10
business elite canada
H
AUGUST 2014
“There’s no other culture really more ex-
tremely different to ours,” said Sweetapple.
The project certainly wasn’t an easy task in a
country of extremes—a hot climate with mon-
soon rains that can leave as much as 90 per
cent of the country under water. The country
has one of the densest populations on earth
and it is one of the poorest nations. The whole
building was designed around preparing for
rain, heat and floods incorporating canopies
for dealing with rain and drainage systems on
the grounds. “It was kind of a great project that
way. It took a lot of effort to get it working with
our partner firm RDH Architects in Toronto. It
was a great collaboration,” said Sweetapple.
That being said, sometimes the project was
not without its jurisdictional challenges. He
also notes that working with the local govern-
ment there at times was “interesting,” in terms
of issues of corruption and legal red tape to
wade through in the process. In spite of it all,
Sweetapple and MacKay-Lyons can agree that
it was definitely a highlight of their careers.
They are thankful to have many partnerships
to make projects a reality locally and interna-
tionally such as RDH Architects in Toronto who
collaborated with MacKay-Lions Sweetapple in
Bangladesh .
Both architects observe many differences in
architecture in Canada from province to prov-
ince. Without sounding rude, Sweetapple notes
that some areas particularly in the Maritimes
could stand to have an architectural facelift.
Project: Dalhousie University, Computer Science Building
Photographer: James Steeves
