Vancouver Island’s premier design festival, Design Victoria, will be returning next month to celebrate the City of Victoria and the island’s growing design community.

The four-day festival, organized by Design Victoria’s partners, will take place from May 1 to 4, 2025, and feature events across the city and beyond including special installations, exhibitions, events, open houses, tours and workshops, and the official launch party.

Launched in May 2023, Design Victoria is the first festival to celebrate Greater Victoria’s growing design community, and one of the first of its kind in BC.

At the time, the festival worked collaboratively with designers and design businesses to generate ideas for special installations, exhibitions, events, open houses, tours and workshops, which resulted in a variety of programming that reflected the expertise, innovation and unique style of individual designers. The inaugural festival exceeded expectations with 3,000 attendees to 35 individual events.

Design Victoria was conceived by Carla Sorrell, director of Design Victoria, and Will Sorrell, director of the the Interior Design Show. Both were involved in the UK’s creative sector before moving to Victoria in 2020.

The following is a lineup of events revolving around architecture that will be taking place at Design Victoria this year.

Open House: hcma architecture

On May 2, hcma is hosting an open studio for Design Victoria. This year, they’re celebrating 20 years in Victoria, 20 years dedicated to maximizing positive impact in communities across Vancouver Island and beyond. Stop by their Victoria studio to learn more about the work they do, meet people, and explore their new space on Courtney Street.

Architectural Walk & Drawing Tour

On May 3 and 4, attendees are invited to join the Architecture Foundation of British Columbia (AFBC) for a walking tour where attendees will sketch some of the city’s architectural highlights. This event welcomes anyone interested in sketching or architecture. Over a 1km walk, a guide will lead attendees to four locations, sharing key concepts to inspire sketches at each stop.

Biophilic Design Charrette

Join Christine Lintott Architects for Park It + Plant It: a biophilic design charrette, where creativity meets nature. This interactive, hands-on event invites participants to reimagine how our public infrastructure can foster connections within community and to the natural world. Focusing on the Johnson Street Parkade, this charrette asks community members what future they envision for this site.

Workshop: Missing Middle

Provincial and City policy is now encouraging infill housing in urban neighbourhoods. Termed ‘Gentle Density’, the new policy enables homeowners to build small multi-family buildings with four to 12 homes in place of one house. Join Fold Architects for a collaborative design workshop where they’ll guide you through the exercise of creating, siting and programming a project, on a typical city lot.

Exhibition & Talk: Architectural Photography

Join Wentworth Villa for a talk about “Knight’s Fort Street,” their soon-to-be-released self-guided historic walking tour of Victoria’s much loved street. The talk and tour will coincide with their new feature exhibit, “Knight’s Victoria: The Architectural Photography of Harry Upperton Knight.” They will also have a small exhibition of local architectural photographer John Taylor’s photos of the restoration of the Union Club Building, overseen by Victoria architect Shiv Garyali.

Movie and Talk: Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines

Directed and written by Danny Berish and Ryan Mah, Beauty Between the Lines delves into the life and work of Arthur Erickson, a visionary architect first in Canada and ultimately throughout the world. With intimate interviews, unseen archival footage, and an exploration of his architectural masterpieces, the film weaves together the complexities of Erickson’s personal and professional life.

This article was published in Canadian Architect on 7 April, 2025.

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