Upon completing the five-year architectural program at the University of Toronto I returned to work with WZMH Architects. Within a few days, since all the senior designers were away on business or holidays, I was given the task of designing the HQ of Maritime Life Insurance in Halifax.This city was the port of arrival when my mother and I arrived after crossing the Atlantic. Thirteen years had gone by, and the project provided the possibility of returning to that shore.
The series of photos of the property showed tall Atlantic pines throughout and a small stream running meandering through the site. My main thought became to safeguard the natural landscape. I only had a week to prepare the presentation. I went home, where I lived with my parents, communicating the news of the project and sharing my excitement and the preoccupation that it posed.
My father, upon seeing the photos, said, “You do remember how we used to irrigate the fields in the valley? Well, use the creek to irrigate your creation,” partly in jest and most seriously. And my mother added: “The trees are so tall; it is a sin to cut them down.”
These two comments coming from peasant stock became the basis of the design: three glazed cubes in the landscape. Except for where each entrance was to be located, the ground floor was surrounded by a berm. This element would give the cube a floating feeling. The all-glass bluish facades with a reflective quality mirrored the trees and sky.I saw the roof of each as the fifth elevation and proposed to allow the office workers to use it. I imagined being up there and looking across the Atlantic Ocean, knowing that in a few months I would be flying over it. The water of the stream was to be used for ambient heating and cooling as part of the mechanical system.
For the presentation I managed to bring together a photographer, a glass cutter, and an artist. By the end of one week, the presentation was ready and it was delivered to the client.
A score of years later, I found myself in Halifax and saw for the first time the result of my labour: only one cube had been built. I was pleased.
