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For nearly 35 years, Jack Diamond and his team at Toronto-based Diamond + Schmitt Architects have designed breathtaking buildings in Canada and around the world. Now, Diamond, an officer of the Order of Canada, is tackling his most prestigious and ambitious project to date: the New Mariinsky Theatre, a $452-million opera house in St. Petersburg, Russia. He sat down with Canadian Business editor Steve Maich.
What are the ingredients of success?
I remember Kennedy saying you can't have enough of two components: energy and intelligence. And I think I would add persistance. As Woody Allen said, 90% of success is showing up. You've got to have it in you. For example, in some respects I think I'm quite weak-willed. I hate doing thigns I don't like. But I'll tell you, on the things I like, you can't stop me. It isn't work, it's what I do. It's what I am. I'm an architect. Every project I do, I immerse myself in it. Even if I'm in the shower or waiting at the dentist, that's what I'm thinking about.
Was there a moment when you first knew you were an architect?
No. I always was. In fact, my mother kept the plan of a house I did when I was four. So who knows where that comes from? For me — and I’ve learned that I’m very fortunate — it wasn’t ever a choice.
How many architects work for you now?
We've got 170 in the firm.
How many did you start with?
I started with myself in my room at the University of Toronto.
What was the first project you ever designed?
A small restaurant in a park in Durban, South Africa. It caused a kind of sensation because in South Africa then, being part of the British Commonwealth, the architecture was derivative of England in a temperate climate, and the joy of tropical architecture was simply not there. So this was a building for the tropics. I had just graduated, and a number of architects came by from the city to see what the hell was going on. That apparently changed the ethos of architecture there. They stopped looking to England for their inspiration.
Is there a project you're most proud of?
Honestly, I don’t think so. The thrust of our firm is beautiful buildings that work — so they give artistic satisfaction, but they function well for their users, and they are in context. They are not isolated pieces that are monments to ego. They are responsive to the climatic environment, the urban environment, the social environment, even the political environment. The technology is in service to the intent of the building, rather than the building being a crutch for technological pyrotechnics.
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