Russell Acton is a founding principal of Acton Ostry Architects with professional registration in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
Russell has shaped the design ethos of the firm toward the making of architecture grounded in a regionalist sensibility with a modernist expression. Embedded in the values of the practice is a consideration to design that is without willful extravagance.
Russell has been a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada since 1991 and was awarded Fellowship in 2009. He is a member of the Canada Green Building Council and the Canadian Passive House Institute. Russell’s keen interest in the urban condition is reflected in his service on the City of Vancouver Urban Design Panel and the University of British Columbia Advisory Urban Design Panel, as well as the City of Vancouver Development Permit Board Advisory Panel.
Russell has a strong interest in mass timber and has lectured extensively on the subject and participated in a wide variety of governmental and private industry mass wood initiatives. He has a particular interest in the use of tall wood structures in residential, commercial and public institutional applications. Russell was the principal in charge of the ground breaking Brock Commons Tallwood House at the University of British Columbia and Limberlost Place in Toronto for George Brown College.