Canadian Interiors January February 2023

Staying Inn

People want to travel again, and new hotels are there to greet them.

Finding a path into web3

SURFACES FOR life

EYE 12 THE GOODS While chromatically different, paint

year share a theme of nature and wellbeing. 15 SEEN Highlights and insights from Cersaie 2022 in Bologna. 34 GOOD READS The life of Walter Gropius and a look at ECAL’s teaching methodology get the Phaidon treatment. 38 OVER & OUT

revitalization project offers peace and respite.

COVER – The Evangeline rooftop bar at Ace Hotel Toronto. Photo by William Jess Laird

Remembering Jack

Clients and Sustainable Living

Wayne Turett on how design professionals can encourage clients to make environmentally positive design choices.

Business During the Day, Party at Night: Supernat

MRDK designs Supernat, a cafe by day and wine bar by night in Montréal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood.

When Tradition Meets Modernity: Iru Izakaya

Designed by Cléo Katcho Design Architectural, the concept was inspired by post-WWII Japanese alleyways where izakayas emerged.

Visit

Episode

21 Robotics in Design w/ David Correa

and Gropius in review ExclusivetoourDIGITALEDITION

Good Reads

Episode 20 Web3’s Potential for Designers w/ Digby

David Lasker reflects on Jack Diamond through 17 years of the firm’s Summer Solstice parties.

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People are on the move again. Bags are being packed, tickets bought, itineraries planned. “Travel came roaring back in the third quarter,” said analysts in the Colliers Hotels 2022 Q3 INNvestment report. “While the recovery has not been even for all asset classes and markets, pent-up demand, largely fuelled by domestic travel, drove a sharp rebound.” And thank God for that, because as we all know the hospitality sector was hit hard by COVID-19, with restaurants, hotels, casinos, and sporting venues forced to shutter their doors for months.

There is certainly an exuberance being felt, but what is interesting to hear when discussing many of the new projects that came on-line during the summer and autumn months is how, for their designers, the pandemic did not really have the course-altering effect as may have been expected. More than one designer has pointed out to me that the projects were begun before the pandemic hit, and despite lockdown closures the final designs did not deviate much from the original vision.

It will take a while for the ripple effects of the pandemic to reach the built environment, but designers who focus mainly on hospitality

projects would be wise to make it their business to know what those clients are paying attention to – which is, how the pandemic and global lockdown has dramatically affected consumer behaviour and spending patterns. Hospitality organizations find themselves in a very different business environment, and while it is not an interior designer’s job to focus on improving clients’ operational agility and financial resilience, helping them understand consumers’ behaviours and responding effectively will be critical to enabling all the related businesses to recover in a post-pandemic economy.

For example, to rebuild the trust that is so necessary in persuading consumers to return, hospitality operators are urgently trying to signal a clean, safe experience beyond just staff walking around spraying surfaces with disinfectant. Substituting paper menus with QR code stickers on tables, smartphone-based hotel check-ins and replacing surfaces with ones that are both easier to clean and perceived as clean (read: luxury vinyl flooring instead of carpeting) may irk designers, but operators are asking for it. To avoid ill-thought “solutions” like those plexiglass screens between diners that we all hated, designers need to help hospitality organizations see this as an opportunity to innovate both programmatically and technologically to keep from sliding into old habits.

Erratum In the 2022 Best of Canada issue, the Club Cossette project was in fact designed by Signature design communication and LAAB Collective in joint venture. We apologize for mistakenly omitting Signature design communication in the firm credit.

Peter Sobchak psobchak @canadianinteriors.com

Pulled Up by the Roots

Continuing to experiment with the street-front volume of their building, Mason Studio has built an art installation which, according to co-founder and creative director Stanley Sun, explores “the impact of our interior surroundings and how they may contribute to the lasting power of memories.”

Titled Refuge in the Sky, the installation forces visitors to literally view nature from the bottom up: an island of flora floats seven feet above the floor, placing the root structure right at eye level. “This contrast between our familiarity with nature and the unfamiliarity of the perspective is the novelty that we expect to create long-term memory formation,” says Sun.

Scott Norsworthy

Reservation for Two

For more than a year, the concrete skeleton of Hôtel Mile End has been part of Montréal’s urban landscape. Now thanks to artist Nancy Guilmette, passersby are doing a double-take at a normally ubiquitous piece of cityscape. Called Room 202 after the space it occupies, Guilmette has implanted a host of lush greenery in the under-construction building to expose and explore “the encounter between the stark architecture of the building’s concrete frame and the vitality of nature,” says the artist.

“For a moment, the landscape is changed completely, and then later returns to its previous state when the work is removed without a trace.”

More than a Moment A new digital art installation at Orlando International Airport’s Terminal C encourages passengers to think not just about the natural wonders of Florida, but their time in the airport itself. Montréal-based creative studio Gentilhomme used advanced CGI, machine learning, live action, and immersive underwater filmmaking, along with 3D motion tracking technology to render imagery in real time on to massive screens in a central courtyard called The Moment Vault.

Maxime Roux

The Rainbow Connection

It’s always fun to see what hues the paint makers pick as their Colour of the Year. While chromatically different, the palettes this year share a theme of nature and wellbeing; a clear response to consumer’s desire to find peace in these turbulent times.

Compiled by Peter Sobchak

Moments | BeautiTone “Moments is reflective of Canadians’ continued desire for stability and comfort as we focus on moving forward in our daily lives,” says Darryl Allen, creative manager, BeautiTone Paint and Home Products. “Evoking feelings that are nostalgic and hopeful, this reliable hue brings a renewed appreciation for our ability to create lasting, meaningful moments in spite of adversity.” www.homehardware.ca

“People are ready to bring colour back into the home, taking a step outside their colour comfort zones,” says Andrea Magno, Colour Marketing & Development Director at Benjamin Moore. “Raspberry Blush 2008-30 and the Colour Trends 2023 palette empower the use of statement colours that deliver delight and personality, while transforming rooms for incredible results.” www.benjaminmoore.ca

Vining Ivy | DULUX “Canadians took pause during the pandemic to reflect on what matters most, appreciating the beauty of the natural world like never before, and this is translating into uber-earthy and rich, sanctuary-like colour choices for the home,” says Mitsu Dhawan, Dulux brand manager. “As opposed to softer neutrals that have been popular in recent years, the new nature-inspired tones are bolder and more expressive, reflecting an optimistic mood as we emerge ready for the next normal.” www.dulux.ca

Desert Carnation | Valspar This faded natural terracotta isn’t the standalone colour but instead one of 12 that Valspar decided to highlight for 2023, which Colour Marketing Manager, Sue Kim, describes as a palette of “usable shades that encourage self-expression and anyone can envision in their space.” www.valspar.ca

Raspberry Blush | Benjamin Moore

Red on Red: 2023’s Colour Story

By Red Barrinuevo

The 2023 Colour of the Year comes as a welcome change from the inward-turned lives we’ve been living for the better part of three years. The world is ready to make a statement, and this one comes as a cry of optimism in the form of a bold new colour palette dominated by a variety of red hues. The trendmakers are largely aligned in the about-face from prevailing green hues of 2022. With Pantone’s Viva Magenta, Benjamin Moore’s Raspberry Blush, Dunn Edwards’ Terra Rosa, Sherwin Williams’ Redend Point and Walmart’s Canyon Ridge, there’s an obvious trend forming here.

Alizarin

Blank Canvas | Behr Paint “As we look to 2023, we understand that comfort will still be a driving force behind design decisions,” says Erika Woelfel, vice president of Colour and Creative Services at Behr Paint Company. “Blank Canvas harmonizes with a wide range of hues, including neutrals, earth tones and pastels for a cozy appeal, also pairs with black for a dramatic impact, and with bright accents like green or cobalt blue to lift your mood.” www.behr.ca

Why the draw to red? I’d argue that this trend has been a long time coming. Red is said to evoke some strong emotions, including passion, power and love. The colour is stimulating, energizing and appetizing. It’s confident, outgoing and unapologetic. A great way to make a statement is by painting an eye-catching feature wall that taps into a chosen hue. I’d caution against red appliances, tiles, cabinets or any big-ticket fixture that you might get tired of and have to replace, given we’ll likely have a totally different focus once 2023 is through. Otherwise, it’s all fair game. If the brightest, boldest red is a little too much, consider a darker red such as maroon or merlot which convey the same warmth but in a toned-down way. Alternatively, softer hues like pinks and browns that have red undertones can achieve a similar effect.

If you’re unsure as to what is “too much” or “too little,” follow the 60-30-10 ratio to achieve good balance. This rule dictates that 60 per cent of a space is done in the dominant colour, 30 per cent in the secondary colour and 10 per cent in the accent colour. Depending on your approach to red, you may incorporate it as the dominant, secondary or accent colour in the room. Whether in big doses or small ones, red is one trend that’s sure to spice up 2023.

Red Barrinuevo is a property stylist on HGTV’s Hot Market, an award-winning luxury home stager and the principal designer of Redesign4More.

Viva Magenta | Pantone Last year was Very Peri, a periwinkle blue with violet red undertones. For 2023, Pantone is going hard on the red with 18-1750 Viva Magenta, “an animated crimson red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint, an electrifying, and boundless shade that is a stand-out statement,”

says Laurie Pressman, vice-president of the Pantone Color Institute. www.pantone.com

| Graham & Brown Named after pigment derived from the Rubia plant historically used as dye, “This deep and moody hue embodies the best russet reds and spicy terracotta shades, highlighting the beauty found in natural earthy tones. In the studio we enable this by seeing the beauty in items that would be discarded and making them shine again, creating a bespoke and special object,” says design manager, Maryanne Cartwright. www.grahambrown.com

Impressions Left Behind

In the yearly conference of international ceramic tile brilliance that is Cersaie, art – like everything in Italy – was a dominant feature.

This year’s Cersaie exhibition in Bologna was not without a flair unique to 2022. Clear off the two pandemic years, the show celebrated the coming together of industry professionals, creatives and the general public with a generous presence of art. From purpose-driven installations to showcasing product as art, the show painted a global light-hearted theme around the exhibits.

By George Foussias

Chromatica | NAXOS Coming in this year with a robust series of earthen colour tones, the innovative 40x100cm, 7mm-thick ceramic surfaces combine sheen and scale with pattern and tactility; from monochromatic slabs to formats resembling paintings. www.naxos-ceramica.it

This is

City

www.casalgrandepadana.it

Deco Solutions | Caesar Ceramiche A variety of textures, colours and modular designs in this line can adapt to the size of the walls. The 60x120cm options are developed in a single, continuous graphic pattern connectable on each side and can be installed in either a vertical or horizontal direction. The 120x278cm Gold decorations are produced by third-firing application of goldbased inks. www.caesar.it

Marvel Travertine | Atlas Concorde Created through a collaboration with hospitality firm Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), this new line has names like Diamond, Chiselled and Tessellation which all reference the geometric patterns of etching, engraving and origami effects that are its defining characteristics. www.atlasconcorde.com

Collection | Casalgrande Padana

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates’ answer to the minimal micro-pattern style of ceramics. Working in collaboration with SBGA Architecture firm in Milan, the series is inspired by four international cities (Hong Kong, shown) and puts to use the company’s advanced fabrication techniques and long commitment to sustainability to deliver a series of surfaces truly more appreciated the closer one gets.

Slabs | Gardenia Orchidea Size dominated the booth this year. Designed to explore the potential of oversized surfaces for furniture and architecture, recreating marble, stone and concrete, these 160x320cm slabs come in thicknesses of six, 12 and 20mm formats. The bold statement is quite effective in the example of the Patagonia Emerald design shown here. www.abk.it

Signs | Gigacer This new line expands the Concrete collection of neutral, delicate tones with four floral motifs and geometric weaves that insert a sense of softness to the monolithic, minimalist palette. The offerings range from the organic Buds and Leaves to the geometric Cubes and Essential. www.gigacer.it

Poetry Colors | ABK Group Developed in partnership between ABK and Studio OTTO - Paola Navone, the expressive language of ceramics is explored with six new surfaces, the key element being colour, which emerges through watercolour effects and marked variations in shade on small glossy tiles reminiscent of irregular handcrafted majolica. www.abk.it

Gemstone & Manifesto | Versace Ceramics With a moniker that does not require introductions, Versace delivers a 2023 collection primarily designed for tiling wet areas, featuring immediately recognizable prints for their opulent, sophisticated style through 3D effects and accents of precious metals (Manifesto) and large-scale semi-precious stone patterns (Gemstone, shown). www.abk.it

Roberta | Nadis The company’s showcase is a modular block made of clay, designed by Inma Bermúdez. Clay’s ability to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter and not show dust made it the prime choice for the module, which can be assembled in a broad range of configurations as a minimal block-and-dowel system. www.nadisdesign.com

This spread Evangeline is bookended by warming fireplaces, one of which is framed by sculptural ceramic works created for the space by Montréal-based artist David Umemoto. The lounge features an art gallery where rotating works from Canadian artists will be exhibited next to permanent pieces by artists such as Umemoto.

Overnight Successes

Forget tuxedoed serving staff: two new rooftop hotel bars in Toronto embrace informality and chill vibes.

Trends and tastes evolve, but for the most part hotel bars tend to hew fairly closely to what we’ve come to expect: places of sophistication and elegance, places we patronize to immerse in the history and tradition of old-school glamour, complete with a piano tinkling in the corner and friendly but formal service from a tuxedo-wearing staff. Trends and tastes evolve, but it is hard to imagine the American Bar at The Savoy in London or The Bar Joséphine at Lutetia in Paris ever falling out of favour.

Hotel bars are routinely touted for their “see and be seen” ambiance, where you order a cocktail from the world’s best bartenders while gawking at outfits that you know cost more than your rent. But for those not interested in spending the night feeling like an extra in a

By Peter Sobchak

James Bond set piece, there has been a spate of recent openings that seem to be altogether more relaxed and where jeans and a t-shirt are just as welcomed as cufflinks and Prada handbags.

Evangeline at Ace Hotel Toronto

Built from scratch in downtown Toronto’s Garment District, Ace Hotel’s first Canadian outpost has been garnering a lot of headlines in both the popular and trade press since it opened in late July. Justifiably so: the first major hospitality project by Toronto-based heavyweights Shim-Sutcliffe Architects is a tour de force in material palette inventiveness and sensitivity, drawing heavily from the robustness of the neighbourhood’s surrounding brick-and-beam factories and warehouses.

William Jess Laird

The hotel and its restaurant, Adler, landed on the Toronto hospitality landscape with aplomb in late summer, but it wasn’t until late autumn that Evangeline made its entrance. The 80-seat rooftop lounge boasts a fabulous layering of warm, tactile interior finishes over a slightly industrial framework that feels like it could fit equally in a residential setting as in a high-end hotel.

As is seen throughout the guestrooms and public spaces of the entire hotel, a consistent design language is on display here, with constant nods to the building’s masonry exterior through the use of complementary materials in the bar and seating areas. A mix of chairs, lighting and rugs “came from local Toronto vintage shops, with additional pieces found in Vancouver and L.A.,” says Little Wing Lee, design director at Atelier Ace, the agency and operator of Ace Hotel and with whom Shim-Sutcliffe collaborated closely. These pieces fit seamlessly with other custom-designed furnishings, for example light fixtures by Toronto studio MSDS, and Shim-Sutcliffe’s use of ready-made clay fireplace pipes for sculptural lighting in Evangeline’s bathrooms and a side table placed in multiple locations.

The sensory nature of Evangeline is perhaps most evident, however, in the two fireplaces that bookend the bar at the northern and southern ends. “We combined exposed structural steel and ceramic tile to anchor each hearth,” says Brigitte Shim, founding partner of ShimSutcliffe Architects. A cast concrete mural by Montréal-based artist David Umemoto surrounds the north fireplace, “linking art and architecture into the fabric of the building,” says Shim, while on the south fireplace, Umemoto uses what Shim calls “concrete totems” that both define the space and make you want to touch them.

Concrete and ceramics are not the only materials in the palette. “We worked with Toronto’s Dynasty Plant Shop to curate greenery that would thrive in the environment and serve as an aesthetic complement to the space’s warm clay and mossy hues,” says Lee. And while “the scope of our design work was not informed by biophilia,” says Shim, “when conceiving the outdoor rooftop terrace, we wanted a tangible relationship between the natural and the built landscape. The west-facing outdoor terrace has a deep parapet that is filled with plant material, creating a landscape foreground to Toronto’s evolving skyline beyond.”

This page A strategic use of plants moves from indoors to outdoors, where the furnishings adopt a more casual, contemporary tone. The outdoor deck faces west and south, offering vistas of downtown Toronto.

Harriet’s

at 1 Hotel Toronto

Greenery is evident, yes, but while biophilia may not have been a prominent design factor in Evangeline, it is absolutely a conspicuous force at Harriet’s, the rooftop hotspot of 1 Hotel Toronto, itself the first expansion into Canada for the nature-focused hotel brand.

New York-based studio Rockwell Group adopted a singular design narrative for Harriet’s — and in fact the entire hotel — informed by natural elements and design details intended to recall Toronto’s flora and fauna. Sliding glass walls and a retractable roof maximize views down to the lake and into the city; a woven rope ceiling is interspersed between wood beams; reclaimed Elm wood flooring and leather and lambskin accents round out the setting. The material palette for the hotel as a whole features reclaimed timber, native plants, board-formed concrete and local marble, all intended to reflect the muted colours of Lake Ontario and the contrasting tones of the passing seasons.

Inviting nature into a luxury hotel may well be a core mission of the brand, but in this case given the location it seems not just on-brand but necessary: mere steps from the wide, deep trench formed by the

Union Station Rail Corridor and near the bottom of Bathurst Street, which seems perpetually under construction thanks to street improvement projects and non-stop condo developments nearby, giving visitors a space to turn away from the never-ending demolition sites and reconnecting them with nature is welcome.

“We have long admired 1 Hotels’ sustainable and eco-friendly ethos, and we are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to design the new 1 Hotel Toronto with a biophilic emphasis,” says Rockwell Group’s founder David Rockwell. “Our vision for the hotel invites guests to celebrate Toronto’s ecology through materiality and locally-made artwork.” Both Evangeline and Harriet’s demonstrate that even at the luxury end of the hospitality market where opulent surfaces are at the forefront, there is room for a materials palette beyond just brass and marble that still exudes style and quality.

Above 1 Hotel Toronto has several other dining and drinking spaces throughout the hotel in addition to Harriet’s, all of which follow design cues of the hotel intended to evoke Canada’s natural landscape.

Globally Local

By Matthew Hague

In the spring of 2020, at the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sheraton Centre hotel in downtown Toronto sent a love letter to the city. With international travel halted, staff lit up a series of windows in the otherwise empty guest rooms. Anyone passing the 43-storey building was treated to a glowing, giant heart on the otherwise dark facade.

Following the 43rd-floor Club Lounge renovation in October 2021 (above & opposive above), Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel completed the latest phase of its extensive overhaul in late summer 2022 with a reimagined lobby level which includes two new food and beverage offerings, private work studios and soundproof booths, an upgraded porte cochère and an outdoor pool garden (opposive below).

Two years later, the pandemic restrictions have eased and guests are once again filling the Sheraton Centre’s 1,300-plus rooms. And yet, the love letter continues. Capping a five-year redesign and renovation process led by Toronto-based DesignAgency, the hotel has recently finalized a major makeover replete with touching nods to the city.

Two renovated outposts of the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto root the global brand with local flair.

Courtesy of Sheraton Centre Toronto

Below A departure from the traditional hotel restaurant, 43 Down is a “beverage-forward concept” focusing on mixology. Opposite Part of the $30-million makeover of Sheraton Gateway is a massive lobby re-imagined as a “Public Square” loosely organized around the reception area, lounge spaces and &More, a part bar/café/grab-and-go food offering.

As guests pull up in their taxis, they arrive in a porte cochère, a giant canopy that was once laden with a heavy, coffee-coloured ceiling. Now it is much brighter, painted white and aglow with LEDs. The centrepiece is a sparkling work of art: a contour map of Lake Ontario, fashioned from shimmering black scales and hanging from the underside of the roof. Conceived by local creatives Art and Objects, the map is the kind of piece that wouldn’t make sense in a Sheraton in Montréal or Vancouver. Lake Ontario is just a walk away from the Sheraton Centre.

It adds similar flavour to a wall sculpture that projects into the nearby lobby and is composed of a grid of discs. “The pattern echoes the rhythm of the windows of the Sheraton Centre,” explains Allen Chan, co-founder of DesignAgency. “It also evokes rhythms found in brutalist architecture, which is something visitors might see as they walk around Toronto.”

Perhaps ironically, the push to go local is actually part of a broader, national strategy for Sheraton Hotels. Around the same time as the unveiling of the Sheraton Centre, the hospitality brand also opened a redesigned Sheraton Gateway, next to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The company also has plans for other revamps across the country.

According to Amanda Nichols, Global Brand Leader at Sheraton Hotels & Resorts based in Washington, D.C., each new Canadian Sheraton will be linked by “brand signature elements.” These unifying features can be found in both the Sheraton Centre and Sheraton Gateway, all in the lobbies.

For example, so-called Community Tables are purpose-built workspaces where patrons can grab a snack and have a quick meeting or check their emails. They are the hotel equivalent of office hot desks.

Courtesy of Sheraton Centre Toronto

Gillian Jackson

More private are the Sheraton Studios: hi-tech, glass-enclosed spaces that are built for focused work. Even more secluded, the Soundproof Booths are dotted throughout each lobby, perfect for a video or phone calls where hotel noises are not appropriate.

“At the heart of it all is &More by Sheraton,” explains Nichols. “This is our signature concept combining a bar, coffee bar, and market. It offers dining options that are locally sourced and easy to consume while working.” Think bite-sized foods that aren’t too greasy (treacherous for eating next to a laptop). Beyond those elements, there is an imperative for each property to “bring in regional or community nuances through custom design,” says Nichols.

Part of the aesthetic comes down to how the hotel is used. “An ‘Airport Property’ has its own specific requirements,” explains Robynne Moncur, whose firm, Moncur Design Associates, designed the Sheraton Gateway. “For example, the average stay at the Gateway property is less than one night, and the hotel needs to be flexible to accommodate an influx of people at a moments notice. Social spaces are just as important as the private areas.”

In practice, that means the design team opted for a calming colour palette (neutrals, natural woods) to contrast the potentially frenetic energy of the hotel and dotted the expansive lobby with intimate seating nooks to foster conversations between friends or strangers. As with the Sheraton Centre, there is original art specific to Toronto, though here it is less abstract than sculptures made of discs. The vintage photos of streetcars actually look like streetcars. According to Nichols, these pieces are meant to “encourage curiosity and conversation about travel and exploration.”

At the Sheraton Centre, a different purpose manifests in a different aesthetic. The hotel is one of Canada’s largest conference facilities, with more than 170,000 square feet of events space. In addition to out-of-town conference goers, the city’s business leaders routinely drop by for events. That is evident with the Sheraton Club on the 43rd floor. Reserved for elite, frequent fliers and complete with a private boardroom that overlooks the financial district, it has a panache to match its high-in-the-sky location: herringbone floors, original oils on the rich blue walls, plush velvet sofas.

The Sheraton Centre has had an incredible transformation, considering what the hotel was like pre-renovation: stuffy, stodgy, a strange amount of Edwardian-style wood panelling for a building that was actually built a mere 50 years ago. The best parts remain, including a glassed-in courtyard garden with a waterfall that is visible from the new Community Tables. But DesignAgency worked hard to imbue the design with luxurious comforts while avoiding the previous, too-corporate placeless-ness.

Perhaps the clearest example is the new lobby bar and restaurant called 43 Down. The vibe is warm and cozy yet upscale, with a mix of natural woods, buttery leathers and punches of brass. Sofas and chairs are upholstered in soft greys and look like they belong in trendy living rooms. During the day, 43 Down is hidden behind milky white screens. The walls open at night so the crowd can flow in and out of the adjacent lobby. When that happens, the mood is exciting. “We wanted to create a lobby bar, and indeed a whole lobby, that really welcomed the city in,” says Chan. “Before, the hotel felt separated off. Now we want this all to feel like it really belongs to downtown Toronto.”

This page Located off of Sheraton Gateway’s lobby is the Sheraton Club Lounge, an exclusive lounge and workspace for Marriott Bonvoy Elite members and Sheraton Club level guests. Opposite page Elsewhere in the lobby campus are spaces for co-working and meetings plus soundproof booths for personal calls, among other amenities.

Gillian Jackson

Chain Reaction

By Arnaud Marthouret

If you’ve become comfortable with an internet populated by social media, video or image sharing sites and similar apps, resign yourself to the fact that those days of Web 2.0 are coming to an end. Web3 and the metaverse are already here and looking to shake things up.

In fairness, it’s early days still and there are probably as many definitions of what web3 and the metaverse are as there are technologies underpinning them. That said, an attempt at summarizing the coming paradigm shift may look like this: on one side is a collection of technologies and software aimed at clawing back privacy and control over personal data that has been given away to big tech in the development and proliferation of Web 2.0. On the other side is the metaverse: a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection in an effort to amplify how we move through and interact with the world around us through the widespread adoption of virtual or augmented reality.

“If you think of Web1 as the days of dial-up, usernames and passwords; Web 2.0 is the age of social media and login gatekeepers like Google and Facebook; and web3 will likely be the age of, hopefully, user self-sovereignty where we do away with usernames and passwords and we have a one-click connection to any and every website that will recognize us and we have control over that one user profile. Ideally,” says Jaime Derringer, an NFT artist and currently Head of Community at tonic.xyz, a new fine art NFT platform for creators.

At this point, web3 is little more than a big grab bag of everything that vaguely promises to revolutionize the internet and how we interact with it, and the fog won’t lift until clear use-cases of these new technologies emerge and see widespread adoption. Some of these technologies are already inching towards mainstream, but we’re still far away from widespread adoption of these new technologies and services working together to enact the promise of a decentralized, privacy and user-focused iteration on the internet.

Saying the Same Thing

With the emergence of new technology comes new language. Here is a brief primer:

Web3: the next iteration of the World Wide Web, this time based on the promise of increased privacy, security and, most importantly, decentralization. This contrasts with Web 2.0 which saw the emergence of giant centralized tech platforms like social media, whose business it is to mine and monetize personal data.

Cryptocurrencies (crypto): first appearing in 2009 with the release of Bitcoin, crypto are digital-only currencies that arose from the cypherpunk movement’s desire to use cryptography to enact social change. In this case, to take the minting and management of money away from traditional issuers (typically central banks), with the promise that inflationary money “printing” would become a thing of the past.

NFTs: “non-fungible tokens” are unique digital identifiers recorded in the blockchain that unlike cryptocurrencies cannot be substituted, sub-divided nor copied, hence the “non-fungible” moniker. Unlike crypto, which is fungible (i.e. can be substituted and sub-divided), these are used as a form of certificate of authenticity for digital assets (e.g. an image or a video). They can also contain all kinds of rules and restrictions, effectively making them an easily verifiable and enforceable kind of contract for creators and manufacturers.

Web3 and the metaverse represents a new frontier for designers. But with every undiscovered country there may well be dragons ahead. Consider this your Waldseemüller map to the evolving internet.

Words of Caution

We may very well be experiencing a major technological and cultural revolution, potentially impacting the way humans live, interact, entertain themselves, shop and do business. Exciting times, no doubt, and our instincts when interpreting the whirlwind caused by technological change is to look for tangible, specific applications. But before doing that, a word of caution: web3 can sometimes take on aspects of a speculative bubble. As with any new technological frontier comes the expected cohort of snake-oil peddlers, promising riches when all they’re selling is reheated ideas skillfully presented with fancylooking marketing material. Case in point: despite the promises of crypto evangelists, many were snake-bitten by the collapse of FTX, pointing to what some pundits are calling a golden age for scammers.

Conversely, many of today’s most ubiquitous and useful technologies came to widespread adoption by displacing older, less desirable technologies and slowly but surely transformed societies over time. It then comes down to discerning which applications have the potential to provide valuable and practical results and which are pure opportunistic drivel. In this context, a healthy dose of skepticism is always the best protection, and with basic common-sense principles in mind one can cast a critical eye at these technologies and start to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Some Promising Applications

With that in mind, here are some potential applications, technologies and services that look very promising especially for the architecture and design industries.

The metaverse: Some companies are creating virtual showrooms to make it easy to see a variety of products in a virtual space. One such company is Toronto-based custom wallpaper maker Rollout, which has created a virtual showroom in the style of a cliff-hanging

lair for a villain from the James Bond franchise. Despite how cool it looks, it’s not the setting itself that matters. The real advantage lies in its ability to help their clients to instantly visualize all kinds of wallpaper in a virtual space, allowing for cycling through many iterations in a very short time.

While it doesn’t replace product samples and test applications, it has the potential to greatly enhance Rollout’s customer experience. “We see a need for online, immersive showrooms that help interior designers and architects use our catalogue of designs to showcase their ideas in integrated spaces to their clients, in real time,” says Jonathan Nodrick, founder of Rollout. “These technologies allow us to continually innovate and think bigger.”

The blockchain: Identity theft, privacy concerns and data mining by big tech are making the news every day. The blockchain has the potential to put users in charge of their data, with blockchain-based digital identities that would give individuals the power to decide with whom, when and for how long they choose to share personal information.

“People will have the ability to really seamlessly choose which pieces of their identity they pass along in order to transact with a brand, and they’re going to be incentivized to provide those pieces of information, rather than in the current state [of affairs] where Facebook knows every movie that you’ve ever watched and you’re really not profiting from it other than the fact that you can log into websites a little bit more easily,” says Andrew Lane, co-founder of digby, a Toronto-based digital design innovation company.

NFTs: One potentially transformative application for NFTs is the ability for creators to get compensated fairly for their creations and set the rules of what can and cannot be done with their work. “A loose definition of web3 is power to the creator,” says Tessa Bain, cofounder of digby. “It’s creating revenue opportunities for the original creator to see those in perpetuity, over the course of a product or service offering changing hands.”

NFTs give product manufacturers the ability to create certificates of authenticity to determine provenance and fight knockoffs, giving them an edge over counterfeiters. While that won’t stop people who don’t want to pay full price from buying reproductions, it will make it easier for customers to determine the provenance of an object and therefore ensure they don’t get ripped off buying fakes at full price or help them ensure resale value down the road, especially if they own a piece of furniture that is a genuine collectible.

Augmented reality (AR): while virtual reality (VR) is what most people focus on, AR holds more promise as another layer of information added to the real world. Imagine wearing glasses that can display information on the lenses. You could walk around while looking at information directly overlaid onto your surrounding environment.

Blockchain: the underlying technology behind crypto and NFTs, it is essentially a form of decentralized, encrypted record keeping that enables persistence through the existence of multiple copies of each record across the world; transparency, with public transactions, available for all to see; and security, with heavy encryption making the falsification of records theoretically impossible.

Below A still from the short film titled HyperReality by London-based designer Keiichi Matsuda, which explores (somewhat cheekily) how “technologies such as VR, augmented reality, wearables, and the internet of things are pointing to a world where technology will envelop every aspect of our lives,” according to the logline. (©2016 Keichii Matsuda)

The Real Deal

For as long as craftspeople have been designing and making products, forgers have been counterfeiting them. High-end furniture manufacturers know this scourge all too well, and now with the world shifting to a more digital marketplace issues of design legitimacy are evermore problematic. Toronto-based digby have stepped in to help designers and makers navigate this minefield with a new blockchain-based token product “designed to establish indisputable authenticity and protect intellectual property,” says its founders, Tessa Bain and Andrew Lane.

Called the digby Design Authenticator (DDA), it functions as “an irrefutable digital token to solidify the authenticity, offering a level of provenance not previously available to consumers,” and has entered the market with already one early adopter: Heller will be using the DDA on sales of its Vignelli Rocker , the last chair designed for the furniture brand by the late Lella and Massimo Vignelli in 2014 and now back in production.

What to Take Away and Leave Behind

A grand unified theory of web3 and the metaverse has yet to be formulated, but the key lesson is this: if the technology being considered solves a real-world problem for which no other solution exists, or what it offers is at least an order of magnitude better than what already exists, then it’s probably worth paying attention to.

If it has the potential to solve a real problem but is not mature enough to be implemented in the present, then it will need to be further developed, incurring costs and risks that should be carefully considered before getting involved. In all other cases, be wary of miracle solutions that haven’t been hardened in the forge of the marketplace, especially if they are only a proof-of-concept yet to be tested.

“The metaverse as I envision it is not here yet, but I see the internet as becoming the metaverse, or every website as its own mini-metaverse where all metaverse experiences are connected in some way,” says Derringer. “In a sense, I think it could simultaneously be a medium and a destination.”

The beauty of such an as-yet undefined new sector is that there is a little bit for everyone, so if any of these call to you, there is no harm in exploring, learning and if warranted, get involved in their development. An axiom that was true for Web 2.0 was “if you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer, you’re the product being sold.” All eyes will be on if web3 emancipates users from those shackles or just slides back to old habits.

Make, Build, Repeat

Limited access to robotics education is slowing down an industry already sluggish to adopt the exceptional potential this technology has for the built environment.

By David Correa, AnnaLisa Meyboom and Oliver David Krieg

Robots in construction and the idea of fully automated building sites is a persistent topic of conversation. While automation has changed virtually every industry, the making of buildings has managed to remain an elusive target. This may seem incongruent with the ever-pressing need for buildings and for more efficient building methods. So why are we not seeing robots on site? One reason is access to training. While most contractors these days are familiar with the presence of new apps and software in phones and laptops, access to industrial robots remains difficult, expensive and mysterious.

Given the breakneck speed of app development and 3D scanning capabilities, it is not difficult to project a future where real-time augmented reality in the latest iPhone will be used to design, estimate, diagnose or even direct on-site decisions during construction. Apps like this are not available yet, but the ubiquitous capabilities of system integration on a handheld device are now intuitive, and the capabilities of robots are not far behind. Industrial manipulators, also called robot arms, are of course larger but also technically less complex than smartphones — and significantly rarer. Like when computers first emerged and were scarce, special classes in “computer science” were necessary to introduce people to the new machines and their potential. Today there is no need for classes on how to look for a file in Windows. However, there is a distinct lack of training available in robotics within the field of building.

While various colleges in both Canada and the United States offer training for roboticists, this training typically relates to the operation of the robot — its design, movement control and sensor integration — not what the robot can do for any given field. This is like training to use a computer rather than challenging how we might work with it. There are only a few curricula worldwide that have the time and resources to tackle questions of what the building industry could look like if we used the level of system integration that automotive or aerospace design have achieved. This includes places like ETH, UniStuttgart or more locally Michigan. Even places like Harvard or MIT struggle as there is significant disciplinary boundaries and time with this equipment is difficult. Canada, typically, lags behind.

To expand education in robotics, several architecture faculties across Canada have procured industrial robots that are used to train a select number of architecture students — usually at the graduate or PhD level — and training is still rather limited. While Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto and University of Waterloo have invested resources, no school in Canada has a dedicated program to this research and very few have courses or studios that actually engage research in architecture or construction using robotics.

Even after graduation, students have limited access. In fact, limited or no access at all is the norm for most construction industry professionals seeking to use robots. Either a robot is fully occupied doing a routine task over millions of cycles or the robot is in maintenance. The time needed to “play with a robot” — that is, to really investigate what it can do for any given industry — is expensive and requires specialized space and a dedicated robot whisperer (think: someone enthusiastic that also happens to have both robotics expertise and interest in the AED industry).

Despite this gloomy scenario, there is a good business case for their use. Precision, reliability and endless potential for system integration via end effectors has transformed other industries, so why not building construction? In fact, a few industries are adopting the technology: wood fabricators such as Kalesnikoff Mass Timber and Nicola Logworks in British Columbia are using various robotic set ups. As well, prefab wall and housing manufacturers such as Paradigm Panels, Intelligent City and Promise Robotics are using robots for assembly of floor and wall components of wood buildings. These companies are sourcing their staff from universities teaching robotics worldwide, and they are gaining momentum.

Robotics and automation will inevitably challenge how buildings are made and by doing so they will foster long-overdue innovation. Understanding robotics, system flexibility and the potential for higher quality and lower tolerances is key to bringing efficiency to an industry that has barely changed in the last century. We are certainly in need of more opportunities for people within the industry as well as architecture and design students to train in this technology.

David Correa is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and a partner at experimental design collaboration llLab; AnnaLisa Meyboom is an associate professor in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia; and Oliver David Krieg is Chief Technology Officer at Intelligent City in Vancouver and an expert in computational design and digital fabrication in architecture.

David Correa

This spread A robotically fabricated temporary structure, called Millefeuille Pavilion, was installed at the University of British Columbia in June 2022 by students and professionals as part of a workshop exploring the roles of robots in timber fabrication hosted by the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) and Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP). The free-standing structure is a multi-layered plywood assembly that relies solely on precise wood-to-wood joinery.

Hot For Teacher

A

first-time revelation of the famous Swiss design institution’s teaching methodology.

By Leslie Jen

Published by Phaidon, The ECAL Manual of Style explores the pedagogical approach in product design over the past 20 years at the esteemed Swiss design school ECAL (École cantonale d’art de Lausanne). Currently under the directorship of designer Alexis Georgacopoulos (co-author of this publication along with American designer and writer Jonathan Olivares), ECAL has established itself as a leader in design education through an open-ended process that generates a diversity of innovative solutions. An expansive roster of seasoned practitioners brought in as workshop tutors ensures adherence to no single design agenda or philosophy.

Quotes and contributions from prominent designers such as Patricia Urquiola, Jaime Hayon, Konstantin Grcic, and British design critic and author Alice Rawsthorn respond to the question of “How to best teach design today?”— providing a foundation for the introduction of a selection of ECAL projects drawn from the past two decades. Historically, many of ECAL’s design projects have focused on food. Georgacopoulos himself led a studio called the Bread Workshop, in which the improbable medium of bread was explored in a plethora of ways, its material properties manifest in objects as varied as birdhouse, egg cup, basket, tile and brick, among others.

Critical and timely issues such as the environmental cost of excessive meat consumption were considered in The Sausage of the Future, a research and design project that proposed a meaningful solution to re-

Above middle Anatomical sausage model: Bangers and mash, 2014-2017. The Sausage of the Future Above Bread Workshop, Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne, France, 2000.

ducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Through extensive enquiry and collaboration with culinary experts, studio tutor Carolien Niebling and students proposed the artisanal design and production of sausages, where fruits, vegetables and insects comprise the meatalternative ingredients of mortadella, salami, boudin and pâté.

Associations with industry are a fundamental part of ECAL’s success; links between education and practice are seen in studios such as ECAL x Alessi, an Elric Petit-led project that brought together students with Italian housewares company Alessi to develop a new product category focused on the office and home study. The results were exhibited in Milan during the high-profile Salone del Mobile in 2011. Similarly, the work of students in the Bachelor in Industrial Design program was shown at Galerie kreo in Paris in 2015, curated by French furniture designer and ECAL instructor Ronan Bourollec. Alliances such as these establish new standards for the quality of work a school and its students can produce, and have become an integral element of ECAL’s pedagogical methodology.

Leslie Jen is the former Associate Editor of  Canadian Architect and an architecture and design journalist based in Toronto.

Above middle: Younès Klouche; above right: Pierre Fantys

Above middle: Originally published in Gropius: An Illustrated Biography of the Creator of the Bauhaus , Reginald Isaacs, Bullfinch Press, 1991; above right: Originally published in The Architects Collaborative: Process Architecture No.19 TAC , The Heritage of Walter Gropius, October 1980

In Human Scale

A new Gropius biography

By Bulent Akman

A new biography of Walter Gropius offers fresh insights into the life behind some of the most iconic designs of the 20th century. The researchers selected for this project are Bauhaus scholars Leyla Daybelge and Magnus Englund, whose 2019 book, Isokon and the Bauhaus in Britain, examine Gropius’ time in London in the 1930s. Readers familiar with that title will know to expect an objective-yet-sympathetic approach in this new biography which is both accessible and arguably the most accurate portrait of Gropius thus far.

In terms of balanced reporting, Walter Gropius, An Illustrated Biography, published by Phaidon, falls somewhere between the unabashedly celebratory portrait of Gropius by Fiona McCarthy in her 2019 biography

Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus and the lambasting delivered by Tom Wolfe in his 1985 polemic From Bauhaus to Our House.

Inside, Gropius’ life is crisply narrated from his very early childhood in Berlin through his time as an officer in a Hussar cavalry regiment to his class and political disillusionment with what he termed his bourgeois contemporaries then finally to his exodus first to England and then the United States. For supporting evidence, the biography presents a plethora of photographs, letters, sketches and other ephemera to accompany the text, fully 377 illustrations in 320 pages.

While organized into chapters, the reader is led confidently and seamlessly through each period of Walter Gropius’ life. But what sets this book apart is how it humanizes Gropius rather than celebrates or vilifies him. With his impact on design and architecture arguably no longer an is-

sue, the authors of this new biography proffer a portrait of Walter Adolph Georg Gropius as a complex, wilful, sensitive, loving, and ultimately, human-scale individual who valued cooperation and collegiality as much as, if not more than, his professional concerns.

Bulent Akman teaches Writing Design Manifestos; Social Competences for Designers (School of Form); and Audio-Visual Publishing (Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology New Media Department). He lives in Warsaw, Poland.

humanizes the Bauhaus luminary.

Above middle Walter Gropius, Spain, circa 1907. Above Drawing of the north elevation for the Pan Am Building, New York.

Tunnel revitalization project offers peace and respite. Channeling Empathy

By Peter Sobchak

It is rare to hear people associate “joy” with their hospital experience, but research shows that art can have a powerful affect on wellbeing. This was the inspiration behind the newly renovated two-kilometrelong underground tunnel system connecting SickKids, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and Toronto Rehab. “They are used by caretakers to transport their patients on gurneys if a specialized procedure not offered in the patient’s hospital is needed. They had fallen into neglect and disrepair and formed a dreary maze difficult to navigate,” says Stefan Sagmeister, an Austrian-born, U.S.-based designer and typographer with a client list that includes the Rolling Stones and the Guggenheim Museum, and who spearheaded the project funded by the Weston Family Foundation.

“Working very closely with designer Linus Lohoff, we created a colour palette directly inspired by Canada’s flora featuring lots of muted blues, earthy ochres, and piny greens. We tried to create designs

hovering between pure abstraction and nature representation. We pur posefully including clichés like flowers, birds, and butterflies. We wanted the imagery to be open enough to let your mind wonder and concrete enough to give direction to that wondering,” he says.

“Besides transporting patients from one facility to another, the hos pitals utilized these tunnels as storage space for surplus hospital beds and medical waste dumpsters. Many walls and some ceilings were cluttered with pipes of every size, emergency boxes and elec trical cabinets. To successfully negotiate the elimination of all these elements seemed impossible, considering the involvement of five different hospital bureaucracies. So, we decided to embrace these conditions and use them as the starting point for our designs: birds wound up chirping from electrical boxes and spiders descended on strings from steam pipes.” As a final touch, a soundtrack of calming classical music composed and performed by Victoria Hong, has re cently been installed.

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