Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/178290
+ interior design Nurturing relationships in diverse specializations is a winning design approach by Bill Armstrong W PHOTO: GRANT ROMANCIA hen the staff of aodbt architecture + interior in interviews as ' lash.' Another deep look" to a contemporary space that is "sensitive to the archidesign got their irst look at what would be recession in the early 1990s demanded tect's original intent," led by interior designer Nicole Tiessen, the irm's new Saskatoon of ice, many of them more reserves of quiet perseverance. who joined aodbt in 2006 and became a partner in 2010. Similarly, a 1983 project associated with the Linear Accelwere shocked, recalls managing partner Bob To keep the 12 staff members together, Burnyeat. What the staff viewed was a 14,000-square-foot everyone went on work-sharing for erator on the University of Saskatchewan campus led to a egg storage warehouse that Burnyeat describes as, "… awful three months, Olfert recalls. The irm string of high-pro ile and complex scienti ic projects, includlooking, with a forklift whizzing around, and a parking lot that couldn't afford the rent on the little ing the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron, the Spinks addiwas a mess." house where it began, and moved into tion to the Chemistry Building, expansion of Agriculture and Still, Burnyeat and the irm's other partners saw a struc- 3,000 square feet of empty space in an Agri-Food Canada's facilities on campus with Cohos Evamy turally sound building that was begging for a new life. Equally of ice building at the eyebrow-raising integratedesign (now Dialog), a major renovation and expanimportant, the warehouse was located in an older neighbour- rate of $1 per square foot, per year. As sion to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), hood undergoing renewal, and it offered the growing staff better times returned, the irm gradu- and InterVac, a Large Animal Containment Level 3 vaccine twice the space of the existing of ice in downtown Saskatoon. ally increased its areas of specialization research and development facility, designed in collaboration "We took the staff members over to two adaptive re-use and added to its portfolio of noteworthy with Smith Carter. projects we had done on First Avenue so they could see what projects. For example, as the province's "Just as we've brought people into the irm who have specan be done with an old wood and brick building," Burnyeat economy rebounded in the 1980s, the cialty areas of expertise," Burnyeat explains, "so that a partsays. "That gave insight into what the warehouse could be." irm established a specialty in long-term ner is involved at all stages of a project, we also collaborate Since aodbt moved into the building in 2008, it has won care facilities with projects like Sher- with other irms to help deliver the best possible project. Our several design awards, attracted plenty of attention in and brooke Village and Parkridge Village. work on WCVM led to us being retained as design consultant beyond Saskatoon, and is currently on the University of Calgary Veterinary being reviewed for LEED certi ication. College, which was completed in 2010." Anticipating a pattern of economic As part of the relocation process, aodbt downturns every 10 years or so, the hired a creative consultant to re-brand irm was prepared to hunker down the irm, paying particular attention to again around the turn of the century, how staff and clients perceived the irm's but this time the recessionary boot did culture, what Bob Burnyeat describes not drop. When the largest architecture as, "the way we do things around here, irm in Prince Albert left during the lean how it feels to be involved with aodbt as times, aodbt established a toehold in the a client, a supplier, a staff member, in the city in a small downtown space rented community. The consultant suggested from a First Nations organization, and that 'Responsive, Creative, Connected' has expanded twice since. The of ice best describes the culture of aodbt, and is located kitty corner to the Saskatchwe agree." ewan Forest Centre, a forestry research The re-branding also provided an centre which aodbt completed in 2004. opportunity for the irm to come out Above: Irene and Leslie Dube Centre for Mental Health. Left: aodbt's renovated warehouse-turnedIt was the irst LEED-certi ied project in of its shell, iguratively speaking, and office. Both Saskatoon, SK. raise its pro ile in the community. With the province, qualifying for a Gold rat15 partners (including six founding partners – Burnyeat, Today, the irm can list involvement in ing. Principal and manager of the Prince Albert of ice Leslie Lawrence Dressel, Charles Olfert, Bill Pizzey, Wayne Lutzko many long-term care facilities, health Blacklock operated her own interior design business before and Peter Tracey – who are still active in projects) and 40 staff clinics and hospital projects across the joining aodbt. She's proud of the irm's contribution to the in Saskatoon and Prince Albert, this is heady territory for a province. design of the Alfred Jenkins Field House: a soccer, recreation When Saskatoon-based Federated and itness facility integrated with the P.A. Parkland Health irm that began in 1980 with four people in a small house trying to survive on small projects that other irms turned away. Cooperatives Limited closed its con- Region, and a ive-duplex housing project for low-income "We were in a recession, but we didn't know how bad it struction division, aodbt hired many working people on West Hill. was," says Charles Olfert. "We worked on things like MURBs former FCL employees. Bill Pizzey "No one wanted it in their neighbourhood," Blacklock says. (multiple unit residential buildings), messy renovations and became the irm's chief technologist and "After being approached to come up with a more attractive small projects for First Nations. We embraced projects that Peter Tracey began working in contract proposal, after many community meetings we developed a other irms often rejected, and this allowed us to forge rela- administration. Both became partners proposal that included three designs with covered porches, tionships that led to other projects, and we're proud to work in aodbt. Since then the irm has worked wood siding and stonework that its with the heritage lavour with First Nations on a variety of projects to this day." on gas bars, food stores and other proj- of West Hill, and it didn't cost more than the initial design. It's Scraping by in Saskatchewan's up-and-down economy ects for FCL, including renovations to very satisfying when you can deliver a practical solution for instilled a culture within aodbt that values hard work and update the giant cooperative's head the client," she notes. (In this case, the client is the Saskatchquiet perseverance over what several staffers referred to of ice lobby from a "dark, dated, 1960s ewan Housing Corporation). aodbt architecture + interior design p.08-11aodbt cover story.indd 9 APRIL 2012 /9 3/26/12 2:12:15 PM