked with us at images we had collected that showed elements of the build we were after. He then quickly transformed this soup of ideas into highly-detailed spaces using pen and paper, computer design programs, and lots of walking and "hand-waving". He was very good at ensuring that our spaces had a language which spoke to and echoed each other. He did this using natural building materials, lines of sight, colour, texture, light and various creative ways to mary our outdoor landscape with our indoor housescape. He also worked well with the city, engineers, contractors and other tradespeople to bring the project to life and then to completion. We love the spaces he designed
Peter and Milvi
Inlet House Client
We approached Bruce to design a house for us after purchasing a challenging lot. We wanted to optimize the view, have it fit in with the natural landscape and to be able to live on one floor. From the beginning, Bruce listened very carefully, was able to visualize and articulate how to take advantage of our location to achieve what we wanted, and he even saw things that we had not imagined. We have certainly enjoyed the creative path with him. Since this is the first time we have built a house, Bruce’s ability to maintain the general design concepts through the transition to detailed implementation was excellent. He listened to our needs, and when necessary, guided us through decisions that needed to be made throughout construction.We will have a house that will bring us joy and we would definitely want to work with Bruce again in the future.
Mary Jane and John
Structural Engineer
We (@HeroldEngineering) have had the opportunity to work with Bruce on a couple of beautiful custom residences. His design's are not only stunning, but also structurally logical! It is a treat to be a part of these quality projects.
Kate Ulmer, Principal Herold Engineering
Builder
We are working with Bruce and the homeowners on a gorgeous waterfront house nestled in the woods. Bruce's designs draw elegantly from the natural beauty of the area. Working together has been highly enjoyable - let's do it again some time!
Russ Barry, Owner Interactive Construction
Courtyard House Client
I am from Ontario, moving to British Columbia, and, with my wife, have had a house built in the Highlands of Saanich Peninsula designed by Bruce Greenway. I am writing regarding the quality of the services I received during the design and implementation of a project completed largely at a distance, while I was still working full time in Ontario.
Bruce came up with an original design for our house based on several principles: a previous house design of his that we greatly admired, numerous ideas of our own, and a passion of Bruce’s, to make the house fit in the surroundings, and include design features echoing the ambient landscape.
Over many months I communicated with Bruce by Skype, or, when possible, in person on site, developing the design. He has a flair for drawing quick sketches to augment the models and formal drawings he created to bring the house to life for me. I was able to see ideas take shape, and participate in the changing formulation.
Bruce combines a sensitivity and perceptiveness to our wishes with a firm practicality about structure, and a wealth of original ideas in keeping with our general principles.
He spent hours on the site before construction began, checking the light at various times of the day and year, and adjusting the layout accordingly. He worked well with our contractor, and the design changed as we incorporated new ideas and budget constraints. Bruce impressed us with a thorough knowledge and understanding of materials, from both a structural and aesthetic point of view.
Participating in the design and building of a house at a distance has been difficult. Bruce made the visualization much easier for me, and spent the time to sketch out various possibilities and to make things clear. He has the patience and affability to keep a client calm, up to date, and involved in all aspects the project.
The end result is a home with which we are thrilled, and that our friends and family find beautiful, and strikingly in harmony with the natural setting. There are many features, such as a masonry fireplace, striking whole log support posts, a myriad of shelves and spaces for books and art, and contrasting areas of space and access to the outside with nooks of coziness and comfort, that people comment on. They ask us where the ideas came from, to which we answer
“Bruce figured out what we wanted,” (or “would like”). He really brought our varied ideas and preferences to life.
I have a strong sense of Bruce’s commitment to his work and his clients, and his ability to combine his understanding of their wishes with his experience, original ideas, and fertile imagination. I would highly recommend him as an architect.
Joel and Paula
Builder
We've had the pleasure of working with Greenway Studio Architecture on many projects. Inspired by Bruce's exquisite radial architecture and integration into landscape, we excitedly reached out to Bruce years ago and since then have collaborated on a yoga retreat space, a radial outdoor gathering place, a swimming pond and an oceanfront home nestled in a cliff. His design sensibilities are superb and lead to really inspiring space resting comfortably in its surroundings. We continue to refer Bruce every chance we get and look forward to more great projects.
JP Markes Owner, Constructive Building Partners