Architecture: Shaking the Foundations

Originally published in Sharp. Read the full text here.

This Dalhousie-Trained Architect Is Changing the Face of Canadian Homes

Omar Gandhi remembers the moment he started speaking for himself. He was a timid, near-friendless 20-year-old living with his parents in Brampton, Ontario and commuting to the University of Toronto. The program, a brand-new bachelor of arts in architectural studies, was in what Gandhi calls its “guinea pig” phase. The classes were big and impersonal. There was no way to stand out or even meet your peers.

On a whim in second year, Gandhi asked his professor if he could address the class. “I went to the door of the auditorium and shut it closed,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Put up your hand if you think this is a horrible experience and you’re scared.’” Hands shot up. “Everybody was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ And also, ‘Yes!’”

Later that afternoon, Gandhi went to a pub with his classmates — “Suddenly, I had 200 new friends,” he says — where they founded a student council, the Bachelor of Arts Architectural Studies Society, which still exists today. “It was a bridge between this massive class and a faculty that wanted to make the program better,” says Gandhi. His leadership caught the attention of the dean, Larry Richards, who remains a friend and supporter of Gandhi’s architectural work. It’s not like Gandhi needs supporters, though. At 37, he’s a rising star. In 2016, the Architecture League of New York named him an Emerging Voice and Monocle listed him among its 20 Most Influential Canadians.

In the architecture world, there are two kinds of practitioners: style people and process people. Style people have motifs — Daniel Libeskind’s spikes, Santiago Calatrava’s twin arches — which they repeat in wild and wonderful permutations. Process people are difficult to pin down; they see each architectural project as a chance for reinvention. Gandhi belongs to the second group. “There are so many architects who have these signature styles, which are a comfort to them,” he says. “I really don’t care about that at all.”

This is an excerpt. Read the full text here.