Toronto-based pre-production animation studio House of Cool is restructuring, following its 2008 acquisition of commercial and animation studio Red Rover Studios.

Building on its commercial capabilities, House of Cool, which specializes in designing and storyboarding film, TV and commercial projects, will consolidate its pre-production studio with Red Rover to form a creative digital lab.

The lab will produce projects from concept to delivery, including animation and VFX capabilities, for the ad industry in both traditional and 3D formats.

Directors Greg Court and Matt Whalen will lead the commercial expansion.

Court joined Red Rover Studios in 1997, where he worked on feature film Gnomeo and Juliet. He has also worked as a senior animator at Starz Animation.

Whalen previously worked at Irish animation company Cartoon Saloon before joining House of Cool in 2006. In 2010 he worked at Mr. X on features including Tron: Legacy, Three Musketeers 3D and Cosmopolis before returning to House of Cool this year.

House of Cool, founded by animation vet Ricardo Curtis and business partner Wes Lui in 2004, has provided creative direction, concept design and pre-production services for features including Hugo, Despicable Me and Ice Age 3.