CANADIAN CHANCERY - Mexico City, Mexico

"An embassy building is, in a sense an anomaly: it is a one-site country isolated in a foreign land," writes Gaboury. "To be consistent with its context and purpose, it should reflect both the region and country in which it is built as well as the country it represents." Officially opened in 1982 by Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian Chancery is situated at the corner of Tres Picos and Schiller in the Polanco neighbourhood of Mexico City. Due to the triangular site and the functional requirements of the embassy, the building design emerged as a three-storey office building wrapped around a covered hexagonal courtyard. This courtyard acts as both the architectural and symbolic focal point of the building, the crux of Gaboury's aim to harmoniously blend Canadian and Mexican cultures in his design. The central space is dominated by a totem pole, which forges a poetic link between early Mexican civilizations and the native people of Canada. The courtyard is covered by a diagonally sloped skylight composed of bronze-tinted triangular panes, inviting sun rays down the exterior walls. The skylight extends from the courtyard to link up with the entrance, thus bridging the space between interior and exterior. As the building moves from interior to exterior, Canadian motifs subtly evolve into Mexican: the crusty exterior of the building which is carved and textured stone from Michoacan, "sings subtle praise of Uxmal, Palenque, Guadalupe, Mexico past and present." The door of the chancery, which both physically and symbolically separates one country from the other, is emphasized in scale to its importance. Echoing the tradition of mediaeval castles and churches, door and gate are joined as one: the wrought-iron gate rises two floors pivoting on a central mast, with two small solid doors at the base. Surmounting the door is a stained-glass window, "an allegorical tapestry in metal and glass," which speaks of the common origins and ties between the nations.

* * *