Lines of Duty

Not content with building a home and office in Halifax, Nova Scotia, just for himself, Canadian architect Omar Gandhi has dedicated nearly an entire floor of his new space to working on pro bono projects to improve the local area

- By Ellie Stathaki. Photographs by Doublespace

Architect Omar Gandhi was looking for a way to consolidate home and office life when he came upon an overgrown, narrow lot in the North End of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Gandhi, who heads up his eponymous practice in both Halifax and Toronto, hadn’t set out to design his own space, but as luck would have it, the right spot discovered at the right time offered an opportunity he couldn’t refuse. ‘I was renting and wanted to move the office nearby,’ he says. ‘I often hang out in this area, and I was really drawn to the diversity of the community as a place to raise my son, and the tradition of craft and texture of the neighbourhood.’ At 241.5 sq m, the plot was not big, but he decided the challenge was worth it and that he was going to attempt to ‘jam it all in with room for some magic’.