why shelterbelt?

In the search to come up with a name for the firm we bounced from possibility to possibility and nothing rang true.  We knew what we did NOT want and that was our names in any form.  None of us are divas (except maybe for karaoke) who seek the spotlight or even our names up in lights.  And then how would we determine who’s name came first?  Alphabetical?  Age (heaven forbid)? 

No, we knew we did not want our names, but what we DID want was more intangible.  The name needed to be modern.  It needed to evoke our sustainable mandate.  It would exemplify the collaborative process we want to encourage in the studio.  Somehow, the firm name needed to embody regeneration, sustainability, integration and regionalism.  No easy task.  We tested various words and phrases over numerous bottles of wine with family and friends.  Some came close, others were winning for their sheer entertainment value.  We had suggestions from near and far – friends on parental leave in Costa Rica sent humidity influenced ideas; others juried and rejected many early proposals.  There was no resolution but we moved closer to a sense of what we wanted.

shelterbelt came suddenly, emerging from poetic depths.  For anyone who has grown up on the North American prairies the word is immediately resonant.  The stands of trees that edge the fields mark the history of homesteaders establishing their farms.   These narrow bands of trees which help minimize the erosion of top soil stand as memories of the settlement of our communities and are early examples of sustainable actions.  The shelterbelts are equally evocative in winter or summer.  The bare trunks and branches of the long winter months stand sentinel over the dormant fields.  The summer form is dense and solid, forming perimeter walls at field edges. 

So here’s why shelterbelt: We like that the word shelter is embedded within the name.  We like that the form of a shelterbelt is architectural, that it is a regional construct, that it is connected to our province’s history and agrarian roots.  We like that a shelterbelt is an example of sustainable principles, that it regenerates and changes seasonally, that it provides habitat for multiple species of flora and fauna.  And we like that it exemplifies a group of individuals (trees) working as a unit (the shelterbelt) to sustain and benefit its neighbors.  While a shelterbelt is a rural construct, we believe its lessons and poetic memory have relevance to our sustainable urban practice.  And besides, we think the name is hip.