Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/292860
© Brett HitcHins Making a difference through design by Jessica Krippendorf D IALOG is everything the name suggests: collaborative, close-knit, idea-driven and egoless. The company's team of design professionals are on a mission to reshape the Canadian landscape with meaningful, innovative work. "To be the most creative, the most innovative, we have to address the emerging complexities that our projects increasingly have," says Tom Sutherland, DIALOG's national managing principal. "For that you need an interdisciplinary approach, so it was a group of firms with overlapping specialties that wanted to practice together and in that model that ultimately led to the creation of DIALOG." The oldest and largest of DIALOG's predecessor firms, Cohos Evamy, was founded in 1961. Its early principals represented a union of architects and engi- neers that would become the genesis of the multidisci- plinary approach that is central to DIALOG today. In 2010, Cohos Evamy joined forces w it h Vancouver's Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects + Urbanistes (HBBH), Toronto interior designers Mole White Associates and Toronto urban planners Office for Urbanism. Carlyle + Associates Landscape Architecture and Urban Design of Alberta and Vancouver's Jones Kwong Kishi Consulting Engineers joined DIALOG later in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The merger under the new name represented a collaborative entity united under four pillars: do great work, enjoy the journey, create success and make a difference. "These principles underpin everything we do and every decision we make," says Sutherland. "Our approach is very much about connecting the key elements of design and approaching them in a holis- tic, integrated fashion." In other words, there are no silos, only design opportunities. "We bring together unique views and disciplines in a way that allows us to embrace complexity and not run from it, and find real innovation," he says. DIALOG's 550-plus person staff – collaborating across studios in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto – works closely in project teams under the leadership of 41 principals and 85 associates. But despite its size, the company defies the top- down corporate image with open concept work spaces, committed focus on communication and idea sharing, and a flat, egalitarian approach to the design charette process in which titles are left at the door and every idea matters. " DIALOG's disciplines can coexist to allow each passionate practitioner to go out and Open DIALOG DIALOG 8/ AprIL 2014 p08-09DIALOG.indd 8 14-04-02 4:43 PM