Canada

Safdar Abidi

Vice President

As the education practice leader for Ontario and the eastern Canadian provinces, Safdar Abidi brings more than 20 years international design and implementation experience to the firm’s institutional projects. With a keen focus on evolving trends in post-secondary education, his mission of collaborating with regional university and college clients achieves truly “transformative” potential for campus buildings. Abidi ensures new and renovated facilities are designed as an investigation of pedagogical, cultural and business impacts. He implements a methodology to explore the philosophical vision, design characteristics, branding aspects, cost and schedule management, sustainability and increasingly the fundraising priorities of academic clients. Abidi is a member of the Society of College and University Planning, the Toronto Society of Architects, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Walter Gaudet, OAA, MRAIC, LEED

Associate Principal

A regional practice leader, Walter Gaudet is responsible for directing the firm’s Toronto operations. Gaudet is also a key member of Cannon Design’s Alternative Delivery practice and was responsible for managing the first Design Build Finance Maintain (DBFM P3) healthcare project in Ontario: the Niagara Health System Replacement Hospital. He is an expert in alternative project delivery, responsible for managing all aspects of building project requirements, coordination of the project agreement and request for proposal documents. Gaudet developed the design evaluation and scoring framework used to commission the project, brokering the complex resolution of process and responsibility between consultants, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Hospital, and Infrastructure Ontario.

He held a similar role for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Women's College Hospital redevelopments, and has now participated in the province’s first two Higher Education alternative delivery projects: Sheridan College and Humber College. Gaudet possesses the depth of experience required for the success of any project, distinguished by his ability to grasp and reconcile the diverse requirements and goals of the many constituents and stakeholders associated with large infrastructure programs.

Andrew King, MRAIC

Principal

Andrew King is responsible for design leadership, marketing, client development and helping establish Cannon Design’s strategic initiatives for its offices across Canada. He is considered an industry-leading thinker and practitioner in the interface between art and architecture in Canada. He has practiced, taught and lectured across Canada and in London, Berlin, Budapest, Rome, Seville and Copenhagen. For the past two decades, King has led his design research initiative AKA/andrewkingstudio. In 2003, he was selected as one of Canada’s Design Leaders by the Globe and Mail. King has been awarded two of Canada’s prestigious critical awards: the Canada Council for the Arts Prix de Rome and a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence, and his work has been published in national and international art and architecture journals, including Canadian Architect and Canadian Art. His work has been recognized with provincial, national and international design awards.

King has had a long and continuous history as a visiting academic and critic at architecture and design schools across Canada and abroad, including Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, McGill University’s School of Architecture, the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Cornell University and many others.

Ronald B. McIntyre, MAIBC, AAA, MRAIC

Principal

Ronald B. McIntyre has more than 20 years’ experience as a project architect, focusing on healthcare and higher education projects, and a background in urban planning. A skilled communicator who believes in a collaborative approach to design, McIntyre orchestrates the development of design solutions that are creative, functional, and fiscally responsible. He has led the execution of public-private partnerships (P3)—an emerging alternative for healthcare infrastructure delivery—throughout the firm, including projects such as Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Northern Health Authority’s Fort St. John Hospital Replacement in Fort St. John, and Vancouver Island Health Authority’s Royal Jubilee Hospital Patient Care Centre. McIntyre is a recipient of a Certificate of Achievement from the Alberta Association of Architects and an AIA Certificate of Merit for Excellence in the Study of Architecture.

William G. Smeltz, AIA, MRAIC, OAA

Principal

A member of Cannon Design’s healthcare team for over 25 years, William Smeltz is dedicated to the development of innovative healthcare programs—from urban and academic medical centers to primary care centers and community-based hospitals. A recognized expert on the impact of managed care on medical facilities, he is particularly noted for his ability to incorporate functional and operational efficiencies into healthcare planning. Smeltz’s keen perspective in addressing complex project issues have resulted in the successful translation of strategic goals and objectives into pragmatic facility plans. As project director for the Qatar Foundation’s SIDRA Medical Center, Smeltz recently led a 120-person team for a $3.1 billion design-build project in Doha, Qatar.