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NORR and IBI are two of the largest firms in Canada but do consistently terrible work. Says a lot about the value of Architecture in Canada.

Compare to America's largest firms, Gensler, SOM, and HDR who all do amazing work and its clear to see we have a lack of creative talent in this country. Either that or we have an engrained culture of value engineering and penny-pinching.
 
IBI is miles ahead of NORR. They do very good work in Toronto, etc. NORR also isn't very big. They are more of a regional discount firm.
 
NORR is a global firm. They acquired the offices of Poon McKenzie Architects about a decade ago here in Calgary to have a local presence:
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I think we have quite a lot of talented architects in town, and many even at these larger firms. The outcomes of the buildings we see are probably more driven by the clients, who are driven by the actual saleable price they can get in Calgary. It is difficult to compare our multi-family buildings, which struggle to sell at $400 a square foot, with buildings in Toronto that sell at $1,500 a square foot.
 
NORR is probably pretty comparable to IBI, though the middle east division was spun off into it's own company and licenses the name NORR. Aside from the boring multi-family centric Western Canadian NORR, the firm does some pretty cool stuff (Emirates Towers, Union Station expansion in Toronto...). The problem is the local market and developers, Calgary was built by the developers and their profit margins are ridiculous! Architecture firms play by the developer's rules or look elsewhere for work.
 
I don’t have inside knowledge at NORR, but I suspect the client drives a lot of the results. Take this one for example, the exterior finish is what makes the biggest difference between a great little building and a not so great one. Brick would have looked way better, and I’m sure NORR is capable of proposing brick, but my guess is the dollars don’t really work for that location.
West 17, which was designed by NORR, Truman as the developer isn't complete yet but so far looks promising.
 
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