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COVER STORY | POWER LIST
PEDRAM RAD; MARTIN
DUFRESNE (BOTTOM
LEFT).
PEDRAM RAD AND
MARTIN DUFRESNE
PARTNERS
U+A ARCHITECTS
Rad and Dufresne are the founders and partners
at U+A Architects, a practice established
in 2006 with offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
Doha and Jeddah. The pair met while at
RMJM, a period in which Dufresne played an
integral design role on the leaning Capital Gate
tower in Abu Dhabi.
Dufresne graduated from the Azrieli School
of Architecture and Urbanism in Canada in the
mid 90s before relocating to Hong Kong where
he acquired large-scale projects design expertise
with HOK Asia Pacific for seven years.
He subsequently worked in Singapore for
three years as senior design architect with
Kerry Hill Architects before moving to RMJM
in 2005. The design for Capital Gate was
conceived after his observations of the tower’s
future context.
Rad is more of a Middle East veteran, having
joined RMJM’s Dubai office in 2000 and
working on projects such as Emirates Towers
Expansion, Dubai Convention Centre, DIFC
and Dubai Tower in Doha.
In May 2006, Rad’s long awaited ambition
of establishing his own firm became true
when he teamed up Dufresne to launch U+A
Architects Dubai in collaboration with a sister
company in Toronto, Canada.
Within the first two years the office grew to
over 40 architects and technologists and the
completion of five large scale shopping malls/
mixed-use developments in the region led U+A
to open a new branch office in Abu Dhabi, Doha
and Jeddah.
U+A is noted for its contribution to more
humble projects, such as a clinic for the government-funded
organisation Dubai Foundation,
for Women and Children. This simple and
elegant building will soon house a clinic for
women and children suffering from abuse.
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