Finding New Lives
Workspace furnishings that respond to rapidly evolving office demands. Projects that remind us of the quality of what we already have.
CANADIAN INTERIORS
Consider the ceiling from a different angle
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Lyra® PB Shapes for DesignFlex® with JLC-Tech T-Bar Flex® Lighting > UNC Women’s Carmichael Arena Locker Room - Chapel Hill, NC > Gensler - Raleigh NC T-Bar Flex® is a registered trademark of JLC Tech, LLC; all other trademarks used herein are the property of AWI Licensing LLC and/or its affiliates.
(RE)PURPOSE BUILT
Workplaces are churning out more waste and expending more carbon than ever. An emerging solution? Rethinking furniture. By Evan Pavka
CORRIDOR CHRONICLES
The “Bay Street Village” in Toronto eschews the catalogue in favour of full custom, resulting in a stylish pedestrian realm Don Draper could walk through. By Dave LeBlanc
JEWEL OF SAINT CATHERINE
After 25 years hidden in shadows, the Eaton’s restaurant in Montréal has re-opened fully restored to its former 1930s art deco grandeur.
By Taylor C. Noakes
– Le 9e,
07/08 2024
24 30 18 24 30
8 CAUGHT OUR EYE
10 THE GOODS Modular sustainable childcare learning environments for underserved communities; versatile yet stylish workspace solutions that still check those connectivity and sustainability boxes
14 SEEN A first-timer’s perspective on the evolving design landscape at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024
34 GOOD READS
36 OVER & OUT An Ontario student is the grand prize winner of Formica Canada’s annual design competition.
COVER
in Montréal’s former Eaton Centre, by EVOQ Architecture. Photo by Maxime Brouillet
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You’re Sitting on a Problem
The data is commonly accepted: that the built environment is responsible for over 40 per cent of annual global CO2 emissions. This is bad. Really bad. But it is not all all doom and gloom. We are seeing Western governments almost stumble over each other with promises to address the problem. The U.K. government, for example, just announced a commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, and to become Net Zero Carbon by 2050, and will do so by leaning heavily on the construction industry to rapidly adopt more sustainable practices.
We are already seeing results from pre-existing policies and procedures: operational emissions of our building continue to get lower as we start to integrate things like solar panels, heat pumps, smart building technologies, and so on. Builders are opting for materials that have a lower environmental impact, such as recycled plastics, reclaimed wood, and biodegradable composites. It’s no longer simply theory that with enough state-of-the-art technologies we can power and run a building without consuming any gas or electricity.
But of course, there is bad news: many estimates say that global building floor area is expected to double by 2060. And while there is no shortage of standards and certifications for sustainability in the built environment — LEED, BREEAM, WELL and others — there are also massive blind spots in other categories that are significant contributors to the carbon problem. Construction materials like concrete, wood, steel and glass may dominate the conversation, but furniture plays a big role when we are looking at the total emissions of a building over its lifetime.
First, a reminder: the carbon footprint of office furniture encompasses greenhouse gas emissions from its entire lifecycle: raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal. Chairs, desks, cabinets, and lighting all contribute, with materials, production energy and transportation emissions impacting their overall footprint. And what does this amount to? Office interiors and furniture from virgin resources can contribute up to 30 per cent of the carbon footprint of a commercial building over its lifetime and generate approximately 190 kg of CO2 and 77 kg of waste per square metre.
Then there are the consequences of shifting to a fast, flexible workspace model meant to accommodate evolving demands of
By Peter Sobchak
workers, one of which being office leases shrinking to two or three years. Based on a building’s 50-year lifecycle, this can mean up to 20 interior fit-outs over the life of the building. Bad as that is, the situation is made worse by this unspoken truth: less than 10 per cent of furniture is used beyond the first office it inhabits. Think about it: whatever good was accomplished in sustainably building the core and shell has been completely undone by constantly re-fitting the interiors in new product. Taking the cyclical nature interiors and how often things get remodelled or replaced, the embodied carbon of interiors really begins to add up: one eye-watering stat says that if office towers were unable to dispose of waste from interior fit-outs they would become vertical landfills in under 30 years.
According to JLL’s new U.S. and Canada Design Trends and Cost Guide, sustainability will be one of the defining forces in office fit-outs in 2024. That sounds good, except when faced with major headwinds like a struggling commercial real estate sector doing backflips to attract tenants; companies competing to out-perk one another with fancy offices to attract talent; waiting until the last minute to deal with pre-existing furniture, increasing the odds it winds up in landfill; and those damn egg-timer leases.
It is nice that more companies are committing to net zero targets, but part of their strategies should be demanding eco-friendly practices in office fit-outs, with circular economy principles that maximize resources, minimize waste and reuse products and materials. The Big Names at NeoCon may be trumpeting green practice tags like ecodesign, zero waste management, carbon neutrality, adherence to industry certifications, and sustainable material selection in their new collections, but there is still an elephant in the room and it is rolling on castor wheels.
If we are serious about getting to carbon neutral by 20?? (the target keeps shifting every couple years), every job title that touches a building – builder, owner, landlord, tenant and on –has to stop ignoring the role interiors play in getting us there, starting with and relying primarily on the A&D industry. When you are brought in for a fit-out, ask the client what is wrong with the Aeron chair that is already there?
CanadianInteriors.com
On a Roll: The Ballroom Bowl
Yorkville
McCallumSather delivers a second location for Ballroom Bowl, in Toronto’s Yorkville district.
Exotic Elements: Real Fruit Bubble
Tea Yorkdale
Ted Design International delivers a bubble tea joint with tones and textures reminiscent of the surfaces of exotic fruit peels.
The Cat’s Pajamas: Feline Chalet
This cozy chalet by Atelier RZLBD forms an image of a cat lying on the ground.
Episode 26 Rebuilding the Office Through Circularity w/ Andy Delisi. With office renovations increasing in frequency and expending more and more waste, it’s time to embrace remanufacturing.
COOL READS
Canadian Winter Wonderland: Snowflake Toronto
Data cloud company Snowflake taps a “modern cabin” feel for its new Toronto office.
A medley of cafés and coffee shops that will leave both caffeine aficionados and design devotees wanting to linger a little longer.
CAUGHT OUR EYE
Revelateur Studio
An Epson Eulogy A colourful mural is usually not enough to make this spread, but the origin story and (admittedly) the messaging speak to our hearts. For years an Epson Stylus Pro 9890 44” printer was an office workhorse for our friends at Rollout. Alas, nothing lasts forever, and when the printer died in April, Rollout invited artist Robert Sangster to make use of the not-quite-expended ink cartridges. Using a typeface designed by Dale Davies, Sangster’s mural is a splatter of vibrant primary colours that commemorates both life with a printer (even clogged print-heads) and an enduring belief in print itself.
Always Look on the Bright Side As per a 34-year tradition, NeoCon held its Best of Awards competition as a lively kick-off to the three-day show in Chicago. Among the winners was Momentum Textiles & Wallcovering, taking home Best of Competition for their vibrant “Yinka Ilori x Momentum” collection, a collaboration with British-Nigerian artist and designer Yinka Ilori. This marks the first time a product in the Wall Treatments and Textiles category nabbed the top honours. “One’s mood and outlook is instantly changed as soon as you see this product in use,” the jury noted.
Need for Speed North America’s first Formula 1 Exhibition came to Toronto with 20,000 square feet of artifacts and narratives from the sport’s most legendary teams, experts, and personalities. Produced in partnership with Round Room Live and Pathfinder Live, the exhibit featured interactive displays that showcase the history, development and technology of the sport with iconic cars spanning from the 1950s to the modern era, the tools used in designing the cars and equipment, and even the wreckage of Romain Grosjean’s crash in Bahrain 2020, an interesting acknowledgment of design failures.
Big Shot in the Big Apple This year’s edition of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York under new brand directors Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat saw Vancouver-based Molo collect several accolades for their Exhibit Design by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, including an ICFF Editors Award, ASID Award and KBIS Inspire Award.
By Lucy Mazzucco
THE GOODS
Leading with Purpose
A joint venture by two women-led businesses is aiming to expand access to quality childcare and learning environments, while also addressing critical shortages.
B.C.-based NUQO Modular and Natural Pod are joining forces to accelerate and elevate educational infrastructure in British Columbia’s underserved communities. Together, the women-led businesses, both certified B Corps, will create sustainable childcare and learning environments that aim to enhance children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development, and provide cost predictability for clients and building operators.
According to Brigitte Alomes, founder and CEO of Natural Pods, the vision was to create modular, holistic, and sustainable childcare environments that integrate naturally with the locations they’re placed at while providing children with beautiful and meaningful learning spaces. “These childcare centres, once built, will be more than just childcare centres, but community hubs, which can be used for parent groups, community meet-ups and more,” says Alomes.
This collaboration arrives as communities, particularly those that are Indigenous and marginalized, face challenges which include childcare shortages and limited classroom space. On March 29, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new Child Care Expansion Loan Program, which features $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants and student loan forgiveness for childhood educators. This will contribute to the federal government’s goal of creating 250,000 new child care spaces by March 2026, and the partnership between NUQO and Natural Pod will support the fast response in rural and underserved areas that need a special focus.
The alliance will combine NUQO’s experience in constructing quality and culturally grounded modular spaces with Natural Pod’s sustainable, non-toxic, and durable school furniture. This partnership will also be dedicated to community support as the companies plan to donate a portion of profits to charitable causes in B.C. “For rural
communities with small populations like Fernie, childcare centres can double as community spaces,” says Alomes. “For kids from marginalized families, childcare centres are a home away from home.”
For communities and educators looking to access funding through programs including the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, NUQO will support the process from funding application to design-assist, construction management, and building completion and fit-out, after which Natural Pod will collaborate with NUQO to furnish the interiors.
“We see this partnership with NUQO as a powerful statement within their spaces that every child belongs,” says Alomes. “The schools become safe spaces. Often children are in their learning environments more than they are actually in their own homes. It really will provide a strong message of support to these children and to their families, showing that they really do matter.”
THE GOODS
A Moving Target
This collection of versatile, stylish solutions for today’s workspaces illustrates how the office is evolving to meet the demands of accelerated hybrid work, advanced technology, and increased remote participation, while still checking those connections and sustainability boxes.
1 Allora | Allseating This new single-shell seating collection has its eyes firmly fixed on transitional spaces, from lobbies to cafeterias and training rooms. Designed by ScagnellatoFerrarese+Masiero and named after the Italian filler word used to ponder thoughts or introduce sentences, the versatile seating solutions include armless, armrests, and tablet arms, with four-leg and collaborative frames. Beam seating for two to four positions optimizes space, and stackable designs offer easy storage. www.allseating.com
2 Bow Chair | TAKT Designed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of Industrial Facility for the Danish furniture company, this new chair represents an ambitious project to “tailor” plywood in the same way that a pattern is cut from fabric, efficiently forming the back and arms from a single piece of oak while also maintaining TAKT’s priority of longevity, featuring easy repairs with readily available replacement parts using certified materials from circular supply chains. www.taktcph.com
3 Anthros Chair | Anthros To achieve a sitting experience that will improve posture, reduce pain, and increase performance, core members of Anthros spent decades working with wheelchair users which led to the development of a science-backed and researchfocused design for an office chair. The chair is customizable and allows users to choose the frame and base colour, along with options for the fabric, back panel and arms. www.anthros.com
4 Catifa Carta | Arper Catifa 53, designed by Lievore Altherr Molina in 2001 and Arper’s first product with an environmental product declaration, has re-embraced material innovation. Catifa Carta boasts a re-engineered PaperShell shell, a remarkable composite wood by-product. This material sustains the iconic bi-curved silhouette while significantly lowering environmental impact by sequestering CO2. At the end of its life cycle, the material can be reduced to biochar, preserving the captured CO2. www.arper.com
5 Kupp Flip-Top Tables | Teknion Intended as a companion to the Kupp horizontal nesting chair, originally introduced in 2020, these tables feature an intuitive surface-long handle for easy tabletop flipping, and angled legs that enable straight-line nesting. A two-sided work surface maintains a polished look, even vertically. Customization options include a modesty panel in Smooth Felt, Source Laminate, and Flintwood, plus optional power/data cut-outs and a bag hook. www.teknion.com
6 Points | Bene U.K. juggernaut Pearson Lloyd have designed a freestanding spatial-furniture system to empower agile organizations to navigate changes in team, structure and location. This modular kit-of-parts comes with a variety of components, from tech walls to whiteboards to simple storage, and a range of ‘on- and infills’ available in various mono-materials, zero-waste 3D knitted textiles and tensile structures. Points can also be integrated with Pearson Lloyd’s Nooxs Think Tanks to offer completely soundproof environments. www.bene.com
7 Bevy Mobile | Studio TK Thanks to large wheels on one side, “a set of Bevy Mobile tables can be effortlessly rearranged by a single person, transitioning seamlessly from individual work to a mentoring session to a collaborative meeting multiple times throughout the day,” says Koorosh Sharghi, president at Studio TK. Each corner is equipped with a hook for hanging personal items, keeping them off the floor and within reach. Available as a square, round, and rectangular work surface, these tables, designed by Mario Ruiz, come in both work and bar heights. www.studiotk.com
8 Vika | Unika Vaev A new collection produced in collaboration with Abstracta includes both a sculptural floor screen, offering options with or without integrated lighting, and an elegant ceiling light fixture. Designed by Khodi Feiz, the floor screen is available in four colourways and two geometrical variations; a smaller, oblong one evocative of a light pillar and a larger one that functions as a room divider. www.unikavaev.com
What happened to the heat?
A first-timer’s perspective on the evolving design landscape at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024, from cutting-edge luxury home interiors brands to innovative wellness solutions.
When we touched down in Milan, the pilot’s announcement of sunny, cloudless skies and a warm 26 degrees Celsius set the stage for an exceptional Salone del Mobile experience. As a first-timer at this fabled trade show, with overall attendance up more than 17 per cent over the 2023 edition and every pavilion taken, my anticipation was sky-high. The event, with EuroCucina (Kitchen & Bath) taking centre stage this year, had Rho’s event spaces fully booked and off-site events capturing the essence of Milan through the Fuorisalone.
Staying in the Brera District, the contrast was stark between the freely available design guides and the official ones priced at €50, underscoring the event’s exclusivity and breadth. Luxury fashion giants like Hermès, Gucci, and Loewe led the charge, transforming spaces with their homewares and unique pieces, highlighting the convergence of fashion and home décor. Their ability to captivate was evident in the lines of people waiting to catch a glimpse of their installations, raising the question of how many lines one is willing to stand in during such a transient, five-day event.
Our choice to explore offsite events and the Brera District instead of attending the official opening revealed a vibrant, buzzing atmosphere. Yet, as temperatures began to drop, the initial warmth gave way to a cooler ambiance, both meteorologically and metaphorically. After exploring most pavilions on Wednesday and Friday, the sunny yet cool weather mirrored my evolving impressions of the Salone. After seeing a dozen or so furniture brands, everything began to blend with similar colour themes, curved lines, linear LEDs, and organic shapes. Despite my initial reservations about luxury fashion brands stealing the spotlight, their installations were becoming more intriguing.
Despite this, certain installations stood out. Kohler ’s booth, for example, was a testament to innovative design, offering a refreshing take on bathroom aesthetics. Designed by Canadian firm Yabu Pushelberg, they used shimmering wire meshes to evoke water movement, greeting visitors with a silvery school of fish instead of the usual sinks and faucets. The booth showcased Kohler and its
Kohler
City of Glass in the Drinkable City
sister brand Kallista’s latest designs, including new PVD metal finishes; a 3D printed sink, a vast, functional shower display with jetted rain heads, body sprays, and hand showers; walls of vibrant customizable handles; and marble-clad faucets and shower heads. Kohler also displayed their latest acquisitions, like colourful concrete cast sinks and home infrared spas, highlighting the ongoing demand for luxury in-home spas post-pandemic.
Moreover, brands such as Technogym, which have revolutionized the home gym concept, underscore the persistent demand for high-end, in-home wellness solutions. The Technogym Bench, a compact yet comprehensive gym solution measuring 1,129 x 376 x 455 mm, comes equipped with dumbbells, resistance bands, weighted knuckles, and an app featuring hundreds of workout routines. Technogym enlisted 40 artists and designers to reimagine this bench in a unique initiative for the Salone. Regardless of the size of the spaces I’m tasked with designing, clients often perceive their homes to be larger than they truly are. A smaller,
There was a healthy dose of Can-con in the always intriguing Alcova exhibition of Milan Design Week, including these two Vancouver-based lighting firms.
1 Paean Collection | Sfossils
Mike Seymour’s decision to debut his cascading ceramic lights in Alcova’s chosen location this year, the Villa Bagatti Valsecchi in the town of Varedo near Milan, paid dividends as the collection has been acquired permanently by the Fondazione La Versiera 1718 for the Villa. 96 handmade ceramic pendants using experimental glazes span the entire 14-m. height of the stairwell in an installation conceived of as a three-dimensional painting in response to the texture and patina of the grand staircase.
2 Floor-to-Ceiling | A-N-D
This installation utilizing new iterations of the pre-existing Vale and Column series was adapted to accommodate the villa’s 16th-century historical Milanese architecture, a notable feature of a venue chosen specifically to prompt surprising juxtapositions. The Column Floor Lamp ascended from a polished, round stainless-steel base while Vale (shown) outwardly stood on its own.
Arclinea
more efficient home gym not only meets fitness needs but also liberates valuable space for other uses.
The pandemic, seemingly a distant memory, has left a lasting impact on home design trends. The desire for seamless integration of technology and elegance in the home was evident in the ingenious solutions presented by various brands. From hidden appliances to the innovative Vita Gessi Caffè faucet that serves hot, cold, or carbonated water (and even espresso!), the push towards minimalist, clutter-free spaces was clear.
Appliances are now being seamlessly integrated behind cabinet doors, not just fridges and dishwashers, but also ovens and microwaves, thanks to companies like Snaidero, Boffi, and Arclinea using innovative hardware like Blumotion. Previously, Canadian electrical codes limited this style, especially in B.C., but companies like Miele have now developed appliances that meet North American safety standards, allowing for complete appliance concealment. Advances in heat-conducting materials mean even cooking elements can be hidden under a thin countertop layer, creating a sleek, uninterrupted surface. While we might wait a bit longer for a fully inte-
FlexForm
grated sink to match the countertop seamlessly due to approval processes, the concept of a countertop that hides the sink and its strainer is exciting. Despite the trend towards hiding everything, the concept of a fridge designed for salad greens, modelled by Arclinea and initially experimented with in B.C., highlights the continued interest in food safety and fresh produce, a trend that has grown during the pandemic. This approach to kitchen design not only promises freshness and organic choices right from a temperature-controlled environment but also aligns with the ongoing demand for safe and accessible food.
Emerging brands, however, faced challenges in gaining visibility due to the high costs of booth rentals, underscoring a broader issue within the industry. Yet, it was precisely these smaller, thoughtful installations, like that of C&C Milano, that often left a lasting impression, demonstrating the power of creativity and innovation regardless of budget.
FlexForm’s “Between the Folds” and Casa Gessi’s booth were other highlights, each offering unique approaches to presentation and design. FlexForm’s approach to lighting and layout provided
a calm, focused atmosphere, while Casa Gessi turned plumbing fixtures into pieces of jewelry, showcasing the endless possibilities of design.
As the event concluded, my thoughts on the layout of displays and the potential for innovation in even the most traditional settings were mixed. The seamless integration of technology and design, the blending of fashion and functional space, and the challenges faced by emerging brands in a space dominated by established names provided much food for thought.
The Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024 left me with mixed feelings: admiration for the creativity and innovation on display, tempered by the realization of the challenges smaller brands face in such a competitive arena. Yet, it’s clear that the future of home design is bright, with technology, sustainability, and beauty leading the way.
Joy Chao is the Lead Interior Designer at Vancouver-based JHA and has been in the world of design and construction for over 20 years. Joy and her team
By Evan Pavka
(Re)Purpose Built
Workplaces are churning out more waste and expending more carbon than ever. An emerging solution? Rethinking furniture.
When the pandemic struck, many thought the shift to remote work heralded the end of the office. Four years on, few would have guessed the typology would remain, let alone be grounds for innovation and experimentation. Amidst hybrid schedules, the workplace continues to function as a central node in not only where but how we work.
However, it is not without environmental costs. Office leases now average between two to three years, meaning that with each new tenant comes a full interior fit-out. Extrapolate that pattern across the typical half-century lifespan of a building and the result is roughly 20 renovations per unit. Software developer GIGA is keenly aware of this disturbing trend, identifying that such routine construction waste in a 30-storey office tower amounts to some
1,396 tons every year with 3,420 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) expended annually. On a more granular level, each of these interiors generates approximately 77 kilograms of waste and 190 kilograms of CO2 per square metre. Of the 40 per cent of global CO2 emissions that come from the built environment, it should come as no surprise that 11 per cent stem from materials and construction. At a moment when renovations outpace new builds — exacerbated further by the desire for fast, flexible workspaces — the overlooked realm of the interior is a prime site to reimagine what a sustainable, circular and decarbonized office can be.
Take, for instance, the 55,000-sq.-ft. Canadian headquarters for the multinational food company Kraft-Heinz, helmed by Toronto-based Syllable Inc. When the organization looked to relocate
Photography by Revelateur Studio
All spreads Envirotech worked with interior design firm Syllable Design to outfit Kraft-Heinz’s 55,000-sq.-ft. headquarters in Toronto with certified pre-owned and remanufactured furniture. The result was a 50 per cent reduction in embodied carbon emissions and nearly $1 million in savings compared to a traditional new furniture build-out. “Our approach for Kraft-Heinz was to think outside of traditional design norms, taking a hybrid approach by integrating remanufactured, certified pre-owned, and new office furniture,” says Tatiana Soldatova of Syllable Inc.
from the northeastern Don Mills neighbourhood closer to the city’s waterfront, they enlisted principal Tatiana Soldatova and her studio to envision a new global hub that could speak to their evolving brand identity while housing some 350 employees in an increasingly connected manner. “When we design,” Soldatova says, “we work with companies who are trying to innovate and that are trying to do something different.” To wit, budget constraints forced the designers to be nimble, leading to an important environmental and fiscal innovation: leveraging a mix of new, remanufactured and certified pre-owned furnishings.
Though furniture may first appear as a negligible component of the greater emissions from the building industry compared to more carbon-intensive materials like concrete, roughly 17 million pounds of corporate furnishings are deposited in landfills yearly in the United States alone, according to the EPA. As Andy Delisi, vice president of sales for remanufactured furniture dealer Envirotech Office Systems, explains, this “cycle of refreshing and replacing furniture, fixtures and fittings is happening more than ever.” Furniture is now taking centre stage in discussions of corporate sustainability due to its high churn rate and faddish tendencies, which
have led to soaring surpluses in global landfills. While most corporate furnishings by the likes of Haworth, Steelcase and HermanMiller hold a decade-long warranty, barely 10 per cent are ever employed beyond their first use. “At their worst,” he adds, “interiors can be four times higher of an emitter than the core-shell of the building.” By refurbishing existing workstations, chairs and other corporate equipment from existing components, the company has already diverted some 30 million pounds of waste from dumpsites in the almost three decades since its founding.
It’s not only the density of landfills that concerns Envirotech, but revisioning the entire manufacturing process to reduce embodied carbon (the total amount of emissions created through extraction, production, transportation and disposal of a product). As reported by the U.K.’s Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA), producing an ordinary task chair releases around 72 kilograms of carbon dioxide. For a 350-person office like Kraft-Heinz, that would generate equivalent emissions to driving between Vancouver and Halifax 17 times. “The majority of a product’s embodied carbon emissions come from raw material extraction and production,” Delisi notes. “The bigger part is negating the need for raw material extraction to
manufacture something that might already be existing.” Remanufactured furnishings use some 80 per cent fewer raw materials, resulting in decreased extraction of natural resources, and only expend 15 per cent of the energy required in traditional manufacturing.
Having already employed pre-owned furnishings in their studio, Syllable looked to Envirotech as a key resource for Kraft-Heinz. Due to the generous construction period, both parties inverted the procurement process. “We were able to essentially work backwards,” Delisi says. Rather than approaching the project with furnishings and fixtures already specified, Envirotech was able to slowly source pre-owned and remanufactured pieces, substituting proposed purchases with salvaged options. In turn, this offered an opportunity for Soldatova to challenge standard corporate renovations that involve “a monopoly of one chair utilized everywhere, just with different colours” and instead embrace a sense of eclecticism with “different spaces that all have different looks and feels.”
Cumulatively, this “blended model” seamlessly integrated 70 per cent pre-owned or remanufactured furnishings with 30 per cent newly manufactured. For instance, a pre-owned table is paired with
new lounge pieces in the lobby while the graphic cobalt boardroom features a novel table fitted with pre-owned HermanMiller chairs. Throughout, pre-owned desks and remanufactured height-adjustable workstations define much of the interior.
The result was a budgetary and environmental feat: almost $1 million dollars in savings with an estimated carbon reduction of nearly half. “When you used to say sustainability,” Soldatova notes, “most clients would shut down as it always had additional costs associated. Now, you can buy reused and refinished furniture for around a quarter of the cost of purchasing brand new.”
As much as Syllable’s sartorial interior reveals applicable techniques of circular production and consumption at a corporate level, significant barriers remain. Like fashion, fast and low-cost furnishings continue to saturate the market, further enforcing a preference for “new” while disparaging “preowned” or “used.” “Everyone is comfortable with the status quo,” Soldatova reflects. “It was definitely a lot of work from our end to convince the stakeholders of this process and to get them on board.” Delisi echoes this sentiment: “There’s a stigma attached to used versus remanufactured, recycled versus upcycled, pre-owned versus certified pre-owned. I think we can get there if everyone collectively jumps over the stigma hurdle together.”
Even with proven cost and carbon savings, the absence of policies or substantial take-back programs that support remanufacturing and repurposing subsequently places the onus on interior designers to educate themselves and their clients. According to Delisi, “designers play a huge role” in minimizing waste, reducing resource expenditures and creatively extending product life spans. “Part of this,” he says, “is understanding that there is an important climate initiative behind reuse, remanufacturing and rethinking materials and extraction.” Soldatova is quick to agree. “It’s our job too, to make sure that we specify things that have circularity to them,” she argues, “[such as] furniture that can be reutilized, carpets that can have a second life after.”
Whether a sprawling office like Kraft-Heinz or a smaller fit-out, shifting attention to this hybrid model is “a cohesive approach that is not only budget and environmentally friendly,” Delisi says, “but still delivers that design flair.” With the success of the headquarters and more projects of the ilk on the horizon, both parties are optimistic about this emerging attitude toward reuse and repair that envisions the next generation of corporate interiors as forward-looking and progressive as those who occupy them. As he succinctly summarizes: “Designing the future means creatively repurposing the past.”
J0032 BIANCO KOS
By Dave LeBlanc
Photography by Ria Bassoulos
Corridor Chronicles
The “Bay Street Village” in Toronto eschews the catalogue in favour of full custom, resulting in a stylish pedestrian realm Don Draper could walk through.
It’s the usual lunchtime crush on Bay Street south of Toronto City Hall; despite the wide sidewalk, pedestrians jostle and jockey for position as they hurry to important appointments. One woman, however, pauses at the window of No. 350: a glint of gold has caught her eye. As she cups her hands to look inside, her companion stops to wait. She says something to him, and then they rush off.
360 BAY
It calls to mind the famous 1922 exchange between British archeologist Howard Carter, chisel in hand, and George Herbert as Carter peered into Tutankhamun’s tomb for the first time. “Can you see anything?” asked Herbert. “Yes, wonderful things,” replied Carter.
To be clear, the elevator lobby of the Dominion Trust Company Building, built in 1928 and designed by Stephen B. Coon and Son, does not contain Egyptian artifacts. But, after years of neglect, the restored phalanx of bronze columns, gryphons, shields, and the Canadian coat of arms on the big mailbox are almost as striking as King Tut’s treasures.
With so much ornamentation, however, the challenge for owner Dream Unlimited and their interior designer, Toronto-based Studio Paolo Ferrari, was clear: how can this building be brought, gently, into the 21st century while still honouring its gilded past? And could domestic warmth be added without sacrificing durability?
“How do you strike this balance where it feels, well, I don’t want to say classic, but it has those intonations, but it’s not overt,” asks Ferrari as he walks from the elevator lobby to the softer, wood-paneled vestibule. Here, the shine of bronze is tempered by rhythmic bullnose trim and lozenge-shaped wall sconces, biomorphic seating
on a tiled, geometric floor, and a warm, concave plaster ceiling is washed with indirect lighting. “This is our nod to classicism while still being contemporary,” says Ferrari.
It’s a delicate balance indeed, but one Dream Unlimited requested in four other buildings as well. All a stone’s throw from each oth-
BAY
er and dubbed “Bay Street Village,” the developer handed Ferrari buildings as diverse as the 1929 Victory Building at 80 Richmond Street West, originally by Baldwin & Greene; a 1955 building by Peter Dickinson at 360 Bay Street; the 1925 Northern Ontario Building at 330 Bay Street by Chapman & Oxley; and 56 Temperance Street, a rather non-descript building from 1984.
“They’ve got vision and they’re really trying to bring something special to these properties,” says Ferrari. “And when we started, some of the lobbies, they were a bit stiff and corporate, and we wanted them to have a softer sensibility [that is] more reminiscent of hospitality.”
Brad Keast, VP of Innovation and Development at Dream Unlimited, says the idea came during a trip to London, England. There, owners with a campus of buildings, which are called “estates,” eschew the quick buck model and play the long game instead: build in pedestrian spaces — Dream actually demolished a small building to create a wide, sheltered laneway for their restaurant tenant Daphne, also designed by Studio Paolo Ferrari and a recipient of a 2023 Best of Canada Award — to create a destination; connect spaces visually with design motifs or via exterior lighting; create office lobbies that are welcoming by adding soft lounge seating or benches near the elevators; and attract an unusual mix of tenants. Stir and simmer and, eventually, a neighbourhood is born.
80 RICHMOND
56 TEMPERANCE
“So, we went to Paolo because he has a background [doing] boutique luxury hotels,” says Keast. “We want it to be timeless, instead of a monument to the best design ideas of 2018-19 when we started this; use high quality materials, attention to detail, the contemporary interpretation of the era in which the building was built, but something that, if you come back in 20 years, it should still feel warm, useful, and luxurious.”
That warm, hotel-like feel is most apparent at 330 Bay, where Ferrari and his team had an enormous space to transform, albeit an “awkward” one because the heritage building is married to a 1980s addition. Here, the original Art Deco stainless-steel staircase to the mezzanine and emerald green terrazzo floor have been retained, but the security desk has been relocated to a two-storey high “arrival lobby” that looks more like a hotel check-in desk (a sculpted, wooden desk at a Four Seasons, perhaps). Behind the desk are curved, stucco walls indirectly lit to show off their nubbly texture, and, above, there is a massive, monumental light fixture designed by Ferrari and fabricated by Toronto-based Unitfive Design.
“It’s super simple,” Ferrari says enthusiastically of the stucco walls. “We don’t have endless budgets. The main thing is I wanted to move away from what is expected [such as] lots of hard stone.”
Just north at 360 Bay — the first lobby that Ferrari did for Dream Unlimited — the mid-century modernism of the building has been amplified by a custom, Calder-esque mobile also by Unitfive Design that can be spied from the sidewalk. Rich, stately walnut paneling recalls the boardrooms Don Draper honed his craft in on the hit show Mad Men, and underfoot is a custom tiled floor inspired by architect Alvar Aalto’s 1954 “Siena” fabric pattern. While small, Ferrari offers that 360 Bay is one of his “favourites” because it was a full gut job and his studio was given “carte blanche.”
“What I love is that, when this opened there were tenants that were moving in and they were inspired by what this felt like,” he continues. “Any of the tenants that were renovating took this [design] into account, where this really became the front door.”
It happened over at the Victory Building on Richmond Street West as well, where architects Kim Storey and James Brown of Brown + Storey Architects decided to renovate rather than look elsewhere. “They had put so much money and effort into the building we wanted to stay there,” says Storey, whose father, Joe Storey, was a prominent Modernist architect in Chatham, Ont. “And other things that were happening in the neighbourhood [such as] the Daphne restaurant made us feel this was a place we wanted to stay.”
Of the lobby itself, while Storey covets “the most beautiful light fixture, this tulip fixture” installed over the desk, she admits she
worried upon learning marble was going to be removed from the walls. “But I really like the end product,” she finishes. The white oak that replaced the marble better matches the buff brick exterior and original white plaster ceilings adorned with nautical motifs. So, too, does the soft cove lighting and bronze frames around elevator doors.
A hundred metres away, at 56 Temperance — where Keast says Dream CEO Michael J. Cooper quipped that “if Darth Vader ever had an office building in Toronto, it’d be here” — the first-time visitor is greeted by a partial wall of thick, Coke-bottle glass and a set of doors pushed back from the street. Approach those doors, however, and one is rewarded with the view of a cozy nook containing built-in soft seating backed with rich, wooden latticework punctuated by an hourglass-shaped sconce. The flooring, again, is a custom, geometric tile composition that will wear well and look great in decades to come.
While many developers choose from a catalogue when it comes time to renovate, these five properties stand as a shining example of what can, and should, be done in a city where real estate values aways seem to be on the rise. “It allows for these properties to not feel generic [and] allows us to flex our design ability and really create something,” says Ferrari. “If we make the area really vibrant and exciting then people will want to be there,” finishes Keast.
iQ Business Media Announces New Publisher for Canadian Interiors Magazine
iQ Business Media, the publisher of Canadian Architect, Canadian Interiors, and Building magazines, is delighted to announce the appointment of Faria Ahmed as the new Publisher of Canadian Interiors magazine, effective April 1, 2024.
Faria Ahmed, an 11-year veteran of iQ Business Media’s Built Environment Group, has played a pivotal role in the success of multiple brands, including Canadian Interiors, where she has made significant contributions since 2019. Her expertise and dedication have been instrumental in the growth of these multi-platform brands.
In her new role, Faria will leverage her extensive experience and passion for the industry to drive Canadian Interiors forward. She previously served as the Associate Publisher of Canadian Interiors and continues to hold positions as the Associate Publisher of Canadian Architect magazine and Associate Publisher of Building Magazine, and Publisher of Supply Professional magazine. Faria will maintain her commitment to serving her current customers across all titles.
With a career spanning over 24 years in media sales and business development, Faria has built an exceptional reputation for delivering effective integrated marketing communications solutions. She is renowned for her knowledge, enthusiasm, and respected presence within Canada’s built environment community.
Please join us in congratulating Faria Ahmed on her new role as Publisher of Canadian Interiors magazine.
Dave LeBlanc has written as the Globe & Mail’s “Architourist” since 2004.
Jewel of Saint Catherine
After 25 years hidden in shadows, the Eaton’s restaurant in Montréal has re-opened fully restored to its former 1930s art deco grandeur.
The journey back in time starts with brass plates on the wooden doors saying ‘push’ unilingually in English, a ‘no-no’ in contemporary Québec. To the right is another moment from a bygone era: a cenotaph for staff lost in the Second World War. Opposite is a hallway painted a lush forest green. Save for hypermodern control displays, the rest of the elevator bank seems no different than it was a century ago, with clock-face styled floor indicators, and William Morris inspired floral decorations crowning the elevator doorways.
Stepping off the elevator you’re pulled in the direction of the antique by way of chevroned flooring, wood panelled display cases, and builtin telephone booths. What was once the restaurant’s foyer has been transformed into its own restaurant. You wouldn’t know the circular bar sitting in the middle of the room is new because it seems to fit in well with its surroundings, including the semi-circular alcoves, and rounded tables and chairs. Through the doors into the main hall completes the trip back in time: an art deco masterpiece. This is Le
By Taylor C. Noakes
Photography by Maxime Brouillet
9e, the ninth floor of Montréal’s old Eaton’s department store, and it’s remarkable it would ever see the light of day again.
Reviving the ninth floor has been talked about for a quarter century. For comparison’s sake, Montréalers have been discussing the return of professional baseball for less time. And while Eaton’s may not mean more than “defunct department store” in the rest of Canada, in Québec, Eaton’s was a symbol of Anglo-Canadian dominance. The “grosses madames de chez Eaton” (translated as the big fat Eaton’s ladies) were always more mythological than real but represented Eaton’s alleged propensity to hire
This spread Le 9e, located on the top floor of the former Eaton’s department store on Saint Catherine Street dating back to 1925, was originally called L’Île-de-France, after the first-class dining room on the ocean liner of the same name. Following its classification as a historic monument in 2000 by Québec’s Ministry of Culture and Communications, Le 9e’s owners, Ivanhoé-Cambridge, sought EVOQ to develop a conservation strategy for the space in anticipation of an eventual new use.
unilingual Anglophone store clerks in Canada’s Francophone metropolis. When former Parti Québécois cabinet minister Claude Charron chose to commit political suicide in the wake of the first referendum, he symbolically stole a tweed jacket from Eaton’s.
When Eaton’s went bankrupt in 1999, the Québec government’s cultural ministry was quick to respond to requests from Montréal heritage activists to preserve the ninth floor. It was an unusual preservation effort: the building’s façade was left largely untouched, most of the interior was gutted, the iconic Eaton’s signs were altered for the new anchor tenant (and has since been changed back), and the ninth floor restaurant was preserved in its entirety, including the furniture, fixtures, and furnishings.
“I believe it was the first, and still the only interior that’s classified without the building being classified. So that’s quite a unique
[heritage] status,” said Georges Drolet, partner with EVOQ Architects and project lead on the restoration. The firm has a major presence across Canada, and is well-known for restoration and rehabilitation efforts, including the expansive West Block of Parliament project in Ottawa.
Shortly after Eaton’s bankruptcy, their flagship Montréal store was bought by Ivanhoé-Cambridge, the real estate development arm of Québec’s institutional investor. They were ready to transform the building for new purposes even though they weren’t sure what to do with the ninth floor. “In the meantime, they wanted to have some guidance in terms of what to do, to at least protect the heritage space while they were looking for a new use,” said Drolet. “We prepared the first conservation strategy for the space in 2001.”
decorative grilles, railings, and lighting fixtures made of Monel were retained, even while the ventilation and electrical systems were upgraded.
The ninth-floor dining room was originally opened in 1931, the last addition to a multi-year expansion project undertaken by the Eaton’s company when they first established themselves in Montréal. “When it opened, it was something completely new and unusual,” said Drolet. “It was exotic, because it was done by French architect Jacques Carlu. Art Deco at the time was fairly recent.”
This spread Reviving Jacques Carlu’s original vision was at the heart of the conservation project. Historic components, such as the marble columns, plaster reliefs, frescoes, and alabaster urns, were meticulously restored. Where required, flooring and wall fabrics were also refinished and marble surfaces were repaired. Doors, trim,
The restaurant’s design was inspired by the dining hall of the passenger liner L’Île-de-France. “Lady Eaton was a traveller on that ship, so she probably used that idea as something to put on the table for the architect to work with,” said Drolet. “At the time, it was something really exotic, unusual, luxurious and modern.”
Lady Flora Eaton had been tasked with giving the Eaton’s department stores their own unique styles, and she collaborated with Carlu in the design of the restaurant while Carlu’s wife Natasha painted the exotic murals at either end of the immense dining hall.
Even though the space was left untouched since Eaton’s closed in 1999, the restoration work was not completely straightforward. Colour photos of the space when it closed were deceptive. “Art Deco became quite fashionable during the postmodern period of 1980s architecture,” said Drolet, noting that the restaurant had last been touched up with a 1980s interpretation of Art Deco colour schemes. “We had to do an analysis to see the paint layers to understand what it looked like, as we only had black and white photos of the original.” Drolet says the ninth floor’s current colour palette is as close as possible to the original.
Drolet says some of the most challenging aspects of the project will likely go unnoticed by visitors. Building codes have changed in the last quarter-century, and older building systems had to be replaced. “The biggest challenge is what’s not visible in the end,” said Drolet. “It’s everything that’s around the space that allows it to be used today.”
Drolet also noted the necessity of finding the right tradespeople, such as those familiar working with Monel, a nickel-copper alloy widely used in Art Deco buildings and interiors, but which isn’t used in the building trades today. Similarly, the marble used throughout the building is no longer quarried. “Those are the conservation challenges,” said Drolet, “That’s the other side of this project.”
However challenging the restoration of this interior may have been, it certainly doesn’t look it. The space shines more like a room that’s been recently cleaned than fully restored. The great hall will, at least for the time being, be used for conferences, events, and performance. Whether it will once again regularly serve diners remains to be seen, though there’s certainly a lot of interest and considerable cultural cachet.
By Peter Sobchak
Buzzing With Inspiration
A medley of cafés and coffee shops that will make both caffeine aficionados and design devotees want to linger just a little longer.
Café Cool: Feel-Good Inspiring Designs, published by The Images Publishing Group, is the third book in a series by Robert Schneider (the other titles being Café Culture: For Lovers of Coffee and Good Design, and Coffee Culture: Hot Coffee + Cool Spaces) about the kinds of coffee shops you wish there were more of in your city or, better yet, around the corner from your apartment.
In this colourful romp through the world of modern caffeine sanctuaries, 39 instantly ‘grammable cafés and coffee shops and roasteries in 26 cities around the globe are featured, accompanied by generous photography spreads. With the primary requirement being exceptional coffee, of course, each selection screams contemporary chic, spotlighting indie coffee joints that pulse with community spirit and promise a brew-tiful experience. The owners and designers dish out commentary that is as rich as a freshly brewed espresso, capturing the essence and vibe of their creations.
Among the group are four noteworthy inclusions from Canada — Farouche Tremblant by Atelier L’Abri in Lac-Supérieur, QC; Milky’s Coffee by Batay-Csorba Architects and Fraser Greenberg, and Thor Espresso Bar by Phaedrus Studio, both in Toronto; and Nemesis Coffee by Perkins&Will in Vancouver — all of which have been covered by this magazine (with a couple even winning Best of Canada Awards along the way), so clearly we approve of Schneider’s selections.
This book is a love letter to the notion that, especially in the wake of the global pandemic, supporting and savouring quality coffee in beautifully designed cafés is more crucial than ever. It’s a celebration of those social anchors, the coffee shops that not only serve a great brew but also provide a much-needed dose of feel-good inspiration through their thoughtful and uplifting designs.
Opposite page and above Nemesis Coffee, Vancouver, designed by Perkins&Will. 2,110 square feet, completed in 2020. Left Farouche Tremblant, Lac-Supérieur, Québec, designed by Atelier L’Abri. 4,994 square feet, completed in 2022.
Raphaël Thibodeau
Ema Peter
By Lucy Mazzucco
OVER & OUT
Defining Moments
Ontario student the grand prize winner of Formica Canada’s annual student design competition.
The seventh edition of the FORM Student Innovation Competition invited students studying interior design, architecture and furniture design in Canada, the United States and Mexico, to create furniture pieces using Formica products. The theme this year was “Newstalgia” which challenged students to create designs that put a modern take on retro and vintage aesthetics. The designs needed to incorporate two or more Formica Laminate colours or patterns and at least one colour from FENIX materials.
From the 190 submissions, more than half of which came from Canada, the grand prize was awarded to Cali Pitcher from Georgian College in Barrie, Ont., for her entry “Notions,” which drew inspiration from mid-century modern sewing boxes and aims to encapsulate the mantra of the design movement: form follows function. “Throughout my design process I developed my ideas through hand sketches, each one building on the last with new ideas and innovative touches,” says Pitcher, who completed her Bachelor of Interior Design in April.
“The name ‘Notions’ gives a nod to both new ideas and sewing supplies. Like mid-century modern sewing boxes that have multiple compartments for storage, ‘Notions’ creates storage spaces within the table and bench seating,” she says. “Taking the highly popularised work-from-home lifestyle into account, it allows two users to simultaneously use the table as a teleworking space by simply lifting the tabletop to reveal a writable surface and bulletin board, created with an acoustic panel to enhance the functionality of it as a workstation.”
Pitcher got to see her winning design come to life at NeoCon 2024. “This has been the most extraordinary end to my educational journey and marks the beginning of what I hope to be a very successful and fulfilling career in interior design,” adds Pitcher. “I am incredibly honoured to receive this accolade and so grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of this year’s NeoCon events with Formica Corporation.”
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