5 minute read
CONCIERGE
LAST CALL
One more round of inspired design.
At Vancouver’s AeR Skinlab, architect Michael Leckie worked with local art and design studio Tangible Interaction to create a ceiling installation made from thousands of Tyvek filaments.
Exceptional spaces to eat, play, work, and stay.
By Rachel Gallaher
AER SKINLAB
When it comes to design, many wellness-focused spaces employ an aesthetic softness, through textiles and color, to evoke a sense of calm. But at Vancouver’s AeR Skinlab, a cosmetic dermatology clinic where serenity is indeed top of mind, architect Michael Leckie turned to a tougher material to achieve it. Taking inspiration from geology, he clad the walls in marble quarried from Vancouver Island.
The stone’s soft gray tone changes subtly with the light, an effect Leckie emphasized by giving the stone a raked finish that creates a variegated appearance. “The materiality draws inspiration from [Canadian photographer] Edward Burtynsky’s Quarries series of photographs,” says Leckie, founder of architecture firm Leckie Studio. “It evokes the persistent effects of gravity, time, and weathering. A highly textured ceiling installation recalls the passage of water through calcium, slowly growing organic forms that mark the passage of time and the process of aging and evolution.”
The ceiling installation, created in collaboration with local design studio Tangible Interaction, comprises thousands of Tyvek filaments and calls to mind crystals forming in underground caves. As Leckie notes: “The architectural approach was to explore a sense of geologic time and grounding through monolithic form and monochromatic materiality, creating a space that feels excavated from the stillness of rock.”
MEMPHIS GALLERY
Known for bright colors, abstract shapes, and reactive philosophy, the Italian design and architecture collaborative Memphis Group made a splash on the Milan design scene in 1981. Founded by Ettore Sottsass and like-minded creatives, the group sparked a movement that challenged the austerity of modernism. This past summer, in celebration of Memphis’ history and impact, the Post Design Gallery in Milan’s Brera district reopened with a new name and branding: Memphis Milano Galleria.
“The contrast of the gallery with the surrounding context—a historic building in the heart of Brea—is immediately striking,” says Charley Vezza, CEO of Italian Radical Design, which he founded with his mother, Sandra. “A classic wood Milanese doorway leads visitors to a world of bright colors and patterns.” Radical Design, which also owns furniture brand Gufram, purchased Memphis Milano earlier this year.
The gallery’s walls, floors, and ceilings are covered in bold blackand-white graphic patterns that complement the Memphis furniture and accessories on display, which include original works by Sottsass (his totemic Carlton shelf greets visitors as they enter), Michele De Lucchi, and George J. Sowden. According to Vezza, the gallery will undergo a total revamp each year, with an updated layout and a rotating display of pieces from its historic collection. »
TORONTO ACE
The long-awaited Ace Toronto—the Ace Hotel brand’s first property in Canada—is finally open. The 123room project, designed by ShimSutcliffe Architects (with interiors by Ace Ateliers, the brand’s inhouse design team) is located in the city’s Garment District, which was once populated by brick warehouses and factories.
“We designed the architecture to fit seamlessly into this context,” says Brigitte Shim, co-founder of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects. “Red brick was selected for the hotel’s exterior to reflect this historic neighborhood and celebrate the role bricks played in forming Toronto’s visual identity.”
In the lobby, guests catch a glimpse of Horizon Line, a three-story sitespecific art installation by A. Howard Sutcliffe, co-founder of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects. A puzzle of weathered and untreated plywood pieces, the work is an abstract portrayal of the glittering waters of Lake Ontario. The emphasis on materiality continues throughout the hotel. A palette of concrete, Douglas fir wood, brick, and copper complements furnishings in neutral shades of gray, sage green, brown, and tan. Furniture, accessories, and art from around the country give the property that familiar, lived-in quality that an Ace Hotel is known for. h
In the lobby at the Ace Toronto—the first Ace Hotel property in Canada—furniture, art, and accessories are sourced from designers across Canada, including the wooden stools seen here, by Toronto designer Garth Robert.
Hank Drew is a Seattle-based advertising and editorial photographer with more than 30 years of experience—if we’re counting the first ten years as a kid with his grandfather’s 35mm. Hank’s passion for finding beauty from behind the camera is still as strong as ever. Specializing in product photography for fashion and beauty advertisements and editorial images for magazines, Hank has clients including Nordstrom, REI, Starbucks, Amazon, Phillips, and Marios, and his editorial work has appeared in GRAY and Seattle Metropolitan, among others. hankdrew.com
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