JDa celebrates 43 years

2019 marks JDa’s 43rd year in business, and over four decades of designing creative, sustainable architecture in Vancouver and beyond.

JDa Principal Kim Johnston reminisces: “My father Doug and his business partner Ian Davidson founded the firm in 1976. They started out with just the two of them and built Johnston Davidson Architecture from the ground up. Though the studio quickly expanded, we have always remained a small, tight-knit cohort.

JDa then: Doug Johnston and Ian Davidson, founders, in the 1980s

“Doug and Ian put in a lot of work over the years, which helped the firm grow into what it is today. Their groundwork still benefits us all these years later. While we continue to specialize in protective services projects, JDa has worked on a wide variety of developments over the years.”

Many residents in Vancouver and visitors alike will have come across a design of ours. If you have driven past Coquitlam Fire Hall No. 1, visited St Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Care Clinic, dropped by UBC’s Coal and Mineral Processing Laboratory or stepped into a Lululemon store in Vancouver, you have encountered a JDa project.

With a large portfolio of work in the protective services space, JDa’s projects have touched dozens of communities across British Columbia, from Vancouver Island in the west to Fort St John in the north.

Significant and noteworthy work include the soon-to-be completed Vancouver Fire Hall No. 5 and YWCA-run social housing colocation project, the Sechelt Justice Building (2003) and the Qualicum Beach Fire Hall (2015), to name just a few.

Find out more about JDa, our history and how we work here.

JDa now: the team, summer 2019