Diamond, Abel Joseph

Abel Joseph Diamond, "Jack," architect, educator (b at Piet Retief, South Africa, 8 Nov 1932), was educated at the University of Cape Town (B Arch 1956), Oxford University (MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 1958), and the University of Pennsylvania (M Arch 1962), where he studied with Louis Kahn. Diamond arrived in Canada in 1964 as founding director of the new Master of Architecture program at the University of Toronto. He became associated with the city's reform movement, and by the late 1960s had established what would become one of its defining practices.

Keywords

Architects

Born in 1932

Diamond's interest in reform has influenced not only his architecture, but also his published writings and his involvement with a variety of public agencies. From 1986 to 1989 he served as a commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and in 1995 he was one of 5 members of a task force enlisted to prepare recommendations for directing and managing the growth of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada's largest conurbation.

In addition to his position at the University of Toronto, Diamond has held academic appointments at York University and at the universities of Pennsylvania and Texas and is widely sought as a guest teacher and critic. In partnership with Barton MYERS (1969-75), his important projects include York Square (built 1968-69), Toronto; the Housing Union Building (HUB) at the University of Alberta (built 1969-71), Edmonton; and Sherbourne Lanes Housing (built 1974-76) and the Ontario Medical Association Building (built 1969-70), Toronto.

In 1975, Diamond established A.J. Diamond Architects, which, by 1989, had evolved into the partnership of A.J. Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Company. The firm has developed a reputation as a teaching office, encouraging a highly discursive and collaborative design process that has attracted many young architects, some of whom have gone on to establish their own well-respected practices. Important commissions include Beverley Place (1975); the National Ballet School (1980); the Metropolitan Toronto Central YMCA (1983); the Earth Sciences Centre at the University of Toronto (1989); York University Student Centre (1990) and the Richmond Hill Central Library (1993). Major competitions won include that for the Jerusalem City Hall and Square, completed in 1993. Current major projects include the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Building at Dalhousie University in Halifax, the Canadian Opera House in Toronto, the Jewish Community Centre in New York, the Foreign Ministry for the State of Israel in Jerusalem, the Canadian Chancery in Prague, and the Bahen Centre for Information Technology at the University of Toronto.

In much of Diamond's early work, architectural expression is enlisted in the service of a larger urban order. Although current projects by A.J. Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Company continue to evolve and explore new interests in transparency and materiality, the fundamental precept behind all of Diamond s work remains: architecture and the city constitute an inextricable, symbiotic pair. The firm's numerous awards include a Governor General's Medal for Architecture for the Metropolitan Toronto Central YMCA and Governor General's Awards for the Earth Sciences Centre, York University Student Centre and the Richmond Hill Central Library. A.J. Diamond has been a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) since 1980, and in 1994 was made an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He received the 1989 Toronto Arts Award for Architecture and Design, and was granted a Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) from Daltech University in Halifax in 1995. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996, to the Order of Ontario in 1997, and has been awarded the 2001 RAIC Gold Medal.

Metro Central YMCA
Main staircase used as an organizing device, Toronto, designed by A.J. Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Co (photo by Steven Evans).

Earth Sciences Building, U of T
University of Toronto, designed by A.J. Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Co (photo by Steven Evans).

Jerusalem City Hall
Designed by A.J. Diamond, Donald Schmitt & Co (photo by Steven Evans).

Author MARCO POLO

Links to Other Sites

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
The official website of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, the permanent home of the Canadian Opera Company and the performance venue for the National Ballet of Canada. Check out the image gallery for a virtual tour of the facility.

Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc
The website for the award-winning firm of Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. Check out the extensive multimedia portfollio of their architectural projects.

Tuns Press
This site features brief synopses of various publications from Tuns Press, the publishing arm of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Dalhousie University.

Toronto firm selected to design new ballet and opera house in St. Petersburg
An article about Diamond and Schmitt Architects plans for the New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. From Canadian Architect magazine.

Design for life
An article about Diamond and Schmitt Architects winning the international competition to design Mariinsky II in St. Petersburg, Russia, the country's first new grand-scale opera house since before the Bolshevik Revolution. From the website of The St. Petersburg Times.

The Performer: Architect Jack Diamond
An interview with accomplished architect Jack Diamond. From Canadian Business Online.