As of today, accounting of activity for the previous six months, our numbers have held steady. There were short duration visits from those within our trade from overseas, and also, some of us have taken the initiative to visit places in our vicinity. Prospects on the continent remain within our scope in the horizon, but as work by many continue to steady and maintain status quo so for stability across the land to hold true, the puzzle remains for us at this location to find position and work as closely associated with our trade and level of profession as possible. This memo will address some of the contextual actualities within which we need to build trust and permanence.
The five items:
1) As before, five designs were requested. As per our high level of attainment, designs were prepared in the last half year. However, considering our mobility as relevant to the current task of establishing here post large volume of work completed, new designs are being made right now, which will be more appropriate for Canadian sites in our vicinity. For your information, these geometrical designs are being examined and furthered as relevant to proportionate beauty. The necessity for realistic designs that fit the aesthetic and structural requirements as demanded by these Canadian cities must not be overlooked. Care must be given duly to not give in to constructing designs which are context free.
2) The protective zoning proposed in the document I penned is receiving preliminary uptake by Calgarian community and implications are being drawn. The investigation into how extrapolating from local established history into a zoning program that allows for measured and paced utility of the resource of architectural space continues. As visitors make entrance into this city, we should mind who from our trades do arrive, what they bring, and what they are looking for. It is the case that more established architects may be more understated in their making of appearance. We will be careful not to uptake young architects armed with little more than ambition into any rushed activity of raising structures, especially those at scale, not examined and approved by those in position. The future orientation of greening skyscrapers remains an area which could attract our interest for our continuing relevance in this city.
3) Despite divergent interest in my presence at Brookfield every Monday, I continue to welcome you. Architects including a design architect previously affiliated with myself have now announced their presence in the city. You may have become aware that I am intending to place my firm Helix on the web but also in this city. As I continue to examine the very many avenues possible for furthering this intention, my inclination is towards optimizing the firm's agility without compromising commitment to place. Efforts are ongoing to apply network principles to the organization's capacity for collaboration so that in the future our work can achieve social significance in real time.
4) Although the report to the RCMP and the public in writing has been put on pause, research continues into the meaning and reality of compensation. As the economic and transactional realities of the world are transforming, all of us need to think beyond the confines of tradition. Looking around ourselves, we see that pay is essential to all jobs posted within organizational structures of society. Business with financial transactions as a basis are increasingly central such that this mode of movement of anything in society is the motivating force that is at once the explanation. Much as we belong strongly to the tradition, we must not let this type of phenomena escape our attention. Building some semblance of a business model has now entered my purview next to finding arrangement for future local utility of the spaces we ourselves built. Unrelatedly, as our efforts continue in finding recognition and consequence for trust with community here and at future locations, the reminder is here given that local police is at least one authority that will always remain relevant where protection and security exist as requirements. The suggestion is here provided that individual relationships be forged.
5) Recently I have been considering the enormous architectural and urban efforts made by my predecessor and his friends in the last century. As I continue to look towards Saskatoon and or Edmonton, even as security looms largely in my mind, I am overwhelmed by what is possible. Certainly, our specialty is in skyscrapers; however, our understandings concerning the various types of architecture which may enter a city as we build could yet find our advice. It is once again reiterated here that these two cities are no blank canvases. Their urban heritage needs to be respected and local voices be given regard. It may not be too early to achieve common understanding amongst ourselves as to what needs improvement and what must be retained. Recent news of Alberta has revealed that foreign groups are vying for relevance despite their foreign status. Despite the obvious difficulty of entanglement, we must nevertheless mind that their interference does not disrupt our good works and reputation. Our objectives are to give solid regard for existing capacities to a location and to participate in elevating what is good and what works in a town, specifically, the civic society and its structures which history did labor to build.
So, whenever it is of convenience to you to engage with me concerning any topic addressed in the memo or any topic which bears significant relevance in your work life, I am here. The continuation of our work is of course day to day and month to month, but continuance is also to a future in which the building principle is the motivator for our creating the new and the possible. It is of interest to me what news did come to Calgary from overseas within our trades. The work should always continue and I hope into a long future.
New memo March 1, 2023.
Thank you.
Ann Lee
File in pdf: Link
