BOLD Workshop Architecture is a progressive architecture and development studio between two experienced and award-winning architects, Kayla Browne and Darren Polanski, located in Calgary, Alberta. We place importance on authenticity, we understand genuine relationships with people are essential to the design process, and believe architecture has the power to elicit captivating experiences.
At BOLD we are working towards a unified vision of creating an architecture and development collective in an effort to strengthen the design community in Calgary, and beyond. Through design education and collaboration, our goal is relentless and simple: to produce excellent designs for our clients and the community, to communicate their value effectively, and create authentic connections to place, and ultimately, to one another. Our hope is that we will catalyze an increased investment and appreciation in quality design throughout the city and beyond. We approach our projects from a standpoint of flexibility, authenticity, passion, innovation, entrepreneurialism and collaboration.
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Kayla has 10 years of professional experience and has worked across a range of scales and project typologies. Project experience ranges from custom single family homes, to mixed-use and multifamily, to award winning experiential restaurant interiors to city-shaping light rail transit (LRT) infrastructure. To Kayla, each project and relationship is special, regardless of scale or budget she brings the same level of intensity and passion.
Kayla has been successful developing her own single family home and laneway in inner-city Calgary, which has led to her embracing the role of architect-developer. This role allows her to experiment on her own personal projects, treating them as a testing ground for ideas and curiosities. She has a special interest and experience in market driven affordable housing projects, which consumes a lot of the firm's research and exploratory time.
Kayla is inspired to create spaces where people feel the freedom to be authentic and come together in impartial and shared understanding. Always passionate about equality in architecture and supporting women and underrepresented populations in the industry, Kayla is a founding member and vice chair of the Calgary chapter of Building Equality in Architecture (BEA Calgary). She is a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.
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Darren has 15 years of experience with exclusive single-family residential, multi-family residential, mixed-use, commercial, cultural, infrastructure, city-shaping, and Light Rail Transit (LRT). He has worked on numerous award-winning projects receiving the Mayors Urban Design Awards (2022)*, LRT projects short-listed for the World Architecture Festival (2012, 2018)*, and the Calgary Water Centre (2010, 2011)*.
Most notably Darren managed consultants and performed as the project architect for a $100m commercial theatre development in Toronto, FlyOver Canada Toronto*. He was also responsible for managing the urban integration, urban design, architecture, stations, and facility buildings for the Green Line LRT Expansion*. in Calgary over the course of seven years.
He is passionate about solving the affordable housing crisis in Alberta, and participates in public forums and through work integrated learning studios at the University of Calgary.
Read the Globe and Mail article about Darren’s house.
Watch Darren talk with Arch House about his home.
*projects during time at _SA
Jessica Stollbert - Architect AAA
Jimmy Hoang - Architect AAA
