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BEYOND M AT E R I A L
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11/122020 12 14 15 16
Le Diamant Theatre The Osler Bluff Ski Club Springdale Library & Komagata Maru Park College of New Caledonia - Heavy Mechanical Trades Training Facility Centennial Planetarium Madrina Hôtel Château Laurier Le Studio Minéral Sidewalk Citizen Constantini Ltd. Corporate Offices Desjardins - Montréal Tower Clerk’s Offices at Halifax City Hall Lightspeed Hillpark Capital The Smart City Sandbox Woodhouse
32 33 34 35 36 37 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31
Reinvention in Colour Wrap House South House Smith Residence Waverly Residence ShadowBox Milky’s Mujosh Canada Goose SKP Concept Store Memory Labs GMEC Showroom New Circadia (Adventures in Mental Spelunking) My Time to Shine Clément Bench F40/M50 stool Felt Collection Next Generation WashBar Patkau Twist Chair
COVER – Le Diamant Theatre in Québec City. Photograph by Stephane Groleau
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November | December 2020 / V57 #6
Senior Publisher
Martin Spreer
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We find ourselves in uncertain times, but what is still a certainty is how much exceptional talent Canada has to offer when it comes to the very best interior Projects and Products. By Peter Sobchak
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The year 2020 will go down as a crazy one, no question about it. The perfect storm of foreseeable and unforeseeable circumstances has made us all collectively scratch our heads and grumble “WTF?!” Perhaps it is a sensitivity to this confluence of abnormality that shines a light on the numerical order of this year’s 23rd annual Best of Canada Awards, but it turns out the number 23 carries a lot of peculiar significance. A small sampling of examples include: John Forbes Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and subject of A Beautiful Mind, was obsessed with 23; the nuclei of human cells have 46 chromosomes made out of 23 pairs; sports stars such as Michael Jordan and David Beckham wore the number on their jerseys (with equally-famous athletes wearing its reverse in deference); and a group called 23rdians subscribe to the mystical power of 23 and see it throughout daily life. Coincidences? Of course. But fun ones, nonetheless. While the numerical designation has changed, Canadian Interiors’ Best of Canada Design Competition hasn’t: it is still the country’s only design competition to focus on interior design projects and products without regard to size, budget or location. Submissions from interior PROJECTS JUDGES
Deborah Moss, Betsy Williamson, Dyonne Fashina and Trevor Kruse.
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CUSTOM LIGHTING MADE FOR YOU Residential Condominium Hospitality
Ultimately, a total of 35 winners were chosen, which include five Products and 30 Projects representing a cross-Canada spectrum. When it came time to select the Project of the Year, the judges debated at length until finally selecting Le Diamant Theatre, the rehabilitation of an old YMCA in Québec City into the new home for a theatre company. The Best of Canada Awards also continues to celebrate the exceptional work of Canada’s product designers. With the Judges’ Pick, one of the Products category winners got the nod for a trip package to attend Maison+Objet Paris as a VIP in 2021, thanks to the ongoing generous sponsorship of Maison+Objet. This honour goes to Patkau Architects for their Twist Chair. “There is a delightful elegance to the shape of the shell. You instantly get its form but then wonder how the hell is the leg connection structure strong enough?” says Krüger. “There are no visible fasteners or increased material thickness to reveal how it is done, it’s quite mysterious really. This may cause concern to some users, but I found it was this mystery that made it such a beautiful, sculptural piece.” Garcia adds, “Having attended many trade fairs in Europe, I felt that the level of design is right up there with the top designers. The organic shapes evoke comfort and make for a good-looking sculpture that is very sellable. And hello! It’s made in CANADA!” Congratulations to all 35 winners!
CIPHER LAMPS BY YABU PUSHELBERG
Two categories of Projects and Products require distinct judging exercises, which were held on separate days, both at the Teknion Toronto Collaboration Hub and with Teknion’s support. A stellar group of designers stepped up to tackle the daunting task of reviewing the submissions and selecting this year’s cream of the crop. For Projects we recruited: Dyonne Fashina, principal at Denizens of Design; Deborah Moss, principal of Moss & Lam; Betsy Williamson, principal of Williamson Williamson; and Trevor Kruse, CEO of Interior Designers of Canada (IDC). On the Products side, three judges put their expertise to work analyzing material from an impressive list of candidates: Desmond Chan, cofounder of COFO Design Inc.; Paul Krüger, principal at Modus ID; and Nathaniel Garcia, president of Garcia Rep Group.
DUNA BY ZAHA HADID
designers, architects, interior architects, decorators, and crafts persons came pouring in, contributing to a record number of entrants.
CONGRATULATIONS TO BEST OF CANADA WINNERS
PRODUCT JUDGES
AMSTUDIO.CA Nathaniel Garcia, Paul Krüger and Desmond Chan.
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1270 Castlefield Ave. | Toronto | 416.783.4100
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PROJECT OF THE YEAR Le Diamant Theatre, Québec City Coarchitecture, Québec City / Atelier In Situ, Montréal / Jacques Plante architecte, Québec City Photography: Stephane Groleau
“Theatre is a mirror, a sharp reflection of society,” said French playwright, novelist and screenwriter Yasmina Reza, and what is true spiritually can also be true physically. Echoing the site’s previous life — an abandoned YMCA beside the Cinéma de Paris — this new hall evokes a game of mirrors and reflections, as did the original Art Deco styled hall, using reflective and parallel black surfaces which make up the ceiling, walls, and floors. This game of mirrored images gives the impression of entering a diamond (its name in English), while artifacts from the original hall are reinstalled on the walls and glazed display boxes transformed into a digital display system bear witness to the past. In the heart of the building a luminous triangular void rises several levels, one side defined by a large glass wall slicing diagonally through the former YMCA, and the other side by the theatre’s new opaque volume in exposed concrete. The lobby is warmed by a new wood floor, salvaged wooden structures from old partitions, and moulded ceilings conjuring ghosts of past rooms which formerly defined the place. A monumental staircase covered in wood travels vertically through the void’s centre, and within the actual theatre rise walls of black-dyed engraved wood over two levels on the YMCA’s façade.
The challenge with adaptive reuse projects is to honour the heritage of the original architecture while creating a space empathetic to contemporary users. Le Diamant Theatre is a breathtaking expression of exceptional detailing, informed with a deep sensitivity for the building’s past. The design team has distilled the structure’s bones, reinterpreted its visual language through motif, and simultaneously created a dramatic study of shadow and light.
“This project successfully takes a complex collection of spaces and creates unique moments that each respond beautifully to their contexts and functions. The design embraces both the heritage and the contemporary and reinterprets the relationships of figure to space,” says judge Betsy Williamson, principal of Williamson Williamson. “For example, how the historic framing becomes a decorative object or how the plywood walkway reaches through the lobby. This team has created spaces that link to the history of the existing buildings but don’t succumb to the need for them to be too precious.” CANADIAN INTERIORS 11/12 2020
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— Dyonne Fashina, principal, Denizens of Design
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INSTITUTIONAL
It seamlessly incorporates a cutting-edge theatre with an intimate gathering space that respectfully reveals heritage aspects of the site along with sophisticated contemporary design gestures.
Drama and restraint are mutually evident, from the bravado auditorium and plywood staircase to sensitive but witty treatment of architectural and decorative layering within the original building.
— Trevor Kruse, CEO, Interior Designers of Canada (IDC)
— Deborah Moss, principal, Moss & Lam
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INSTITUTIONAL The Osler Bluff Ski Club, The Blue Mountains, Ont. Williamson Williamson Inc., Toronto Photography: Doublespace Photography
While beloved by members, the 46-year-old heavy timber and coreslab structure was showing its age: overcrowded seating; poor flow between the change rooms and social spaces; and a deafening aprèsski experience were becoming taxing. To improve and expand the clubhouse, the team followed a resolution of tying together old and new structures while capturing the importance of historic timber. New Y-columns reinterpret the existing heavy timbers and are CNCmilled to mimic the soft profiles of hand-carved wood skis. A new Douglas Fir acoustic ceiling runs through the project and aligns with the lower face of the existing timber frames, dramatically reducing decibel levels while allowing the new sprinkler system and lighting to be concealed, giving the clubhouse the feeling of a wooden tent. Reusing exterior timber meant a new slope-side façade, which replaced 40-year-old single-glazed windows with a timber-backed curtainwall, which now encapsulates the timber, protecting it from the elements.
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INSTITUTIONAL Springdale Library & Komagata Maru Park, Brampton, Ont. RDH Architects, Toronto Photography: Nic Lehoux
Several major architectural moves are employed to weave together a multi-programmed library and community room. For example, the design team collaborated with Brady Peters, a generative design specialist at the University of Toronto, to create a solar-responsive ceramic frit pattern on the building’s windows. Its striated patterns range from white to dark grey, expanding and contracting based on solar orientations while also visually merging with a series of stainless steel rods that add an additional layer of solar resistance while supporting the glazed units and forming the courtyard enclosures. These elements are conceived as a functional abstraction of two combined metaphors: the turning pages of a library book and the trunks of trees in a forest. Then, of course, there is the oculi. Fashioned from perforated drywall fixed to off-the-shelf framing components, it tempers noise levels, creatively spreads light within the library, and combines awe and wonder with an unusual sense of shelter and togetherness.
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INSTITUTIONAL College of New Caledonia - Heavy Mechanical Trades Training Facility, Prince George, B.C. Office of Mcfarlane Biggar Architects + Designers, Vancouver Photography: Latreille Architectural Photography
This region of northern British Columbia supports a variety of resource-based industries that operate in rugged natural landscapes, and many of these industries depend on the use of sophisticated large-scale vehicles and equipment. To support these industries, the College of New Caledonia added a new building to its Main Campus that includes state-of-the-art workshops, engine testing labs, tool and heavy equipment training and storage, and computer spaces to provide both training and the development of expertise to service this critical equipment. Both employing and re-interpreting a design vernacular of industrial typologies, the superstructure is defined by exposed steel and masonry, celebrated for its rawness, plus other small material embellishments such as blackened steel, locally sourced veneered plywood, and a weathered steel faรงade. Balancing this robust palette is a bold interplay of solid and void highlighted by the abundant use of daylight from the low arc of the northern sun.
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INSTITUTIONAL Centennial Planetarium, Calgary Lemay, Calgary Photography: Jamie Anholt
Initially not knowing who the end user would be, the design team focused on what they had: a landmark of historic significance that needed a rigorous yet respectful updating to prep it for new use. Adopting a guiding principle of “meaningful contrast� led the team to leave select aspects of the original building not only untouched, but revealed through glass, as one would an art piece. Where new materials were incorporated, care was taken to make the design language visibly different than its surroundings. For example, new gypsum ceilings implement contemporary curvilinear forms which contrast, yet enhance, the adjacent exposed concrete finishes. Careful consideration was also given to the appearance and routing of upgraded mechanical and electrical components. This allowed for the redefinition of space, including the transformation of a large, segregated, former storage space below the dome theatre into a new premier art gallery space.
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HOSPITALITY Madrina, Toronto Studio Munge, Toronto Photography: Maxime Brouillet
Restauranteurs Mathew Rosenblatt and John Berman have brought a new Spanish culinary destination to Toronto’s Historic Distillery District, and with it a veritable spice rack of Catalan inspirations. Various shades of amber, cinnamon, and terracotta create a strong first impression, even before the eyes settle on layered mahogany arches that frame the 37-foot bar and expose the open kitchen. Among the memorable touches are handmade fluted terracotta tiles fronting the bar; chain sculpted lights; and a terraza framed by custom laser cut metal banquettes. While the smooth curvatures of Spanish architecture are everywhere, so too are contemporary artifacts peppered throughout the space, such as terracotta pottery by artist Eny Parker Lee; and minimalist abstract paintings by Mattea Perrotta line heritage walls composed of century old stone in a nice contrast.
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HOSPITALITY Hôtel Château Laurier, Québec City Hatem+D / Étienne Bernier Architecture, Québec City Photography: Jessy Bernier
Even venerable establishments need a tune up from time to time. Here the owners wanted an expansion of the reception and administration spaces in a way that injects some new energy while also preserving the established character. To achieve this, the first step for the designers was to enlarge the main entrance and insert a rotating door to increase both light penetration and visibility from Grand-Allée Street. Once inside, an imposing new fireplace helps delineate zone functions, with a co-working space, library and wine bar on one side, a Gourmande Boutique on the other and the stone reception desk under custom-designed lighting in the middle. Behind, the wooden panels carved into arches conceal a new area for administration. Throughout, a material palette of stone and wood in neutral tones convey a certain modernity while retaining Château Laurier’s sophisticated reputation.
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HOSPITALITY Le Studio, Québec City Hatem+D / Étienne Bernier Architecture, Québec City Photography: Dave Tremblay
Carved out of the ground floor of Grand Théâtre de Québec, Le Studio is a new venue dedicated to digital and stage art. Immediately noticeable from the outside, the colour red dominates one of two zones, where the bar and stage are located. Here, fluid textures and shapes are on display with velvet draperies, curved furniture and the unmissable custom-designed linear light fixtures, designed with a nod to the rhythm of bulbs surrounding mirrors in performers’ dressing rooms. In stark contrast to the sensual riot of red, the second zone is sheathed in black and acts as a blank canvas for both the art and the patrons themselves. To avoid distractions, technical systems are cleverly concealed and can be brought in as necessary on a floor-mounted track system.
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HOSPITALITY Minéral, Montréal Blanchette Architectes, Montréal Photography: Atelier Welldone
When the clients asked for a wine bar by day and a nightclub by night, the architects imagined an evolving scenic design where sound, light and colours emanate from the architecture like raw materials in a way that creates three distinct ambiances that succeed each other as the night goes on, staying with guests from their first after-work cocktail until late at night. Light shows are projected onto wall-mounted canvases, reminiscent of art installations like those of James Turrell, while throughout the rest of the space materials such as wood, metal, leather and polycarbonate were used as the backdrop for the dramatic lighting. The bar itself is rendered in black-lacquered wood, and an imposing, Japaneseinspired wooden ceiling structure is a nod to wine cellars. Plants growing between the polycarbonate panels complete the scene and help create a dreamy, mysterious landscape.
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HOSPITALITY Sidewalk Citizen, Calgary Studio North, Calgary Photography: Hayden Pattullo
As Calgary’s first public park and a recently designated national historic site, Central Memorial Park is a pillar in the city’s urban fabric. It carries all the hallmarks of a modern urban park, however early in its life the Park once featured “garden rooms,” semi-enclosed spaces for picnicking amongst the greenery. This obscure, not well-documented detail formed the inspiration for the design of a new restaurant renovation and solarium addition. A dramatic vaulted lattice made entirely of fir plywood, inspired by beehives and old plant nurseries, functions as both columns for the wall structure and rafters for the roof of the solarium. A large garage door gives views out to the park and blends indoor and outdoor event space during the summer months, and the space is passively heated by translucent polycarbonate cladding and two fireplaces, which helps extend the patio season into winter. The cladding also has high levels of UV transmission, which helps the growth of many plants throughout the restaurant.
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OFFICE Constantini Ltd. Corporate Offices, Vancouver RUFproject, Vancouver Photography: Ema Peter
Occupying half of the ninth floor of a new office building in downtown Vancouver, a successful family owned agribusiness focused on trading, logistics and processing was in the midst of a transition from father to son, which gave the company and the design team the opportunity to explore a new chapter for the office environment. Utilizing classic lines and refined materials juxtaposed with curved organic forms and progressive lighting, the designers jettisoned the use of walls, instead balancing open spaces with defined meeting and break out spaces through millwork. The boardroom is made from sections of curved overlapping glass and walnut panels giving the space a simultaneously open yet intimate expression. Being family run is important to the company, both in function and presentation, so totems such as a family table and fully functioning kitchen with bar capacity were given pride of place, as the social nucleus within which camaraderie is strengthened.
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OFFICE Desjardins - Montréal Tower Provencher_Roy, Montréal Photography: Stéphane Brügger
Montréal’s 1976 Olympic Summer Games left a built legacy that is, shall we say, idiosyncratic. For example, the Tower’s original purpose to host sports associations and athletes-in-training never came true, but that did not mean it was beyond saving. Hence work began in 2015 to renovate and give it new life as office space. Design teams replaced an existing prefabricated concrete envelope with a curtain wall, enhancing natural light and giving interior designers a new toolbox to work with. Now the first tenants, the employees of Desjardins Movement’s online services, are reminded that they inhabit a symbol: an architectural promenade along the windows enables unobstructed views of the stadium, tower and city. That concrete colour palette is brought inside with neutral tones on the walls and light grey or marbled floor coverings in the spacious rooms. Elsewhere, the detail of the waiting area’s poppy-shaped ceiling evokes the orange hue of the original retractable roof of the Big “O”, as seen from the inside.
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OFFICE Clerk’s Offices at Halifax City Hall, Halifax Abbott Brown Architects, Halifax Photography: Julian Parkinson
Like a palimpsest, this project is all about peeling back the layers of over 130 years of renovations and subdivisions that rendered the environment dark and uninviting, to bring a historic piece of Halifax’s urban fabric back to prominence. The new design protects freshly exposed brickwork through minimal use of drywall, digitally printed glass screens and high-gloss millwork finishes. Ceilings remain open, with exposed services and suspended lighting, and the new palette is limited to warm ash, birch and ephemeral glass. In deference to the building culture of City Hall there is special attention to craft, with limited use of pre-finished commercial systems. Doors are over-height, hand-made of ash and assembled in situ. A ribbon of ash screens flows through the reception area, with freestanding wood millwork elements delineating and defining spaces.
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OFFICE Lightspeed, Montréal ACDF Architecture Inc., Montréal Photography: Maxime Brouillet
A rapidly growing tech company had nowhere to go but up. Literally, into the attic of their own building. The design team was called in to transform narrow and cramped linear storage and informal swing space into training, meeting and working areas: hard to do with an awkward corridor and practically no light. But that corridor became the narrative key, a “passage from one space to another.” It starts with exiting the elevators, when one’s eyes must adjust to a dark environment, after which it becomes a game of reveal and reflect: white oak bleachers and a brick wall around a semicircular training room intermingle with bright white geometric reflections of the corridors, along which are grouped meeting rooms, phone booth and services, before connecting to the working areas. “Through various deformations and narrowing of space, the anamorphic geometry of the white corridors accentuates this idea of passage,” say the designers.
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OFFICE Hillpark Capital, Montréal TBA | Thomas Balaban Architect, Montréal Photography: TBA
When your workforce is young and millennial-skewed, the trend these days is to present an office environment that hews fairly close to a home aesthetic popular in tech companies. But if your industry is conservative, that is not necessarily the direction to take. So, for this young real estate company, the designers chose a more gallery type paradigm that utilizes the low-rise building’s unique 1970s precast openings. The ribbon of truncated diamond shaped windows provides both graphic continuity and abundant natural light to the shallow floorplate. Below the windows, refurbished fin tube radiators are dressed in continuous custom covers that add a clever transition from the clean white walls to the hectic aggregate of the polished floor. That original concrete floor is juxtaposed by new minimal surfaces and complemented by modern furniture pieces, walnut paneling, and a conference room partition filtered by CNC perforated panels that mimic the tree canopy surrounding the office.
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OFFICE The Smart City Sandbox, Toronto IBI Group Architects (Canada) Inc., Toronto Photography: Ben Rahn/ A-Frame Studio
True to its name, this is a place intended to encourage creative types to play well with others: specifically technology developers, whose ideas are incubated, cultivated and accelerated in the hopes of being shared both in-house and externally. Upon entering through an energetic light portal, intense black surfaces become the dramatic backdrop against which three different zones co-locate: a central collaboration area with movable furniture, seated and counter-height shared tables and portable tech screens used to facilitate events and team meetings; a heads-down work area; and several colour-saturated “boxes� that provide both individual and group work space.
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RESIDENTIAL Woodhouse, Singhampton, Ont. superkĂźl, Toronto Photography: Alex Fradkin / Kayla Rocca
Comprised of an existing 19th-century log cabin connected to a dark, linear horizontal modern addition by a glazed link, the two building forms are unified into a cohesive whole through the material expression of exterior cladding materials: riffing on the roughhewn logs of the old cabin, charred wood siding is a modern interpretation that ensures visual and textural continuity. Within the modern addition, an exterior breezeway divides public and private functions. Sealed concrete comprises the flooring throughout most of the house, while interior walls and sculpturally articulated ceilings are sheathed in whitewashed birch plywood, reflecting the texture of the raw wood interior of the log cabin. Custom-fabricated powder-coated steel accents and RAB light fixtures were specified in black, and tilt-and-turn windows with a black aluminum exterior finish create a seamlessly defined exterior envelope. Operable skylights and glazed walls that can be slid open reflect the goal of creating a seamless flow between interior and exterior spaces.
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RESIDENTIAL Reinvention in Colour, Toronto ASQUITH Architecture, Toronto / Julie Reinhart Design, Toronto Photography: Nanne Springer
An existing century old two-storey brick house full of dark stained wood, small rooms and small windows was in dire need of more light, improved views and one vital ingredient: colour. With a nod to Mexico City, the native city of one of the clients, colour drove much of the design and is used as a narrative throughout. The kitchen, with its bright backdrop of cabinets in teal with orange and yellow accents, serves as the anchor and main hub of the house. Elsewhere, rejuvenated spaces each have a burst of colour against a bright white backdrop: an existing traditional stair was maintained but painted in teal with an ombre treatment that fades at each riser; and the basement floor of the existing house was lowered to provide a high, light-filled basement that serves as a family room and playroom for the kids.
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RESIDENTIAL Wrap House, Toronto Kohn Shnier Architects, Toronto Photography: Doublespace Photography
This re-imagination of a 1980s side-split into a new single-family home is achieved through a street-facing addition and a complete interior renovation comprised of a new “architectural wrap” of a master suite and a completely new entry sequence. “We took advantage of the existing side-split typology to reinterpret ‘interior terraced’ living that offers the family both transitional flows and places of repose,” say the designers. By employing a series of views, transparencies and reflections, the house has become a progression of small episodes that play with the perception and illusion of space, an exercise intended to “stimulate the psychological experience of the inhabitants by providing spaces of repose and meditation.”
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RESIDENTIAL South House, Mississauga, Ont. Giaimo, Toronto Photography: Doublespace Photography
Formally, the design attempts an integrated approach between old and new, and the response is a geometry that meets the simple archetypal bungalow form with an equally simple box form. The interior acknowledges the relationship between the levels of the original raised bungalow and exterior grade. The north wall forms part of a generously sized hall that connects the existing main floor, grade, and lower level, creating a range of sequences and connections between the levels. The blending of woods is concentrated in the new hall addition, represented by the original exterior sheathing, maple hardwood flooring, maple veneer plywood walls and ceiling, raw lumber structure, and OSB panels. The ceiling is marked by a sequence of skylights which bring an abundance of light into the space, further highlighting the hall’s position within the home.
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RESIDENTIAL Smith Residence, rural Nova Scotia MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, Halifax Photography: Doublespace Photography
A vacation home perched on a stone acropolis, the project consists of three structures: a day pavilion; night pavilion; and shed. The day pavilion contains the social functions of kitchen, dining, and living. Structural frames at 12-ft. centres establish the rhythm of the space. A polished concrete floor is contrasted by white ash plywood ceiling. Two totemic elements punctuate the pavilion: a 28-foot free-standing kitchen core and island; and a 16-foot granite fireplace with a 10-ton mantle stone. A granite wine cellar is hidden beneath the kitchen, accessed by a secret white ash trap door and staircase. One crosses the granite plinth to access the night pavilion, which is mirrored in the infinity hot tub. The cantilevered Corten ‘bite’ frames views to the landscape on entry. The bedroom is a minimalist white wooden volume, with a sunken, white ash ‘vessel’ below.
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RESIDENTIAL Waverly Residence, Montréal Mainstudio, Montréal Photography: Felix Michaud
This 1,010-sq.-ft. duplex located in Montréal is minimal in design yet strong on form and function. Expansive windows and abundant fenestration maximize natural light but also offers geometric simplicity, a feature echoed in arched doorways throughout. Walls washed in white are combined with warm pinewood and terracotta flooring to capture a sense of calm and airiness. For the owners, a highlight is the white walled with black industrial accented kitchen connected effortlessly to the backyard, blurring the interfaces between indoor and outdoor living.
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RESIDENTIAL ShadowBox, Toronto Johnson Chou, Toronto Photography: Ben Rahn/ A-Frame Studio
“The residence was envisioned as an instrument for the appreciation of the profound ephemerality of time,” say the designers. Light is the chosen medium to express this ephemerality, and the interior walls act as a blank canvas capturing the shadows of light’s daily form and movements. Because the house faces a busy arterial road, the exterior openings were minimized to a single horizontal strip window and entrance is accessed through a side lane. From the one-storey kitchen, the dining room is double-height, enclosed by a powder room clad in statuario marble tiles, a second floor bridge, a flight of stairs and overlooks the triple-height living room, invoking a sense of expansion or compression as one flows through the home. A large east-facing window in the kitchen appropriates views of an enclosed courtyard and appears to extend the kitchen cabinetry and island, thereby blurring interior and exterior spaces.
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sales@lumitone.ca 1-800-268-7744 www.lumitone.ca CI N-D 20.indd 38
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RETAIL Milky’s, Toronto Batay-Csorba Architects, Toronto Photography: Doublespace Photography
In a hurry? Got somewhere to go? Milky’s wants to improve your day with caffeine. Occupying a space too small to linger in, they wanted the grab-n-go experience to be dazzling. It begins with wrapping the floor, walls and ceiling with 1,300 modular wooden panels and interlocking marble segments “typically reserved for the highly formal and repetitive patterns derived from traditional inlay decoration,” say the designers. “The modular logic of this system is instead used as a framework for disrupting such static patterning, with interlocking pieces of light and dark wood producing a high-contrast tessellation which shifts and realigns in a series of strata, enveloping the customer in a sort of ‘caffeinated’ space.” All other elements within the space become camouflaged within this graphic counterpoint; thin metal shelves slotted into the patterns; sleek white countertops; cabinetry and equipment powder-coated white to blend into the background; and floor to ceiling glass frontage, casting the interior in vivid light such that the dynamic patterning becomes the dominant focus.
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RETAIL Mujosh, Richmond Hill, Ont. Mujosh design team, executed by / in co-operation with Studio Yimu & designer Zoe Lee, Toronto Photography: Naomi Finlay / Scott Norsworthy
Breaking away from traditional eyeglasses display designs seen in malls — bright white surfaces cluttered with intimidating displays — this store employs a warmer, more welcoming palette to attract a younger, hip crowd. The two main design features of the store are the island to showcase Mujosh’s best-selling product, and a cashier desk at the back surrounded by a feature wood panel engraved with subtle line drawings showcasing the product. The space conveys the brand’s typical colour palette: wood sets the overall tone; gold outlining the contours; and teal green dotted in it. The gold accents highlight the storefront, frame the display fixture, ceiling design and then blend into decorative details, while stylish terrazzo flooring adds a luxurious yet calming aura. Then to top it off, metal and leather signage is slyly incorporated, giving a slight whiff of vintage to the space.
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RETAIL Canada Goose SKP Concept Store, Beijing GH+A Design Studios, Montréal Photography: Zhong Hai
Working in conjunction with the Canada Goose store development team, the goal was to inject the Canadian mythos of “Northward” into the competitive Chinese retail landscape. Dazzled by jagged ice and rock motifs suggestive of the Canadian Arctic, shoppers in Beijing’s Shin Kong Place mall are surrounded by organic faceted walls composed of troweled concrete panels, while moody black niches frame the products. Dominating the space is a ceiling art installation created by Shanghai-born Chinese-American artist Juju Wang, who was inspired by the glacial lakes and frozen expanse of northern Canada. “The fragmented design aesthetic of the architecture is carried into the all-white product display plinths which appear to rise organically form the matching flooring,” say the designers. “This effect creates a striking monolithic environment that appears to have been chiselled from a single block of stone and ice.”
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RETAIL Memory Labs, Toronto superkĂźl, Toronto Photography: Scott Norsworthy
How do you sell something that has no tangibility? How do you sell emotions? That is what the design team had to figure out in creating a retail space for a company that digitizes to museumquality standards analogue media like family photos and videos. The solution was to blend past and present. Materially, white oak and porcelain tiles dominate, but instead of traditional decorative motifs, contrasting shades and geometry are used to recall the circular shapes of camera lenses, rings and dials. This is continued on the bean-shaped service counter, fabricated in powder-coated steel in the company’s brand colour of Hague Blue, flanked by a pair of custom-designed pendant light fixtures in stainless steel that resemble a cluster of vintage camera flash bulbs and backed by pale grey fabric panels that contrast predominantly hard surfaces. Modern technology is represented opposite the counter with four extra-large monitors mounted on a video memory wall displaying final products as a gallery of memories. CANADIAN INTERIORS 11/12 2020
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RETAIL GMEC Showroom, Toronto Dialogue 38, Toronto Photography: Kerun Ip
When architects and designers go shopping for product, they want more than just your average retail environment. Such was the case for a lighting solutions manufacturer of advanced LED fixtures, who asked the design team to create an office and showroom space that would meet the exacting demands of a clientele with unique professional requirements. The design features considered the need to assess the quality of light: the colour and distribution of light and the kinds of activities with which the lighting engages. This was done in several discrete showcases that allow for the individual properties of the light fixture and its quality of light to be assessed and appreciated independently from the influence of other fixtures. The showcases themselves evoke the sense of a museum or gallery that houses precious objects.
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EXHIBIT New Circadia (Adventures in Mental Spelunking), Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto Photography: Bob Gundu
A 7,500-sq.-ft. gallery space in the subterranean level of an architecture school wasn’t given over to an art exhibit so much as turned into a soft underground cave, a place where if you were a student coming out of an exam you’d want to hole up in for a while — which was exactly the designers’ intent. Dim lighting, white noise and soft surfaces were meant as an antidote to the effects of normal architectural practice, encouraging states of rest and repose as a counterpoint to our plugged-in 24/7 culture. Visitors first entered through a Transitory Zone illuminated with an artificial skylight created via digital technology to give the impression of perpetual daylight. Here, guests donned a variety of body wearables, or “spelunking” gear, meant to comfort the body. Then, moving through a felt envelope, participants enter the Dark Zone, a rock-like lounge-scape covered in thick, soft felt and animated with responsive sound and light. Upon exiting, a third zone called Oneiroi is where visitors could record their impressions and listen to those left by others. CANADIAN INTERIORS 11/12 2020
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EXHIBIT My Time to Shine, Toronto Giaimo, Toronto Photography: Giaimo
Once a year, artists and designers are invited to transform rooms in The Gladstone Hotel into experimental canvases as part of the popular Come Up to My Room exhibit, itself a crowd-pleasing pillar of the city-wide DesignTO Festival. The output is eclectic, with creators tapping into a diverse spectrum of influences, but at this year’s event, Giaimo didn’t have to look far for inspiration: the building itself became their muse. As Toronto’s oldest continually operating hotel with a history stretching back nearly 130 years, The Gladstone carries a rich architecture accented with delightful ornamental embellishments that the designers wanted to highlight. The process began by studying and documenting the building’s details, then reimagining and configuring them on large printed acetate sheets which were framed on wall surfaces and the floor, and then illuminated by a captivating interplay of light and shadow textures that animated the room.
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PRODUCT Clément Bench Blanchette Architectes, Montréal Photography: Atelier Welldone
The Nordic influence is apparent in Québec’s architecture and design vernacular, and this bespoke bench is a perfect example of that. Balanced on slim, solid wood legs, the compact minimalist body puts all of its effort into showcasing the contrasting materials from which it is made: white oak juxtaposed with industrial felt. A composition based around an offset arrangement of alternating vertical panels placed side by side creates an interesting dialogue about proportions and materials, especially given the traditional nobility and stability of white oak and a common manufactured product such as industrial felt, whose colour in this case depends on the loads of fabric offcuts from which it is made. But that dialogue is essential to the bench’s ethos. “Designed to be shared, this spacious bench is a seat that invites social interaction,” say its designers. “It offers a framework for an inclusive social model, where sharing one’s immediate space can lead to enriching interactions with others.”
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PRODUCT F40/M50 stool Fig40, Toronto Photography: Walter Lai
A passion for craftsmanship and a passion for cycling is what brought Mariposa Bicycles and Fig40 together for this project. Built to celebrate Mariposa’s 50 years of constructing bicycle frames using traditional “lugged” steel — a process with little or no tube bending and all joints created by welding steel tubes together with a cast steel lug — the stool is built using traditional bicycle parts such as lugs, tubing and paint in the Mariposa workshop. Both the crown and baseplates at the top of the stool are made in a local Toronto workshop, and the pieces are joined using a brazing process with brass filler metal to create a strong permanent bond. The stool sits at bar height, and actual bicycle frame lugs are used to make the lower footrest connections in the frame. Horizontal coloured bands, inspired by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) world champion jersey colours, are spray-painted by hand with a special bicycle paint and later baked on to give strong scratch resistant finish, then topped with a varnished oak seat.
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PRODUCT Felt Collection Stacklab, Toronto Photography: Rajeshta Julatum
Anyone who has been following the work of this aggressively innovative design troop should immediately recognize this collection as a defining part of the Stacklab family. Or better yet, an evolution of the family, as pieces have been coming out regularly starting with the bench (2017), stools (2018), side tables (2019), and the newly launched chair series (2020). Stacklab works with two regional Merino wool manufacturers, one in Toronto and the other in Upstate New York, to take surplus off-cut and end-of-bolt felted wool out of the waste stream and, with the help of Toronto metal manufacturers, turn them into furniture. “The Felt Collection is one of our many ongoing case studies that identify inherent inefficiencies in regional manufacturing methods and provide a use scenario for waste products,” says the firm. “Our goal is to contribute to the industry by looking critically at how things are made, offer strategic initiatives that result in better efficiency, and expand material lifecycles and market opportunities.”
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PRODUCT Next Generation WashBar Bradley Corp., Mequon, WI., U.S.A.
Sculpturally exotic furniture tends to dominate product design awards, but often attention gets diverted when environmental conditions change, such as a growing focus on hygiene due to a viral pandemic. Bring high-design and technological innovation to a product category that is directly affected by issues of hygiene, and you will certainly attract the interest of interior designers. Such is the case with this public restroom faucet, the result of a collaboration between German design outfit platinumdesign and U.S. manufacturer Bradley Corp. Made of durable chrome-plated cast alloy, the WashBar features LED-lit icons on the bar top to visually direct the user through a no-touch handwashing process. With only one connection point, the L-shaped design gives the fixture a sleek floating aesthetic above the basin. By integrating touch-free handwashing technology, common restroom touchpoints are eliminated while also keeping water inside the bowl instead of splashing onto the floor or walls, thereby making restrooms drier and reducing cross-contamination of germs.
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PRODUCT - JUDGE’S PICK Patkau Twist Chair Patkau Architects, Vancouver
Sponsored by
Originally intended to be unveiled at this year’s NeoCon in Chicago, the three-piece Patkau Collection would undoubtedly have been head-turners, maybe even show-stoppers. Designed by Vancouverbased Patkau Architects for Nienkämper, the collection has everything going for it in terms of iconographic Canadian furniture design — modern, organic, and innovative uses of wood — not surprising given the anthology of building projects the firm has under its belt.
a patented process was designed specifically for the chair that “twists” two layers of Birch plywood in standard stain and finish to form the complex curves that gives the shell a truly minimal and elegant shape. Being sure not to distract from its gaze-worthiness, the shell rests on razor-thin brushed stainless-steel hairpin legs, powder coated satin black, creating an effect of grace and buoyancy while emphasizing the chair’s clean geometric lines.
Individually and as a group, the three pieces in the collection — the Cocoon, Twist Chair and Bench — are evocative case studies in the evolution of one of the more bedeviling materials in industrial design: bent plywood. The Cocoon certainly illustrates the material’s poetic and sculptural potential, but it was the chair that commanded the most head-scratching attention from our judges, who know that when structures look simple, they are often decidedly not. Here,
“Sometimes less is more. The simplicity of this chair inspires both in aesthetics and construction. The usage of recognizable materials combined with a proprietary design process is what makes this chair speak for itself,” says Desmond Chan, Awards judge and cofounder of COFO Design Inc. “It’s clean and relatable, yet unique and innovative without any distractions. I look forward to taking a seat in this chair. Nicely done.”
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Number TEN Architectural Group Winnipeg Office Design: Number TEN Architectural Group Photography: Michael Pratt, Copyright 2020 Black anodized aluminum feature walls and reception desk logo. LED backlit stretch fabric displays, white oak inserts and digitally printed murals
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design / develop / deliver
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Project > Manulife Executive Suite Designer > Gensler Photo > Ben Rahn/A-Frame
SVEND NIELSEN Custom Furniture
Project > Roc Nation Offices in Chelsea Designer > Jeffrey Beers Photo > Eric Laignel
Congratulations to all Winners and Entries
Manufacturer of the Finest Custom Furniture and Millwork Drawing upon more than 65 years experience, we take great pride in crafting products that satisfy the most discerning eye. Project > The Cooperators - Regina Designer > HOK Photo > Joel Klassen
Custom Furniture, Millwork and Public Seating • 55 Penn Drive, Toronto, Canada, M9L 2A6 Tel: 416-749-0131 nielsen@svendnielsen.com • www.svendnielsen.com
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