One of the most prestigious architectural firms in Waterloo region is celebrating 75 years this week.
Martin Simmons Sweers Architects Inc. has designed some of the most iconic buildings in the region. From the Google headquarters in downtown Kitchener to the Gaslight District in Cambridge, MSS has made its mark and continues to look to the future.
Founded in 1946, MSS has had 10 partners and eight name changes. Originally Barnett & Rieder, the company was founded by two architects from Kitchener who attended the University of Toronto at the same time.
“Carl Rieder was a prominent public figure and the designer of some absolutely remarkable mid-century modern buildings like the Kitchener Public Library, Cameron Heights, Forest Heights and Centre in the Square,” said Patrick Simmons, partner-in-charge at MSS.
The firm, which celebrated its 75th anniversary at the newly constructed Tapestry Hall in Galt on Wednesday, designed the event space to host weddings, conferences and local events.
To accompany the celebration, MSS is releasing a book reflecting on its history titled, ‘75 Years of Modern Architecture, Barnett & Rieder to Martin Simmons Sweers.’
This book acts as a portfolio detailing all of the major architectural achievements made by the firm throughout its history.
Simmons hopes their 75th anniversary party will connect members of the community and start a discussion around the future of our cities.
“We invited as many people as we could who are interested in talking about how to make better cities,” said Simmons, who calls Galt home and has been a vocal advocate for redevelopment in the city's core.
The goal at MSS is to be able to create a thriving city whose architecture is not only beautiful, but also well planned to maximize the potential of a given space, he said, whether that be a 30-story residential building, or a reconstructed foundry turned into an event space.
Simmons has invited politicians, developers, contractors and community members to get engaged on this topic and start thinking about the priorities of Cambridge and its need for growth.
In many projects like the Gaslight District and the Google headquarters downtown Kitchener, MSS has repurposed old factories and industrial sites and created a modern usable space that transcends the purpose of their past lives.
Simmons believes modern architecture and heritage architecture can work hand in hand.
"We don't have to duplicate heritage architecture in our communities,” said Simmons. “We have to use our technology the best we know how and we have to design for the 21st century. We can't design for the 18th and 19th century.”
Simmons thinks heritage groups have come to change their philosophy and embrace modern architecture as a way of acting as a foil to old architecture.
His goal is, rather than tearing down the old and replacing it, to try and make them speak to and complement each other.
While celebrating 75 years as a firm is an incredible feat, Simmons says he is looking forward to the future. He wants to tackle issues like affordable housing and promoting a dense urban city centre to make the downtown thrive again.
“We need density, we need height in order to counteract sprawl, which is one of the biggest enemies of green development,” he said. “We also need affordability as well. You’re never going to get affordability without building more denser and higher housing types.”
The way of life pre-1980 is not coming back, Simmons said. He points to the incredible population growth and the low supply of living spaces as being a factor for not being able to rely on suburbs and low-rise type housing as a viable option for the future.
To achieve those goals, the firm has taken on the task of designing some of the most ambitious buildings in the region, including the Cambridge Mill hotel and residences in downtown Galt.
The two towers destined for the east bank of the Grand River will be 28-storey hotel and a 37-storey condo.
MSS wants to be at the forefront of helping Cambridge, especially Galt, create an amazing space for families to come and live and spend time together, Simmons said.
Likewise, the Gaslight District will have a massive public square for the community to utilize, he said.
Simmons wants to see people eating out, spending time with friends and enjoying their city in these spaces.
“This place, Cambridge, has all the ingredients to become a great place. We need to put all of the pieces in place and do it right,” he said.
Simmons said fellow Cambridge native and Gaslight District developer Scott Higgins of HIP Developments had it right when he said “a great downtown is a downtown where you can have as much fun for free as possible.”
“That's really what it's all about and that's what the city should be doing,” Simmons said.
