When it comes to the type of work that Fathom Studio is most interested in—and indeed has built its reputation on—collaboration is always the name of the game.
Based in the east coast Canadian city of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Fathom represents a collective of designers from a multitude of artistic and architectural disciplines, including but not limited to landscape, urban and graphic design, brand experts, writers, and planners. This collection of voices in the studio works together on unique and people-centric concepts, designs, and signage for buildings, trails, monuments, and more—many of which have since become staples in their respective neighborhoods.
Above all, the mission of Fathom as a design firm is to shape spaces, tell stories, and foster community identity in the built environment, as partner and director of landscape architecture Devin Segal describes on the company’s website. These ideals comprise what the studio refers to as innovative placemaking solutions, which go hand in hand with an internal philosophy to return design to a human-scale version of itself; meaning, reconnecting the act of designing structures and additions with a mind toward the people who use them and exist within them.
Fathom collaborates at all scales of project; as Segal puts it, “Our passion is public space and creating meaningful built environments that inform, engage, and inspire.”
Whether in its native province, across the country, or beyond, Fathom’s work has become instantly recognizable to the inhabitants that it keeps at the forefront of design. Some of its bigger projects to date include the site planning and landscape design for the NSCC Sydney Waterfront Campus in Cape Breton (a $160 million project), as well as streetscape projects like Main Street in Yarmouth and the ever-busy Argyle and Grafton Streetscape in Halifax. The latter of these street projects won an award in 2023 from the Atlantic Provinces Association of Landscape Architects (APALA) in the category of Large-Scale Landscapes Designed by a Landscape Architect, allowing Fathom to remain a hot topic in the architectural conversation in its eastern Canada home.
Outside of Nova Scotia, Fathom’s projects can be seen across the Atlantic provinces, from the design of The Lens: 2SLGBTQIA+ National Monument in Ottawa, Ontario to the International Lounge at the Gander, Newfoundland International Airport. Fathom has worked on wayfinding for Ottawa’s Algonquin College and for the North Shore Spirit Trail in Vancouver, British Columbia. It has even executed signage projects as far afield as the Yukon and Northwest Territories and a branding project in Nunavut, to name only a few.
More than even wayfinding or project design, Fathom is often called upon for its expertise in planning. Several of its notable projects include working with a city or municipality to plan usage of space, such as its work for the HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) in designing a restoration plan for Point Pleasant Park post-Hurricane Juan (a bid it won in tandem with another Montreal firm), its involvement in the planning of the urban revitalization of Sydney’s downtown core, or its collaboration on the regional growth strategy for Labrador West.
Ultimately, the company’s work and the ideas of its collective are peppered throughout Canada in wildly varied locations and contexts, representing a considerable foothold that the firm’s ideas and successes have in the minds of millions of Canadians and visitors to the country.
Throughout all its many projects, Fathom makes sure to use a process centered on the collective discussion and thought that is the root of its very identity, “the hallmark of the team’s approach,” as the firm says. This type of collaborative focus has paid dividends both in terms of continued work and recognition for the team’s efforts. In 2023, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) awarded Fathom the Emerging Architectural Practice Award, an award recognizing promising new architectural firms and distinguishing Fathom as one of two Atlantic Canadian firms to receive the award.
This distinction pairs nicely with previous awards the firm has won for past projects, including the CIP (Canadian Institute of Planners) award for planning excellence for its work on a planning document review for the town of Wolfville, and winning an inaugural APALA award of excellence for its large-scale design work on Fort Needham in Halifax (both won in 2020). The RAIC says that Fathom “distinguished itself through high-quality design, research, and community involvement, and has the potential to become a major contributor to Canadian architecture.” Judging by its considerable portfolio, this team is clearly on its way there already.
The minds at Fathom are always on the go and are in demand for their contributions to the architecture industry nationally and internationally. Segal and fellow Partner/Director of Architecture and Interiors Chris Crawford both hosted panels at the CanU (Council for Canadian Urbanism) Forum in October of this year; elsewhere, Director of Experiential Graphic Design, Adam Fine, was a guest speaker at American Society of Landscape Architecture’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. The firm’s influence in its chosen fields continues to grow as its talent finds new ways to reach out and inform the design community of the values and approaches that make it successful.
Certainly, more projects are also in the pipeline for Fathom, including a development underway in Fredericton for the Under One Sky Friendship Centre (planned for completion in 2026), as well as taking the lead on Moncton’s Vision Lands Project, a development of over 16,000 residential units for one of New Brunswick’s biggest cities. A project in Digby, the Jordantown Acaciaville Conway Betterment Association (JACBA) Centre of Excellence, recently achieved net zero certification, meaning the building will have no harmful emissions.
To be sure, scale and audacity have seemingly never given Fathom Studio pause, as the team continues to take on projects of considerable scale and impact to bring its brand of teamwork and person-centered design to as much of its home and native land as possible.
