“The project’s goal is to revamp Memorial Drive and develop a space that commemorates Canada’s role during wartime, while offering a much needed contribution to the city’s fledgling public realm,” says Boutin.

Creating public spaces like Poppy Plaza is how the accomplished architect envisions moving Calgary towards becoming a more integrated and vibrant city.

“The City of Calgary has turned a corner and has begun to envision itself as taking a leadership role based on the quality of life they can offer citizens — quality of life meaning great parks, public spaces,
great vibrant streets and cultural centres and buildings,” observes Boutin.

“Key people in city departments have begun to embrace and understand that vision.”

The amicable 46-year-old is well spoken as he shares his thoughts and philosophy about architecture. Taking great pride in his profession,
Boutin has an uncompromising commitment to social responsibility and believes an architect’s role is one of an educator and leader.

”In architecture, we’re lucky to get an education that’s very comprehensive from social and cultural to technical and legal so that education gives us an ability to be good leaders,” he says. “We can take a
much larger leadership role and that can take many forms.”

Although many positive changes have occurred over the years such as widespread commitment to environmental responsibility, Boutin feels quality design is still lacking.

“Canada in many regards is starved of good design,” says Boutin. “For a first world nation we are way behind other first world nations in terms
of the quality of design of the built environment. That’s why architects need to be educators and make sure clients make informed decisions.”

It was a family trip to Europe when he was 13 that first opened his eyes to the world of architecture.

“Seeing the treasure of the world in architecture was very influential,” he recalls. “When I came back, it was always in the back of my mind that architecture was a real interest.”

A native of Aylmer, Quebec, Boutin grew up in Calgary. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science degree from the University of Manitoba and a B.Arch. from the University of British Columbia. He earned his M.A. in Architectural History from the University of Calgary in 2000.

During his studies, he worked for different firms including Peter Cardew and Roger Hughes in Vancouver. In 1994, he left for Barcelona to continue his studies and professional work.

Working with Peter Cardew and studying public spaces in Barcelona were both influential in shaping Boutin’s career.

“Barcelona was very influential because design is such an embraced value in that society,” he says. “Architects were called upon to do many things and they seized that opportunity and contributed at a high level to society. So that’s guided the things I try to do here.”

Boutin moved to Calgary in 1997 and opened his own practice. It has since grown to a small studio of about 10 people, committed to an inter-disciplinary approach to design.

Early projects focused on custom homes before the firm diversified into institutional and public space work. The Varscona Theatre in Edmonton was their first significant public project.

“One reason we really like the cultural sector and designing public spaces is that those tend to be the most public buildings,” says Boutin. “They tend to positively affect the greatest number of people so you feel the work you’re doing is socially relevant.”

His design philosophy is to create what he describes as “imprintable architecture.” It’s architecture based on direct experience and embracing the diverse contexts of light, structure, material and technique.

“When we talk about imprintability, we’re talking about architectural space that is more of a catalyst for promoting ways people can use it and occupy the space and they can imprint upon the architecture their own personalities,” he explains. “It’s a way to recognize when we’re doing design that there’s a high degree of responsibility.”

The work of the firm has been recognized by numerous national and international awards, competition wins, exhibitions and publications. Boutin is particularly proud of the 2006 international Progressive Architecture Award
for the Calgary Centre for Global Community (which also won a Canadian Architect Award).

“That was pretty special just given the scale of the competition,” says Boutin, who has also been honoured with teaching and research awards.