Where are they now? Kaz Bremner: urban designer
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owell River’s Kaz Bremner is part of a four-man team who recently won the inaugural design-build competition for Robson Redux. Their entry, Urban Reef, will be part of downtown Vancouver’s Robson Square this summer. “Urban Reef is a sculpture that invites people to sit, relax and play,” says Viva Vancouver’s website. “The shape is a series of sections that morph into one another to create a dynamic form that sparks curiosity and invites exploration.” Kaz and fellow intern architect Jeremiah Deutscher’s design beat out 78 other submissions to create a concept that would allow people to interact with Robson Square. The design brief called for “celebrating urbanity.” The theme was “connection,” which could be interpreted in a number of different ways. Kaz and his team looked at the existing identity of the 800 block of Robson Street and how they could create something new that would have people reconnect with that space differently. “I went into this with a colleague and we teamed up with two
“In architecture, the city becomes your laboratory. You look at buildings and every day you see things a little differently and a little critically.” furniture builders from Higher Works,” said thirty-three year old Kaz, “and we took a shot at it.” Winning this competition is quite an accomplishment, particularly for someone early on his career. “We were pretty happy about it,” admits Kaz. “It’s great exposure and a really fun experience.” But now, as he says, the real work begins! “We have a number of hurdles to jump through now. “We have to build it and we have a pretty tight budget. We have to stretch $40,000 the best we can.” This design is different than projects that Kaz has been involved in previously. For the most part, he’s involved in largescale designs such as academic and institutional buildings. Kaz, who is currently interning at the prominent Vancouver architectural firm Perkins + Will, says he didn’t always dream about design. He went to Max Cameron for Grades 9 and 10 and Brooks for 11 and 12.
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His undergrad degree is in biochemistry from Simon Fraser University and he graduated in 2009 with his Masters in architecture, at the University of Calgary. “I did a lot of science in high school and picked up that track again in university,” he told Powell River Living in telephone interview. “In university I started working in a couple of labs and I discovered that I didn’t love working in labs day-to-day.” While studying at SFU, Kaz completed the innovative Semester in Dialogue at the downtown Vancouver campus. “I met planners, architects and urban thinkers. I was introduced to architecture then and I kept going on that path after that,” he explained. Although Kaz has always enjoyed visual arts and drawing, he says that architecture is about problem solving, team work and creative thinking. “When you work in science you think things that are interesting but you can only talk to a small group of people about them.
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