Venue: Bella Center - C1 M1
13:45 - 15:15
OMAR GANDHI
Architect & Principal, Omar Gandhi Architects
‘Using Natural Light as a tool for creating an architectural narrative’
About the Daylight Talk
“Our projects often begin with a simple local precedent or diagram, often a hip roof or gable form. The form is then extruded up or across, bent or flattened, the roof planes folded and pleated. Sculpted by conditions and use, the reconstituted adaptation is receptive and responsive in its keeping with a modest, formal lineage. Within the realm of the adapted forms lies opportunities for creating strong architectural narratives which link the unique qualities of the site with the people who inhabit them.
When we write the storyline of a spatial experience, daylight or the lack thereof is used as a tool that allows us to create particular moments. Much like in film or in song, where there are both high and low points along the storyline we think not only about lighting up an entire space, but rather to highlight spaces while also considering the contrast; to use light as a tool.”
About Omar Gandhi
Omar Gandhi is the Principal of Omar Gandhi Architects, an architectural practice founded in 2010 with small teams in both Halifax and Toronto.
In its early years, the studio was awarded the Canada Council for the Arts Professional Prix de Rome, was included in Wallpaper* Magazine’s Architects Directory, and Omar himself was named as one of Monocle Magazine’s ‘Most Influential Canadians’. Omar was chosen as one of the Architectural League of New York’s ‘Emerging Voices’ of 2016 and in 2018, was appointed the Louis I. Kahn visiting Assistant Professorship in Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture.
Most recently, Omar Gandhi Architects was the recipient of a 2018 Governor General’s Medal in Architecture for its work on Rabbit Snare Gorge and honored as the only Canadian practice in Architectural Record Magazine’s 2018 Design Vanguard. In 2020, the studio was part of the team awarded the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and in 2021, completed the revitalization of one of Canada’s most Iconic landmarks, Peggy’s Cove.
Omar was made a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Association of Canada in 2022.
Project photos left to right:
Prime Seafood Palace photo ©Omar Gandhi Architects, Sluice Point photo ©Ema Peter, Peggy’s Cove
https://www.daylightandarchitecture.com/news/daylight-talks-uia-2023
