Our Motiv
Based in Vancouver, we’re a collaborative group of thoughtful and compassionate people using our collective design, communication, and facilitation skills to help communities thrive.
As an architectural practice, we strive to always work on projects that lie at the heart of a community, identifying meaningful opportunities for connection — with each other and the land we live on — for a full and healthy life.
Our multi-talented team brings an authentic and unique perspective to each problem we tackle. With roots in farming and agriculture, we’re inspired by projects that connect cities with rural landscapes, and celebrate the links between food systems and our collective future. We’re also drawn to work that involves housing and education, which we believe are critical components of thriving communities.
These pillars often overlap and collide, and this is where the greatest opportunity for innovation lies — when interdependence, synergy, and leveraging impact create real positive results.
Our Work
Our People
MOTIV Architects is a collaborative, people-centred architecture practice working on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) peoples known as Vancouver, British Columbia.
Longtime friends and colleagues, Tracey Mactavish and Asher deGroot established their respective careers before reconnecting to create a shared design studio in 2017. They founded MOTIV as an architecture practice with a unique perspective — one centred around the power of architecture to foster community.
Our Creative Process
Context
Connected
We work to incorporate community to every step
We design spaces that foster human connection, creating opportunities to live, learn and grow together. By incorporating the community in our design and the decision-making process, we aim to build a sense of ownership of projects into the future. We rely on meaningful engagement to do our best work.
Engaged
We take the time to fully understand a project in context
In every project, we take an individualized, site-specific approach that evaluates the terrain and microclimate of a site resulting in designs that belong and are of the place. To achieve this we capture views, retain and enhance existing flora and fauna, and carefully consider movement patterns on and off site, including the sense of arrival and flow, solar and wind orientation, and daily seasonal cycles.
Principled
We work to be part of the solution
Our design responses are always rooted in both the local environment and the larger global context. We seek out passive environmental design strategies, advocate for exceeding Net Zero, remain mindful of the embodied energy of new materials, and examine our own footprint at MOTIV. We always question how a project impacts our climate, reconciliation, globalization, and more —incorporating strategies to ensure our work is part of a better future.
We look for synergies beyond the property line
Through historical research, interviews, and collaboration, we’re able to identify opportunities and envision spaces that maximize project potential. We expand our point of view to look at the community it will impact, considering the local economy, resources, culture, and storytelling opportunity.