VALERIE GOW
ARIDO, OAA, FRAIC, IDC
Partner, Gow Hastings
Valerie Gow is the co-founder of Gow Hastings Architects, a practice recognized as an industry leader in design for post-secondary institutions. Valued for her comprehensive expertise in both architecture and interior design, Valerie partners with clients and users to find distinctive, intelligent, and sustainable design solutions.
Deeply engaged in the design community, Valerie is a passionate advocate for Women in Architecture. She mentors interns and thesis students, serves on the Building Equality in Architecture Toronto (BEAT) Advisory Committee, and has spoken at leadership seminars at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and University of Toronto (UofT). Her dedication has been recognized with prestigious awards such as the TMU G. Raymond Chang Outstanding Volunteer Award and the UofT Arbor Award.
Valerie generously shares her industry knowledge, regularly critiquing portfolios and studios at design schools across Ontario. She is actively involved in the TMU School of Interior Design Program Advisory Council, contributing to scholarship and award adjudication. In 2016, she was named a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) for her distinctive service to the profession.
Beyond her practice, Valerie is actively involved in architectural discourse and public engagement including IIDEX Canada, NeoCon, Construct Canada, Toronto Society of Architects and Doors Open Toronto. She is a founding member of the Harbourfront Architecture Gallery Advisory Committee and serves as Co-Chair of the RAIC Southwestern Ontario Regional Committee of the College of Fellows. Her contributions extend to fundraising for various architectural initiatives and exhibitions including Twenty + Change, an exhibition dedicated to promoting emerging Canadian designers.
ARIDO, OAA, FRAIC, IDC
Partner, Gow Hastings
Valerie Gow is the co-founder of Gow Hastings Architects, a practice recognized as an industry leader in design for post-secondary institutions. Valued for her comprehensive expertise in both architecture and interior design, Valerie partners with clients and users to find distinctive, intelligent, and sustainable design solutions.
Deeply engaged in the design community, Valerie is a passionate advocate for Women in Architecture. She mentors interns and thesis students, serves on the Building Equality in Architecture Toronto (BEAT) Advisory Committee, and has spoken at leadership seminars at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and University of Toronto (UofT). Her dedication has been recognized with prestigious awards such as the TMU G. Raymond Chang Outstanding Volunteer Award and the UofT Arbor Award.
Valerie generously shares her industry knowledge, regularly critiquing portfolios and studios at design schools across Ontario. She is actively involved in the TMU School of Interior Design Program Advisory Council, contributing to scholarship and award adjudication. In 2016, she was named a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) for her distinctive service to the profession.
Beyond her practice, Valerie is actively involved in architectural discourse and public engagement including IIDEX Canada, NeoCon, Construct Canada, Toronto Society of Architects and Doors Open Toronto. She is a founding member of the Harbourfront Architecture Gallery Advisory Committee and serves as Co-Chair of the RAIC Southwestern Ontario Regional Committee of the College of Fellows. Her contributions extend to fundraising for various architectural initiatives and exhibitions including Twenty + Change, an exhibition dedicated to promoting emerging Canadian designers.
Project Spotlight
SENECA COLLEGE: ODEYTO
Odeyto, the new home for the First Peoples at Seneca College Newnham Campus, provides a safe and recognizable space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike.
Often, Indigenous students leave their home communities for the first time and travel to unknown urban centres to pursue their education. The design of Odeyto (Anishinaabe word for ‘good journey’) reflects and acknowledges this. It was created as a home away from home, a place where students can gather, not only to practice their traditions, but also to find new friendships while away from their communities.
Conceptually, the addition and renovation were inspired by the image of a canoe pulling up to a dock — making a stop at Seneca College to gather knowledge before continuing on life’s journey. The addition’s canoe-like form is “docked” alongside the contrasting rigid lines of the existing precast concrete building. As the only building on campus with an organic curvilinear design, the “canoe” has a distinctive presence, announcing its importance through its form.
Embedding Indigenous knowledge from Two Row Architects into the design of the building allowed it to reference many Indigenous cultures all at once. The structure alludes to the Haudenosaunee longhouse, a traditional reference further reinforced by glass entrances on the east and west, where two red doors, aligned to the summer solstice, honour the missing and murdered indigenous women. The building incorporates aspects of traditional knowledge drawn from many other Indigenous cultures across Turtle Island.
In the new purpose-built addition, the main lounge is a generous gathering space. Its high, curved ceiling is supported by glue-laminated rib structures. Their connections are visibly expressed, in celebration of the craft and beauty of the building’s construction — much as a canoe’s beauty is manifested through its construction, not decoration. Thin and light, the 28 glue-laminated ribs resemble the ribs of a canoe or mammal – alluding to the number of days in one lunar cycle.
SENECA COLLEGE: ODEYTO
Odeyto, the new home for the First Peoples at Seneca College Newnham Campus, provides a safe and recognizable space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike.
Often, Indigenous students leave their home communities for the first time and travel to unknown urban centres to pursue their education. The design of Odeyto (Anishinaabe word for ‘good journey’) reflects and acknowledges this. It was created as a home away from home, a place where students can gather, not only to practice their traditions, but also to find new friendships while away from their communities.
Conceptually, the addition and renovation were inspired by the image of a canoe pulling up to a dock — making a stop at Seneca College to gather knowledge before continuing on life’s journey. The addition’s canoe-like form is “docked” alongside the contrasting rigid lines of the existing precast concrete building. As the only building on campus with an organic curvilinear design, the “canoe” has a distinctive presence, announcing its importance through its form.
Embedding Indigenous knowledge from Two Row Architects into the design of the building allowed it to reference many Indigenous cultures all at once. The structure alludes to the Haudenosaunee longhouse, a traditional reference further reinforced by glass entrances on the east and west, where two red doors, aligned to the summer solstice, honour the missing and murdered indigenous women. The building incorporates aspects of traditional knowledge drawn from many other Indigenous cultures across Turtle Island.
In the new purpose-built addition, the main lounge is a generous gathering space. Its high, curved ceiling is supported by glue-laminated rib structures. Their connections are visibly expressed, in celebration of the craft and beauty of the building’s construction — much as a canoe’s beauty is manifested through its construction, not decoration. Thin and light, the 28 glue-laminated ribs resemble the ribs of a canoe or mammal – alluding to the number of days in one lunar cycle.
