Steve MacDonald
PresidentPattyMacSteve MacDonald Founder, PattyMac and Spencer Douglas Planning and Design
Steve MacDonald builds custom homes, cottages, and boathouses across Muskoka and Southern Georgian Bay. He founded PattyMac as a small property maintenance company and grew it into a custom builder with a team of more than 100.
In 2018 he founded Spencer Douglas Planning and Design, a residential studio covering architecture, interiors, landscape, and land-use planning. Running design and construction side by side gives him a working view of how a drawing becomes a finished room.
Steve holds a business degree in finance from Western University and a Red Seal in carpentry.
Canadian Design and the Culture of the Cottage
Explore the Canadian design aesthetic! From coastal homes and Quebec farmhouses to Prairie modernism, West Coast architecture and the cottages of Onta
…Explore the Canadian design aesthetic! From coastal homes and Quebec farmhouses to Prairie modernism, West Coast architecture and the cottages of Ontario and Muskoka, Canadian design is deeply influenced by landscape, climate, craftsmanship and regio
…Explore the Canadian design aesthetic! From coastal homes and Quebec farmhouses to Prairie modernism, West Coast architecture and the cottages of Ontario and Muskoka, Canadian design is deeply influenced by landscape, climate, craftsmanship and regional identity.
This conversation dives deep into what makes Canadian residential design distinctive, with a particular look at cottage culture as both a design tradition and a way of life. Panelists wil
Explore the Canadian design aesthetic! From coastal homes and Quebec farmhouses to Prairie modernism, West Coast architecture and the cottages of Ontario and Muskoka, Canadian design is deeply influenced by landscape, climate, craftsmanship and regional identity.
This conversation dives deep into what makes Canadian residential design distinctive, with a particular look at cottage culture as both a design tradition and a way of life. Panelists will consider how designers can preserve the character, memory and simplicity that make these properties meaningful while adapting them for contemporary living. How, as a design community, can we allow the Canadian cottage to evolve without designing away everything that made it special?
