By Anne Swan

Fresh off recent press in the Globe and Mail touting him as “Canada’s Next Top Architect”, Omar Gandhi (BEDS’03, MARFP’05) has been announced as a winner of the Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices Competition”. Emerging Voices is an invited competition for North American firms and individuals with distinct design voices and significant bodies of realized work.

Emerging voices recognizes architects in the middle of their career – those just gearing up to the peak of their productivity and talent. Omar was invited to apply and is accompanied by eight other North American winners. Only a handful of Canadians have ever been recipients. He is in good company indeed, as the most recent was Dal Professor and local practitioner, Brian MacKay-Lyons.

Although becoming quite “decorated,” having won both Canada Council’s $50,000 Prix de Rome and a spot on Wallpaper magazine’s list of the world’s top 20 young architects, Omar claims this to be one of the awards he is the most proud of. “To be the only Canadian and to be onstage in front of a serious architectural audience, promoting Canadian architecture, that is exciting for me.” Indeed, Omar will be on stage presenting a lecture of his work to the New York architectural community on March 29th. “It is a wonderful opportunity for me, to meet new people, connect with the other winners, and share my work to a new audience. I am honoured.”

There will be plenty to share. Omar has single-family residential projects all over Nova Scotia currently under construction. His satellite office, recently opened in Toronto, will be competing for larger work and collaborating with other practitioners. “The opportunities in Toronto to work with amazing people, grow my business, and expand my community are something I am looking forward to.”