Carlos Ott

In 2004, Ott designed the Calgary Courts Centre for the Government of Alberta to consolidate court operations in Calgary, Alberta. The building is a massive 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m) building of courts and office space. Completed in 2007, it is the largest court facility in Canada.

In 1997, he was invited to participate in the competition for the Jiang Su Opera House in Nanjing, China where he obtained first prize. As a result, he was invited into another series of very important competitions such as the Beijing Opera House, the Commercial and Residential GW Plaza, and won the contract for the National Grand Theater of Hangzhou, China from yet another international competition. He won after Dong Guan Yulan Theatre, the Wenzhou National Theatre and the Henan Art Centre. In front of the Hangzhou Grand Theatre was selected to build the Hangzhou International Conference Center including a five-star hotel of more than 400 rooms.

His next accomplishments followed by winning the competition for an extremely advanced hospital in Weimar, Germany and several competitions in the United Arab Emirates such as: the Sheikh Zayed Road Development Project (Abu Dhabi), the National Bank of Abu Dhabi Headquarters (Abu Dhabi), Etisalat Telecom & Administration Building (Abu Dhabi), Majid Al Futtaim Project (Dubai), Baniyas Road Development (Dubai), Offices for the Al-Futtaim Group (Dubai), the New Dubai Creek Hilton Hotel (Dubai). In 1993, Carlos Ott won several other competitions in Europe such as the Salle des Spectacles in Mont-de-Marsan, France and the Thomson Headquarters Building, Offices and Laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 1992, Ott was selected by the Government of Canada to conceptualize a new Federal Courts Building in Ottawa, Canada in the Judicial Quarter. Ten years later, in 2003, it was announced that Ott's design would be constructed as the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Federal Courts Building. The Canadian Prime Minister at the time was Liberal Jean Chretien. It was planned to cost CA$151 million. However, this was cancelled by the subsequently elected Steven Harper government, to be replaced by a memorial to victims of communism. The site has longed been planned for a federal courts building and there was an outcry over the memorial. When the following government headed by Justin Trudeau government was elected, the memorial's site was moved to a different location and the site was re-designated for the Federal Courts building, although no final announcement to recommence the development process was made. The design remains in limbo and the site, estimated in value at CA$16 million, remains vacant.

After Simcoe Place, the economy of Toronto faced a downturn. Ott's practice expanded internationally. In 1992, Ott opened an office in Uruguay. From this new office, he completed projects such as the International Airport of Laguna del Sauce (Punta del Este, Uruguay); the International Airport of Ushuaia-Malvinas Argentinas (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina); the Punta Shopping Centre (Punta del Este, Uruguay); Torre Antel, the new headquarters for the state-owned telecommunications company ANTEL (Montevideo, Uruguay); the Libertad Plaza Building (Buenos Aires, Argentina); the International Airport Lago Argentino (El Calafate, Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina); among others.

In 1983, Ott won the international design competition for the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, France, to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the French Revolution on July 14, 1989. Ott was selected from 744 participants as one of the three finalists and then hand-picked by French President François Mitterrand as the winner of this prestigious project. In order to carry out the supervision of this project, he moved to Paris and formed a team, which in turn gave him international recognition and opened doors to many countries. The building of the Bastille and Ott's involvement is documented in the Canadian documentary film Building The Bastille made for the TVO Network of Ontario, Canada and available on YouTube. This project put a personal strain on Ott and his family and Ott and his wife divorced.

He returned to Toronto in 1989. Ott joined the team designing and building the Canadian Broadcasting Centre project in downtown Toronto. The mixed-use complex contained a new CBC headquarters and broadcast centre, and commercial and retail components and was an important project in the conversion of rail lands and industrial lands. Ott designed the Simcoe Place commercial tower. The project is documented in the book A building goes up: the making of a skyscraper by Mary Gooderham. After his house in Toronto burned down, Ott designed and built his own unique office and house on Lytton Boulevard in Toronto, nicknamed by locals as the 'Hollywood Squares' for its matrix-like design. Ott had to overcome local opposition to its unique design. He continues to use it today when in Toronto.

Among his awards are Arts et Lettres and the Legion d´Honneur awarded in 1986 and 1988 respectively by French President François Mitterrand; Ontario Association of Architects Award of Merit in 1989, the Gold Medal awarded by the Faculty of Architecture in Uruguay in 1990, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University in 1997, and the Vitruvio Award from the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, also in 1997.

From 1972 to 1974, Ott worked as an architect for Baldwin & Cheshire Architects in Brunswick, Georgia, and for ARQUECO in San Jose, Costa Rica. In 1975, he moved to Toronto, Canada to work on the Royal Ontario Museum expansion project for Moffat, Moffat Kinoshita & Associates Architects as associate architect. In 1976, Ott became a Canadian citizen. From 1979 until 1983, Ott served Cadillac Fairview Corporation as architect responsible for commercial and multi-purpose projects in Canada. From 1983 to 1993, he joined NORR Partnership Ltd, the largest Canadian firm, located in Toronto as partner heading the Design and Architecture Division. Under his direction important projects in Canada and the United Arab Emirates were designed and built, including Simcoe Place (Toronto), Mixed Use Complex and Residential/Commercial Development for HE Sheik Tahnoon in Dubai, Union National Bank (Dubai), National Bank of Dubai (Dubai) and Union National Bank (Abu Dhabi).

Ott attended a French-language high school. At 15, he designed a modification used in a production vehicle for GM Uruguay. He was offered a position and training at GM's headquarters in Detroit, but turned it down to pursue architecture. In 1971, Ott graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of the Republic, Uruguay. Shortly after graduation, he received a Fulbright Scholarship and went to study at the University of Hawaii and graduated with a Masters in Architecture and Urban Design from Washington University's School of Architecture in 1972.

Carlos Adolfo Ott (born October 16, 1946) is a Uruguayan-Canadian architect. He became famous when he won the design competition in 1983 (among 744 architects from all over the world) for the construction of the Opéra Bastille in Paris, which was inaugurated on July 14, 1989 (bicentennial of the French Revolution). Ott has designed buildings in Canada, France, Uruguay, Argentina, United Arab Emirates, China, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Ott's company has offices in Toronto, Quebec, Shanghai, Dubai and Montevideo.