Award-Winning Architectural Designer Gets the Exposure She Deserves

Meet Houry Avedissian. She’s an architectural designer whose time has come. After developing her expertise at notable firms in Montreal for 7 years, she launched her own studio, Ha² Architectural Design, and began making a name for herself right away. One of her first major projects out of the gate was none other than the award-winning “Treehouse”.

Featuring four different Western Red Cedar applications, this innovative design was a natural choice for the cover of Cedar Book 9. And like previous editions in this collectable coffee table book series, Cedar Book 9 was distributed to architects, developers and builders throughout North America.

Since then, Avedissian has become somewhat of a design darling in Canadian architecture and beyond. She took home top prize in the Real Cedar category at last year’s Wood Design Awards. As well, her work has been highlighted in Canadian magazines, newspapers and on various social media platforms, blogs and newsletters. Her projects have also been showcased in several high-profile US publications including Architect Magazine.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized not only for the project, but for my use of the most natural and sustainable product Western Red Cedar, which [the book] is creating awareness for,” explains Avedissian. “Being an example is the best compliment of all, particularly since local and international projects were among the featured.

“But most of all,” she continues, “I enjoyed sharing the award with the owner of the house who trusted in me and the vision, and allowed the project come to life. I certainly appreciated the exposure in various magazines I had not yet had the honor of being published in yet. And again, having a project as an example of how to use a product is truly a special and rewarding experience.”

So it only makes sense that she’s submitting her latest project, Stairway 2 Haven, for Cedar Book 10 consideration. This stunning reno job features Western Red Cedar siding, decking and trellises. It’s definitely a top contender… but there’s still spots left in the milestone edition of the Cedar Book.

If you recently completed a contemporary project that features Western Red Cedar, please email book editor, Sarah Rowland, for submission details by Nov. 17.