and the Middle East. “The
Chinese and Middle East mar-
kets have traditionally been
successful for us. We are now
in the process of re-estab-
lishing our presence in China
and have recently had success
in some large scale competi-
tions there. Among them is
the Bank of Communication
in Nanjing which is now under
construction.
Looking at the Middle East,
he believed the future there is
also very bright. “[In the Unit-
ed Arab Emirates] we have
been working on the Nation
Towers in Abu Dhabi. It is a
large, multi-use building. We
have designed a Four Seasons
in Luxor, Egypt. We’ve also
designed a building where
we re-used an existing Hilton
Building right in Tahrir Square
in Downtown Cairo, and we’ve
converted that into a Ritz
Carlton Hotel… [We also have
another] project in Abu Dhabi
called Nation Towers. [They
are] two very large, very tall
buildings—in 2012 they were
ranked #16 in terms of tallest
buildings completed world-
wide in that year… It also has
the highest connecting bridge
link between two buildings at
50 stories in height.”
From a technical standpoint,
however, building in Canada
is unlike virtually any other
country in the world. “Our
building standards and our
code standards are very robust
compared to the rest of the
world. In Can-
ada, and in
particular To-
ronto, the cli-
mate change
that we have
to deal with
is huge. We
can go from
- -30°C to + 30°C [and] that’s a
huge strain on the mechanical
system. That really leads to a
very diverse mechanical sys-
tem. From a technical stand-
point, our buildings are very
robust,” says Nicola.
Regardless of what country
they are situated in, WZMH
Architects always strives to
bring innovation and fresh
approaches to every project.
This philosophy has been the
primary motivation behind
the constant adaptation and
reinvention of their architec-
tural designs and helps them
remain both contemporary
and relevant. Another unique
and consistent feature of the
firm is the extraordinary level
of attention they pay to per-
sonal relationships, some-
thing the firm has thrived on
over the course of the past 50
years.
JANUARY 2014
H
business elite canada
59
