Bata Shoe Factory revitalization featured in Canadian Architect
Canadian Architect features the Bata Shoe Factory as an “ambitious adaptive re-use and conversion of the former manufacturing facility into a mixed-use residential, commercial, and community building with a light environmental footprint and a strong social mandate.”
The late Sonja Bata, along with her husband Tomáš Bata, was instrumental in creating the modernist factory town of Batawa. After the factory’s decommissioning in 2000, Sonja repurchased the site to revitalize the town as a model of sustainable development. The renovation, done in collaboration with BDP Quadrangle as Architect of Record and our practice as Design Architect, concluded in 2019 and includes 47 rental residential units, commercial spaces, a daycare, and community amenities, all designed with sustainability at the forefront.