STUDIO LOWE
architectureStudio Lowe is a contemporary progressive practice committed to developing architectures through buildings, design, writing, research and sculpture. Founded by Mark Lowe in 2022, the Toronto-based studio draws inspiration from the city and its poetry of exchange and surprise – being lost and found.
Taking architecture as the site of dwelling, the studio makes places of sanctuary that accommodate the interrelated yet distinct experiences of inner life and external reality. Informed by this philosophy, the studio takes a playful, innovative and daring approach to create hospitable yet surprising architecture: to change buildings, first one must change how one thinks of them.
At the heart of Studio Lowe is the intention to transform the web of relations between the individual, the collective and the environment. Dedicated to making and shaping community spaces, including libraries, community centers, schools and speculative spaces, the studio departs from standardized building design and architectural processes, which often neglect the specific characteristics, needs and dreams of their inhabitants. Instead, the art of listening forms the basis of the studio’s unusual collaborative method, which prioritizes the engagement of all parties with the architectural design process. The resulting unique, bespoke environments respond to the particularities of the cultures, locations, climates and functions that inform the production of space.
To imagine and draw inspiring homes, places and systems, the studio is oriented towards sustainability via a holistic approach: both technical and aesthetic perspectives are based upon innovative building enclosures that can achieve net-zero and passive house goals. This orientation proceeds from a nuanced understanding of the paradox of ‘sustainable architecture’, since the act of architecture rests on destruction – breaking soil and uprooting land – as a precondition of building. Studio Lowe, therefore, aims to minimize the negative impacts that architecture has on a site, founded upon a visionary understanding of the essence of materials and building stock in order to purposefully reuse them in novel and vibrant ways.
Synthesizing art, science, theory and speculation, Studio Lowe envisions urban spaces that integrate their histories and, at the same time, grow their futures from seeds into a garden. The studio’s practice is a journey of care towards new connections and conversations between ideas, experiments, experiences and the practices of everyday life. By emphasizing the craft of collective engagement, we draw a new sociality into architecture.
Mark Lowe is a licensed architect (OAA) in Toronto, ON (Canada) and the founder of Studio Lowe. He holds a M.arch. from the University of Toronto, and is a member of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC) and Passive House Canada. Mark also holds degrees in philosophy and literature. He is based between London and Toronto.
Mark’s design, research and writing practice searches for expressions of safe, intuitive and collective spaces with an acute understanding of embedded histories within architecture. His design process is often iterative and informed by deep listening and a playful curiosity. Drawing from his background in philosophy and literature, Mark’s architectural practice is inherently theoretical and analytical, and is underpinned by a vivid understanding of the patterns, substance and poetics of space.
Mark has a broad range of experience from retail branded environments to institutional and community buildings while working as a project architect on a notable early child centre for Native Child and Family Services and Ontario's first Indigenous owned and led healing lodge for Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society. From Passive House and net-zero designed buildings to bespoke digitally fabricated retail interiors and galleries, Mark has a passion for innovation in architectural design. With an expertise in sustainable and energy-efficient design principles, Mark maintains a focus on mitigating the built environment's impact on climate. His commitment to creating healthy and happy spaces for people drives his practice in building a sustainable future.
info@studiolowe.io
︎studiolo.we
2022