As you drive, bicycle or walk around Sault Ste. Marie, you certainly will have seen iconic buildings designed by local architect Franco Pastore.
Pastore is principal architect, designer and partner in locally-based firm IDEA, short for Integrated Design Engineering & Architecture.
“I was a creative person in elementary school,” Pastore told SooToday.
“I was heavily engaged in art and producing sketches, paintings, sculpture and building things. It became obvious to me in Grade 8 or Grade 9 that I wanted to be an architect.”
Much of Pastore’s work is characterized by high ceilings and large windows that bathe the interior of his buildings with natural light.
“I love monumental spaces. I love a space where you can actually sit and appreciate and reflect in that space. So, a lot of my projects have those types of spaces within them. Natural light is key. I like to sit in a space and be able to see a full panorama of the exterior, to look through a portal of what's on the other side, sitting in a space and feeling like you're outside,” Pastore said.
Among the many notable local buildings Pastore has designed are:
- Sault Area Hospital, IDEA’s biggest project to date and in partnership with other architectural firms
- Sault College’s M Wing
- Sault College’s Health and Wellness building
- Algoma Public Health
- St. Mary's College
- GFL Memorial Gardens
- International Bridge Authority Toll Plaza
- Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge redevelopment
- Private residences
More recent Sault and area buildings Pastore has designed include:
- Northern Community Centre, including the indoor soccer pitch and the new twin-pad arena
- Northway Wellness Centre, an adaptive reuse of the former Sault Star building
- Three Rivers JK-12 school in Blind River, currently under construction
- Facelifts to several Sault and Algoma District schools, including an in-progress transformation of White Pines Collegiate’s technical wing
Those are partial lists.
Pastore studied architecture at Carleton University in Ottawa and spent the early years of his architectural career in Sudbury before returning to his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie.
He became a partner in local architectural firm EPOH in 1994.
EPOH rebranded as IDEA in 2017.
Pastore has made conceptual drawings for development of the Brewery Block across from the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre, the Gateway site, and St. Marys River Drive behind Station Mall.
IDEA designed the Thousand Islands Border Crossing building in southeastern Ontario and has made conceptual drawings for the Blue Water Bridge Master Plan in Sarnia.
Pastore said he doesn't have a favourite project.
"I think I have five or six favourites that all fit in the same sort of level of achievement in terms of my vision of architectural design. St. Mary's College is one. Thousand Islands is another. GFL Memorial Gardens. Sault Area Hospital for sure."
IDEA was on a short list of just six architectural firms - from Canada, the U.S. and France - competing to refurbish the Urban Block facing Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 2022.
Toronto-based Zeidler Architecture Inc. in association with David Chipperfield Architects in London, U.K. won that competition.
Pastore emphasized that IDEA is very much a team with several owners now employing 20 professionals in its Sault office in the McDougall Energy Tower - which Pastore has revamped inside and out - and another 20 in its Ottawa office.
“We're all proud. I'm one of the faces but there are 40 people in the firm.”
Pastore is exceptionally proud his daughter Catrina recently joined IDEA as an architect.
He remains a motivated professional.
“People are very conscious about what they wear or what car they drive because it makes them look good. Architecture is the same way.
"It might be more subconscious but if people are in an environment where they like the buildings that surround them, it makes them feel better. That’s important to me and that’s what drives me.”