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The Bill Fisch Centre Blurs The Line Between Indoors and Out

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Nestled into the York Regional Forest, a community centre integrates into its surroundings

Designed by architecture firm Dialog, Whitchurch-Stouffville’s solar panel–equipped Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre is a net-zero energy building, meaning it harvests more than it consumes. Inside, exposed cross-laminated timber beams demonstrate the building’s commitment to sustainable materials. Other eco-friendly features include a rainwater reuse system and a stove that generates heat by burning deadfall wood found nearby. Offering framed views of the surrounding forest, the centre contains meeting space for the community, school groups and corporate retreats.

Originally published in our Spring 2016 issue as Urban Update: Make Like a Tree.

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Designed and built by its homeowner, the residence uses more than 30 slabs of Italian marble

Walk through the front door, and it’s the first thing you feel: thick slabs of Calacatta Vagli wrapping the kitchen walls and island; a block of travertine floating above a dark Pietra Grey hearth in the family room; and deep, aubergine-veined Calacatta Viola unfurling dramatically across the ensuite bathroom. Throughout this new build in Toronto’s Sherwood Park neighbourhood—appropriately dubbed Vaglihome—stone defines every moment.

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