Borg Architect Inc.

06/15/2026

Design shaped by light, story, and spirit.

Architecture is more than shelter. It is a way of revealing the character of a place. Inside of Plaurora magazine, we seek to understand the landscapes, cultures, memories, and aspirations that make northern communities unique. Through light, material, proportion, and meaning, we strive to map the soul of northern places and create spaces that foster belonging, dignity, and pride.

The North is not a problem to solve. It is a story to understand.

06/05/2026

Building Homes, Building Community

Housing in the North comes with unique challenges—but also a clear opportunity to design with purpose.
In a recent conversation, Warren Borg and Kerone Folkes shared insights from their work with Habitat for Humanity in Iqaluit. The focus was not just on building homes, but on creating spaces that reflect how people live, gather, and grow over time.
Designing for northern communities means thinking beyond standard solutions—considering climate, culture, and long-term adaptability from the start.
At its core, the work is simple: create housing that supports people.
It is a reminder that thoughtful design can have a lasting impact on families and communities.

06/04/2026

Monumentality requires humility.

05/28/2026

Inside Plaurora: The North does not forgive architectural ego. In places shaped by cold, darkness, and isolation, architecture is not about spectacle; it is about survival, stability, and dignity.

In Part II of Warren Borg’s conversation with Angela Kontgen, the discussion moves beyond aesthetics and into the deeper responsibility of shelter itself. A building may protect the body, but if it diminishes pride, belonging, and meaning, it has failed in ways no energy model can measure.

Good northern architecture should not dominate the landscape or perform for attention. It should sit quietly and truthfully within it, allowing people to feel both small within the vastness of the land and deeply grounded within it.

05/28/2026

Strong projects often begin by understanding what should remain dominant. In landscapes like this, architecture should not overpower nature, but frame our experience of it with humility and care. Encouraging to see a visitor centre approach the land this way.

05/28/2026

Good architecture does not always need to dominate its surroundings. Sometimes its role is simply to frame light, landscape, and human presence with humility and care. This project understands that well.

05/28/2026

Housing cannot be reduced to unit counts and policy targets alone. The deeper challenge is creating places that foster dignity, permanence, and belonging while remaining technically and economically viable. Encouraging to see this conversation gaining more architectural depth.

Sustainable, affordable, high-quality housing requires experts who can translate policy and regulations into built form—and who can challenge those policies when they present technical barriers to progress. We look at 10 projects that show how architects are leading the way.

05/17/2026

We are excited to welcome a new team member, Magnus Glennie!

Magnus joins us with 4.5 years of experience in architecture firms across Canada, with a Master’s of Architecture from Carleton University and accreditation from the Living Futures Institute. He is beginning his Internship in Architecture Program with us to become registered as an Architect in Ontario.

Originally from rural Vancouver Island, Magnus is passionate about the impacts of land-based design on small communities and sensitive ecologies. His master's thesis addresses industrial waste site remediation within the broader conversation of intergenerational land healing, a theme that continues to motivate his approach as a designer.

05/15/2026

Inside Plaurora Magazine: Preservation + Adaptation in The North by Madison Elliott

In Arctic communities, the question is not simply what to build next, but what is worth keeping. Preservation becomes less about nostalgia and more about necessity—an intelligent response to limited resources, housing pressures, and the quiet resilience of what already stands. Existing buildings are not empty shells; they carry memory, identity, and the imprint of lived experience—things that cannot be reconstructed once erased.

Because the value of these places is often subtle, local, and difficult to measure, adaptive reuse emerges as a thoughtful middle path. It allows communities to move forward without severing ties to what has shaped them. In this way, working with what already exists becomes more than efficiency—it becomes an act of care, sustaining continuity, meaning, and a sense of belonging.

Madison Elliott, an emerging architectural professional with experience in architecture, heritage consulting, and urban planning, writes from a place shaped by both study and lived practice in Canada’s North. Her perspective carries a sensitivity to place—grounded, observant, and attentive to what endures quietly beneath the surface.