// COMPANY DOSSIER
TEAL Architects+Planners
Halifax-based architecture and planning studio that designs residential, commercial, and public buildings and integrates architecture with municipal planning and urban design across Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.
📍 Halifax, Nova Scotia, CanadaEst. 2010✓ 100% first-party verified
// LESSONS FROM TEAL Architects+Planners
When a large firm acquires a smaller one, the culture gap scales with the size ratio — the acquirer's protocols displace the smaller entity's identity almost entirely.
Combining 3D prefabricated modules with on-site trade competition for finishing work is the hybrid sweet spot for minimising both construction time and cost.
Nail-laminated wood panels can be fabricated on-site with small local crews, require no adhesive, and can save weeks on programme versus conventional framing.
Going fully virtual can improve team spirit and productivity — but only if you replace spontaneous social interactions with structured daily all-hands calls.
Distinguish effectiveness (qualitative, relational, team-wide context) from efficiency (task throughput) — optimising for efficiency alone degrades long-run performance.
In small firms (under ~10 people), daily all-hands calls replace the physical studio's ambient information flow — giving everyone, including junior staff, full context on legal, insurance, and project matters.
// SELECTED PROJECTS
East Hants Aquatic Centre
CompletedAssociate / local architect, in partnership with MJMA (MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects) · CA$19 million
Opened July 22, 2020 (grand opening Sept 18, 2020). Designed by MJMA in association with TEAL Architects+Planners. Damaged in the July 2023 Nova Scotia floods; reopened July 10, 2024 after repairs. Status reconfirmed via gov + local press (freshness checked).
Webster Terrace
CompletedArchitect
Renovation of a 1961 Douglas Shadbolt house overlooking the Northwest Arm; published on ArchDaily and Dwell.
Lion and Bright
CompletedInterior architecture / design
Adaptive-reuse interior; year not stated on the project page.
South Shore Housing Action Coalition Housing Needs Assessment
CompletedPlanning consultant (with David Harrison Ltd.)
Won the Atlantic Planners Institute 2016 award in the Comprehensive Policies and Plans category; credited to 'David Harrison Ltd/ TEAL Architects + Planners Inc.' Demonstrates the firm's planning (not just architecture) practice.
// KEY PEOPLE
// NOTABLE
TEAL Architects+Planners (with David Harrison Ltd.) won the Atlantic Planners Institute 2016 Award of Excellence in the Comprehensive Policies and Plans category for the South Shore Housing Action Coalition Housing Needs Assessment.
SOURCE ▸Co-founder Tom Emodi (FRAIC) was founding Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University (1997-2003) and was elected Dean of the RAIC College of Fellows for a three-year term beginning May 2018.
SOURCE ▸