Sensus Design Studio

Our approach

OUR APPROACH

OUR
APPROACH

WHY YOUR
ENVIRONMENT

MATTERS?

realistic

Principal designer Jesse Sahlani’s approach is one that focuses on the creation of an environment. It is an approach that is comprised of equal parts attention to the impact of the custom home’s exterior design on interior proportions, natural light, sprawling room flow, and detailed design features that support the functional use of the home. This approach considers much more than finishes and is an approach that only a designer who is in control of the entire design process can execute through a range of architectural design services, including interior design and landscape design. It is through these principles that lead designer Jesse Sahlani is able to create an environment that you want to experience over and over again, as this, in his eyes, is the truest form of luxury design.

With the sentiment that the environment you are trying to create should always be the starting point of making aesthetic decisions, our process prioritizes the use of sun studies and sketching of different perspective views to add clarity to the proposed design intent. To achieve this, we get to know you well and pay close attention to lifestyle-related details that help us intuitively mold the home to support. Of course, the high-quality visualization process we are known for is a large part of providing a realistic experience to our clients alongside Jesse’s initial sketches. In the words of Jesse Sahlani, detailed design compels detailed construction, and this is the sole responsibility of anyone providing you with architectural design services.

realistic
OUR APPROACH

THE
IMPORTANCE OF
HARNESSING
NATURAL LIGHT

OUR APPROACH

Each home Jesse is responsible for designing is approached as a sculpture designed to harness natural light while capturing a unique sense of proportionality. There are several methods of completing sun studies, including several that famous architectural designers of the past have used historically, as well high tech options that have become extremely accurate. Jesse’s approach blends the old with the new for both practicality and accuracy at different phases of his design process.

In the early phases of his design process he observes the suns path, providing rough context for the suns position at different times of day within about an hour of accuracy. This pillar of his process offers him the information required to properly masterplan the lot at hand through his sketching process, impacting the floor plans, window plans, the positioning of outdoor amenities, as well as the positioning of different plant species. The result is that each room and amenity is placed in the path of the sun during the highest average time of use for the space.

In later phases, he develops sophisticated computer-generated sun models that are far more accurate, taking into consideration tree canopies, surrounding topography, and summer vs winter solstice lighting conditions. This phase gives us a clear understanding of how much natural light exposure each face of the home, and interior room is going to receive in an understandable format.

Combining these unique sun study methods increases the quality of any space in our eyes, offering a bright, fresh, and sunny environment that will inevitably serve as the backdrop to your family’s growth. It is for these reasons that we consider natural light to be a pillar of timeless design.

OUR APPROACH

WHY EVERY
DESIGN STARTS
WITH A

SKETCH

OUR APPROACH

Throughout our project releases on social media and our portfolio, you may notice that our firm consistently echoes the importance of starting our design process with sketching. Jesse’s ability to sketch both the site plans, exterior facades, floor plans, and interior perspective views of the private residences he commits to designing has proven to be a discerning difference in his ability to capture a timeless character. While much more goes into these projects than sketches, including a long and iterative process where every detail is questioned several times over, we wanted to peel back the layers that make sketching an integral pillar of timeless design.

The definition of timeless design at Sensus Design Studio is that you experience emotion when in the presence of the desired environment each time you walk into the home. Ut should almost prompt you to want to take a photo to capture it. When you approach a home’s design from this perspective, your thoughts about each detail, and their weight in the scheme of the total design plan, shift significantly. Hand sketching allows you to quickly and organically define the proportions of a design, test different exterior materials and textures, and balance decorative features, leading to the creation of a timeless design.

Of course, it also results in an enjoyable experience and higher quality of artistic authenticity as a result of keen focus on the intention and logic behind the design of each feature. We also believe that because sketching allows Jesse to explore his ideas and concepts in a flexible and iterative manner, the “right” design will inevitably be achieved along with unique and effective solutions to challenges found through the working process. It is through creation at a vorascious page through this process that the perfect “feeling” is found by Jesse, as he seeks to effectively communicate it to a viewer sketch by sketch.

Sketches also allow him to quickly experiment with different shapes, forms, and details, without being constrained by the technical limitations of a specific software. This freedom of design expression encourages Jesse to explore a range of home design styles while pushing boundaries of the proportions he understands. By the time we are required to interpret these artistic renditions into a 3D interactive model, we often have a significantly difficult time matching the specificity of the desired proportions, proving that achieving these proportions would be near impossible if we started with digital design.

Furthermore, sketches often capture the intention and thought behind a home’s design in a way that is impossible with more polished presentations. This raw and honest expression can be very powerful, as it communicates his vision in a personal and authentic way. It adds a human touch and personality to the design, which is the equivalent of Jesse’s fingerprint.

This approach is carried out through various phases of his multi-disciplinary process including interior design, landscape design, furnishing, and decorating. This holistic approach allows us to perfectly curate the intended environment that you want to experience over and over again, as this is the truest form of timeless design by Jesse’s definition.

OUR APPROACH
OUR APPROACH
OUR APPROACH
OUR APPROACH

OUR
VISUALIZATION
PROCESS; 3D
MODELLING

OUR APPROACH

While we believe that the process of sketching is what separates the ranks between different architectural design firms, this doesn’t mean we stick our noses up at computer-generated home design. In our eyes, 3D modeling and other forms of computer-generated home design complement the old-world practice of sketching to a high degree for several reasons. Our approach is one that blends the practices of sketching and computer-generated 3D visualizations to harness the best of both the old-world architectural principles that have proven to be so effective throughout history and the new-world practices of 3D modeling to improve the accuracy of design, the flow of information, and the construction process itself. By utilizing both of these methods, you are able to harness the free-spirited whimsical exploration that sketching offers while creating an accurate and detailed home that can be easily visualized before swinging a hammer.

In fact, the level of visualization our architectural design firm is able to create is accurate down to the detail, serving as a visual reference for our clients of the natural light and interior proportions of their homes. These models also serve as the foundation for a much more complex interior design model that is created for our clients in later phases. Builders are also able to use these models as a reference to review through the process of completing their work. By offering everyone involved a vision, we are able to offer a flow of information that helps everyone find the right answers and self-regulate their work to match the visual examples provided. Computer modeling offers efficiency through the process as a result of being able to utilize sophisticated modeling to visualize specific features, quickly outline specific construction sequence notes, and create a comprehensive design package that sketching and hand-drawn drawings can’t offer. By designing the exterior of the home’s massing in a 3D format, we are effectively pre-building each home digitally.

DETAILED
DESIGN
COMPELS
DETAILED
CONSTRUCTION

OUR APPROACH

We are obsessed with the details. We believe that creating a space that exudes the design style of choice in every selection, profile, texture, and art piece in the space is what sets an environment apart. To create this standard of an environment, we pride ourselves on not only our design creativity but also our ability to create well-explained, intuitive, and highly technical design plans that are rooted in the application.

Detailed design compels detailed construction, a saying Jesse reiterates over and over again throughout team meetings within the firm. After over a decade of designing and bringing custom homes to life through active involvement in the construction process, Jesse and our team have put drawing standards in place along the way in our day-to-day experience. We believe our drawings consider both the technical and the beautiful to solve 85% of the common construction information gaps that drawings often miss.

After all, we can design an amazing space, but it is all for nothing if we aren't able to execute these plans smoothly and practically. For this reason, we continue to play a role through the construction process, a process led by creative director John-Luke Sahlani in collaboration with a builder of your choice. Our approach stems from a sense of stewardship that we believe should naturally come with the idea of our art characterizing the neighbourhood it’s designed in for decades to come.

OUR APPROACH
Senses

ABOUT

THE
ARTIST

ABOUT

THE
ARTIST

Sensus Design Studio is a private residence design firm based in Toronto, ON, with projects across North America. The firm is led by Principal Designer Jesse Sahlani, renowned for the creation of experiential environments through his multidisciplinary design process in some of the most storied locations across the continent. By being in control of the architectural design, interior design, landscape design, and furnishings, he develops his design vision to create a seamless connection between every element of the home and its surroundings.

His classically restrained and historically informed approach has not only led to the tasteful reinterpretation of historic design styles, but he has done so with a high degree of connectivity between all elements of the home in the context of the natural setting at hand. To achieve this, Jesse’s focus is the creation of timeless design that transcends popular opinion, common division of space, and trendy aesthetics in search of a body of work that will stand the test of time in both form and function.

Founded by brothers Jesse and John-Luke Sahlani, Sensus Design Studio is the conduit through which his work is brought to fruition. Over the past decade, the duo have been responsible for developing an iconic catalogue of unique private residences that have characterized the streetscapes of some of the most well-known communities across the continent.

Jesse Sahlani designs each facet of the private residences commissioned through Sensus Design Studio with a sketch, a function of his multi-disciplinary skillset that allows him to approach each design project as a cohesive body of work that should feel artistic and intentional. To achieve this, he looks at each home as a Rubix cube, at first taking into consideration factors that impact the composition of the home including natural light and topographical considerations. From there, he designs a unique footprint for each home, an approach that has become a signature of his that impacts every exterior proportion, interior proportion, view point, and indoor-outdoor connection point.

From this point Jesse starts to sketch the facade, as he seeks to accurately communicate the proportions he envisions to a viewer. Throughout this journey, he indulges in an unbound creative exploration process where every single element from both a compositional and detailing perspective is reviewed critically to ensure that it captures the timeless and soulful character desired within the grand scheme of the body of work at hand. The importance of this creative practice is echoed throughout Jesse’s portfolio, as his work carries a distinct sense of recognition as if it were his fingerprint in a way.

From there, the fluid artistic sketches are brought to life in photorealistic 3D rendered form, full-scale floor plans, and interior design material boards, ensuring that every detail of the project is well-explained and molded around the lifestyle, hobbies, and family structure of the each client.

And while the scope of admiration for Jesse’s work has grown far past the borders of Ontario, it is in his hometown of Toronto where he gained much of his experience and local recognition. Jesse and his team have worked with almost every municipal zoning review, conservation authority, and building permit office in Southern Ontario to see through the permitting and approval processes required to start construction. It is through this process, as well as his keen involvement in the construction phase, that results in the creation of the desired environment by bringing each detail to fruition.

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TIMELESS DESIGN IS FOUND IN PROPORTIONS, AND PROPORTIONS ARE FOUND IN SKETCHING

Location & Hours
Office:
1315 Lawrence Avenue East, Unit #510, Toronto, M3A 3R3, Canada
Hours:
Mon-Fri: 8:00am - 6:00pm
Sat: 8:00am - 3:00pm
Sun: Closed
Contact
Office Directory
+1 (416) 720 6151 [email protected]
Sales
+1 416-720-6151 [email protected]
John-Luke Sahlani

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TIMELESS DESIGN IS FOUND IN PROPORTIONS, AND PROPORTIONS ARE FOUND IN SKETCHING