John MacDonald Architect

03/30/2026

We are looking forward to once again participating in Jane’s Walk Waterloo Region.

Jane’s Walks are citizen-led walking tours that make space for people to observe, reflect, share, question and collectively reimagine the places in which they live, work and play. The calendar of local walks is filling up, with a wide assortment planned for Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.

09/12/2025

Thank you to all who attended our open house yesterday. It was great to see so many familiar faces from over the last 30 years.

09/11/2025

We'd like to invite you to our Open House today (Thursday, September 11th) from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Drop in to say hello and celebrate our 30 years of JMA with us.

08/25/2025

What’s the difference between permit drawings and construction drawings? Quite a lot actually.

Krista Hulshof of VELD architect breaks it down with a great explanation here:

Learn the key differences between permitting and construction drawings.And the benefit of drawing details and plans beyond what is required for permits.

08/21/2025

We have reached the end of our 30th anniversary scavenger hunt. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you for sticking with this year-long game. I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as we have.

But the fun doesn’t stop here!

We are taking this opportunity to invite you to our Open House on Thursday, September 11, from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Drop in to say hello and celebrate our birthday with us.

We’d also like to congratulate Nolan Bentley, who was the first to identify the August clue: the washroom building at the Ken Whillans Conservation Area (Credit Valley Conservation) in Caledon.

On behalf of everyone at our studio, thank you for your trust in us, for your friendship, and kindness. Without you, we wouldn’t have made it this far.

08/11/2025

Today, we are pleased to be celebrating 30 years in business. With that, here's the 12th and final clue of the JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt:.

The first to respond correctly identifying the building wins a bag of coffee beans (or loose leaf tea, if you prefer) from Matter of Taste, or a gift card from Four All Ice Cream. Your choice! You'll just have to drop by our office to pick up your prize and say hi.

We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Melissa Bowman who was the first to identify the July clue: the renewal of the Harry Class Outdoor Pool in Kitchener. Completed in 2011, this project brought the pool to the 21st century. The Change House was rejuvenated into a modern, playful and universally accessible facility, including non gendered family change areas, organized along a curved central corridor evoking the flow of water. Many historic features, such as the older mosaic tile floors, the post and beam structure and the skylight, are still there to be enjoyed, happily contributing to the modern feel of the place. The swimming pool received a new lining and the pool deck reconstruction included massive post bases to accommodate the sun umbrellas, providing much needed shade. On the pool deck you or your kids might have enjoyed lying on a black mound of concrete to warm up after the swim. Within our office we affectionately call it “lizard rock”, and were delighted when we found out that it was actually as successful as we hoped it would be.

07/11/2025

Presenting the 11th clue of the JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt.

The first to respond correctly identifying the building wins a bag of coffee beans (or loose leaf tea, if you prefer) from Matter of Taste, or a gift card from Four All Ice Cream. Your choice! You'll just have to drop by our office to pick up your prize and say hi.

If you can identify the facility, please tell us what it is (for example “the fire/EMS station”) and the location (for example, “in Breslau visible from the road to Guelph after the turnoff for the Breslau bypass” or “51 Beacon Point Ct, Breslau”). Send your responses to [email protected] with Scavenger Hunt on the subject line. The winner will be announced next month, along with the final clue.

We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Scott Cafarella who was the first to identify the June clue: the Bandshell at Riverside Park in Guelph.

07/09/2025

Thanks to all who visited us at Cherry Festival on Saturday. Our hands-on ABCD’s of Architecture activity booth gave kids the chance to explore the foundations of design, one building block at a time.

06/11/2025

Presenting the 10th clue of the JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt. The first to respond correctly identifying the building wins a prize from Matter of Taste, or Four All Ice Cream. Your choice! You'll just have to drop by our office to pick up your prize and say hello.

We are happy to announce that the winner of the last month's JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt is..... Paul Lucier who was the first to identify the May clue: the paramedic services station at Weber St. West and Water St. North in Kitchener.

Completed in 2014, this small station with just one bay, fits two ambulances, parked in tandem. These stations have highly standardized operational components, consistent with other stations around the Region of Waterloo. This particular station had to also comply with City of Kitchener regulations for downtown urban development. This produced the concrete storefront façade addressing Weber Street and a front door entrance facing Water St. The various functions within the building were expressed with volumes in different textures, colours and materials. Given how compact the whole building had to be, visually it evolved into something akin to a wood brain teaser puzzle.

05/09/2025

Presenting the 9th clue of the JMA Architectural Scavenger Hunt.

If you think you can identify the building, please email your response to [email protected]. The first to correctly identifying the building wins a bag of coffee beans (or loose leaf tea, if you prefer) from Matter of Taste, or a gift card from Four All Ice Cream.

We are happy to announce that last month's winner is..... Mike Jepson, who was the first to identify the April clue: the Waterloo Public Library Eastside Branch at RIM Park in Waterloo, which was designed in joint venture with ward99 architects. This bright and welcoming library received the 2022 Best New Library Building prize from the Ontario Library Association. The design of this library included numerous environmental features, such as a roof designed to support solar panels in the future; a Trombe solar wall that preheats ventilation air during the winter; and fritted glass that is bird-friendly.

05/07/2025

Happy 3rd birthday to our Eastside Branch! 🥳🎈 It has been a fantastic three years of fun programs and services including 3D printing, large format printing, Digispace recording studio, Maker Bar, Naturespace and more. A big thank you to our amazing community for all your support and helping us continue to grow!

Is the Eastside Branch your home branch? Tell us in the comments what you love most about it!

05/05/2025

We’d like to thank all of the new and familiar faces who attended our Jane’s Walks this past weekend. We were pleased to be part of a full and diverse line-up of walks around Waterloo Region.

Photos are from the Lakeside / Southdale Urban Park walk. Those who attended were in agreement that this local network of parks has a lot of potential, particularly with upgrades that could be implemented at Mausser, Meinzinger and Concordia Parks, such as new amenities (multi-sport courts, lighting, seating, trees, pavilion), signage, paths and inter-connectivity between parks and the surrounding community. Also, it was nice to see the new pedestrian bridge across 7/8 unexpectedly and conveniently opening to the public as we arrived.