Canadian Interiors September October 2016

CANADIAN INTERIORS

CDN $6.95 SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2016

September October 2016 www.canadianinteriors.com

19annual th BEST OF CANADA design awards winners

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CONGRATULATIONS TO CBRE Limited AND OUR PARTNERS FOR BEING ONE OF THE FIRST TI WELL Certified ï›› PROJECTS IN ONTARIO! Tu r n i n g P l a n s I n t o R e a l i t y

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W Dream printed carpets...

Making your dreams into a reality!

1330 Castlefield Ave | Toronto, ON wstudio.ca | 416.929.9290 info@wstudio.ca

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By Gluckstein Design

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Tell your story with traditional farmhouse aesthetics from the Oak Hill collection. Just one of many carefully

curated design movements from the 150-year design anthology that is DXV. To learn more, visit dxv.com.

DESIGN CONSULTANT: Courtney Lake

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09/102016 Features

Regulars

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BEST OF CANADA The winners from our 19th annual design awards – including Projects of the Year (Aesop Queen Street West; He, She & It), 26 projects (Air France - KLM Lounge; Figo; Belmonte Raw; Cumbrae’s Queen Street; Dinner By Design: The Möbius Strip; Earnest Ice Cream; Espace BRP; ETS student centre; Generator Amsterdam; Holt Renfrew head office; Hopson Grace; Kinka Izakaya; Lightspeed; Mackage; Mark Lash; Minto Westside sales centre; Ontario’s Celebration Zone; Parkside Student Residence; Tso House; Skygarden House; Montreal Polytechnique Student Centre; Courtyard House; The Exchange Brewery; Tokyo Smoke Found; VICE Media Canada; YU Seafood) and three products (Fuego Table; Lotus Table; The Garrison).

13 CAUGHT OUR EYE 17 SEEN NeoCon 2016 in Chicago was the place to see in-

novation happening in many small corners of the contract furnishing markets. ICFF sets the tone for a month-long design invasion of the Big Apple. 68 SCENE 70 OVER & OUT San Francisco’s new Norwegian-designed temple to art has a Canadian twist.

COVER – Aesop Queen Street West, by superkül. Photograph by Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

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Believing Collection: Everyone believes in something

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com

Exclusive to our DIGITAL EDITION ICFF NYC The original cornerstone of NYCxDESIGN, New York’s month-long citywide celebration of design, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) invaded the Jacob K. Javits Center in mid-May, welcoming more than 130 new exhibitors and 587 returning brands and pavilions.

Univers NuFace A new cosmetic care clinic in Laval, Quebec by ADHOC architectes is best described as a cross between a luxury boutique and a hi-tech laboratory.

Casino du Lac-Leamy Sid Lee Architecture & FCSD architecture + design consortium bring an intervention strategy to Casino du LacLeamy in Gatineau that adds coherence to a chaotic space.

Rosenberry Residence Located on a large wooden lot near Sutton, Quebec, this vacation home designed

by Les architectes FABG takes a modern spin on the traditional family cottage.

Visit the expanded digital edition of

HĂ´tel-de-Ville Residence

to see our roundup!

A centennial home located in the Plateau-Mont-Royal welcomes a family who wish to breathe new life into their space and establish a new dialogue with the surrounding environment.

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September| October 2016 / V53 #5

Publisher

Martin Spreer 416-510-6766 Editor

Peter Sobchak Art Director

Roy Gaiot

Assistant Editor:

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David Lasker, Rhys Phillips, Leslie C. Smith Customer Service / Production

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Circulation Manager

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80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Telephone 416-442-5600 Canadian Interiors magazine is published by iQ Business Media Inc. Tel: 416-442-5600 e-mail: info@canadianinteriors.com website: www.canadianinteriors.com Canadian Interiors publishes six issues, plus a source guide, per year. Printed in Canada. The content of this publication is the property of Canadian Interiors and cannot be reproduced without permission from the publisher.

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Please send payment to: Canadian Interiors, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 or order online www.canadianinteriors.com For subscription and back issues inquiries please call 416-510-6898 e-mail: circulation@canadianinteriors.com, or go to our website at: www.canadianinteriors.com Canadian Interiors is indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index by Micromedia ProQuest Company, Toronto (www.micromedia.com) and National Archive Publishing Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.napubco.com).

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“We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage”.

US & Foreign Patents & Pending Patents, Canada Patent No. 2489679

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inside

By the Numbers

316 is a weird number. Not a lot comes up if you just Google it: 316 is a centered triangular number and a centered heptagonal number (whatever that means); it is one of the most famous verses in the New Testament; the second most common grade of austenite stainless steel; and the area code for Wichita, Kansas. If there is any connection between those, I don’t see it. But it is a great number for us here at Canadian Interiors, as it represents the amount of submissions we received for this year’s 19th annual Best of Canada Awards competition — an all-time record! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Being a competition built on the criterion that projects need to be either in Canada or designed by Canadians – as opposed to many other competitions that are open to international firms – this impressive number of entries is encouraging for many reasons. Not only does it illustrate and validate the growing awareness of the award and by extension Canadian design, but it also brings to light many projects from designers that otherwise may not have the time or resources to promote their work to the design press. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------This panoply also draws attention to the fact that there are many aspects of Canadian interior design that deserve recognition, but

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should really be viewed through specific lenses. Put another way, wide categorization filters such as project types (say, “Office” or “Hospitality”) may mean that there are outliers which do not fit nicely in those groupings. So I’m sending out a call for suggestions to the design community: we are looking to refine the judging process for future Best of Canada competitions, and would love to hear of any ideas for new categories or classifications that you feel would help celebrate all the great work being done in the Canadian design industries. Go to our Twitter, Facebook or Instagram social media feeds to post ideas, or email me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Next year will bring with it another significant number for us, but this time for different reasons. 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of Best of Canada, making it one of the longest running competitions focused on interior design in Canada. And believe me, it’s gonna be huge (to quote he who shall not be named). We’ve got a few surprises up our sleeves that I can barely wait to unveil, including a partnership with an esteemed organization that will add a whole new component to this competition and the related prizes. Keep an eye on our newsletters and website for more details, especially in early spring 2017. But enough about that: this issue is about recognizing the winners of the 19th annual Best of Canada, and be sure to join us as we hand out the awards and celebrate the winners on Thursday, December 1 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre during IIDEXCanada. Hope to see you there! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------•

11 Peter Sobchak

psobchak@canadianinteriors.com

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Hangout Collection by EOOS

For gathering.

For thinking.

For rethinking.

For evolving.

For laughing.

Heads up. Not down.

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caught our eye White Hot When German environmental engineering firm Eisenmann designed VarioInspect, the light tunnel was originally intended to support quality control in automotive paint shops. But it has been generating interest on other levels too: this Red Dot Award Product Design 2016 recipient’s layout, adjustable range of warm to cool white LED colours, and reduced noise and echo levels create a surprisingly pleasant and ergonomic working environment (or killer trade show booth!). www.eisenmann.com

d e, o, s m.

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caught our eye

Quite a Spread Light Pollination is an interactive digital artwork designed by London-based UniversalAssemblyUnit and commissioned by architectural lighting company iGuzzini. It explores the links between light and communication, and features 20,000 individual LED points brought to the surface through fibre optics — a vehicle for light as well as high-speed communication. When light is shone onto these points, the artwork responds with growing bands of light, expanding into wider and faster bursts. The final result resembles an open meadow pulsing with the flickering of fireflies. www.iguzzini.com

Hold On, We’re Coming Home In response to news that Toronto’s favourite son, Drake, is planning to build his dream house in The 6ix, the Toronto-based visualization firm Norm Li decided to have some fun envisioning what his dream space would look like, and custom-fit a few entirely imaginary interior and exterior spaces to match his personality. The bathroom, for example, comes complete with OVO branded furnishings, his “Hotline Bling” phone, and a cameo by Rihanna. www.normli.ca

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made to be touched.

Elevate Your Work

© 2016 Shaw, A Berkshire Hathaway Company

extraordinary collection

SHAWCONTRACT.COM / @SHAWCONTRACT / #MADEBYDESIGN

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seen BuzziJungle | BuzziSpace Many companies claim their products “elevate meetings and social interactions,” but BuzziSpace literally took it to a new level (pardon the pun) with a 10’ x13’ structure constructed from woven galvanized aluminum and finished with yellow lacquer. Kudos to young Belgian talent Jonas Van Put for mystifying white-collar NeoCon attendees so used to climbing another type of corporate ladder. www.buzzi.space

Elevate

Your Work

The growing importance of hospitality spaces as a new form of workplace was evident at NeoCon 2016 in Chicago. But not every company is trying to bring your living room into the boardroom. Innovation is happening in many small corners of the contract furnishing markets.

Compiled by Peter Sobchak

Hangout Collection | Keilhauer Keilhauer filled their shipping container to the brim, unveiling nine new products at NeoCon this year (a record for them), including a lounge chair series; conference chair; poufs; and a bench and table system. Snaking through the showroom was the Hangout collection, designed by EOOS, with six related products – Visit sofas and benches; Plunk ottomans; Sip stools and tables; and Ponder chairs – all tied together through the use of ash wood, steel and swooping curves and designed to facilitate group meetings as well as solitary work. www.keilhauer.com

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(Los)t Angeles | Bentley It is fitting that California’s largest commercial carpeting manufacturer chose that state’s sprawling vortex of a heart as its muse for the newest collection. Bentley’s (los)t angeles turns carpet tile into a lens to examine juxtapositions such as glitz and decay for which the city is renowned. www.bentleymills.com

Plaid | Chilewich “A plaid is a plaid, but this is a different plaid,” said a rep at the Chilewich Contract showroom. And indeed, the bolder of Chilewich’s two new textile offerings launched at NeoCon (Speckle being the other), Plaid isn’t just your typical Scottish tartan throwback, but a new idea of how to integrate colour and weave in a way that works with spaces and materials without being ignored. www.chilewichcontract.com Parallel | Allsteel Parallel, a newly introduced collection of soft seating and coordinating tables from Allsteel, offers a contemporary take on classic reception furniture. Created in partnership with Los Angeles–based designer Chris Adamick, the portfolio comprises a club chair, club plus lounge, sofa and side and coffee tables. www.allsteeloffice.com Zones | Teknion Movable, connectable, detachable – PearsonLloyd wanted their new collection for Teknion to be the exact opposite of traditionally fixed and formal office settings.

Mixing and matching the elements of Zones – seating, tables, screens, easels and semi-private enclosures – means offices can jump quickly to settings that are collaborative or intimate, lounge or table-based, open or semi-enclosed, seated or standing. Take your pick. www.teknion.com

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Cubik | SIXINCH SIXINCH North America introduced a group of three new upholstered lounge pieces designed in playful, sculpture-like motifs.

The Simplon, Viktr and Cubik (shown) all play with colour-blocking and can be specified as lounge chair, settee, sofa, three sizes of bench, as well as a connected version that seats up to three. www.sixinch.us BLOX | LOFTwall LOFTwall Divider Solutions’ new BLOX system components are modular, movable and available in 12 tackable wool felt fabrics that absorb VOC pollutants and come in colours ranging from neutrals to bolds. Made from 75 per cent recycled content, the matte anodized frame and panels can be reconfigured and recycled. www.LOFTwall.com

Synergy Collection | Camira Conscientious textile house Camira Fabrics isn’t resting on the laurels of their best-selling Blazer wool.

Instead, they’ve grown the line to include a slightly softer, stronger, lighter and brighter version called the Synergy Collection, comprising three new styles: Synergy, Individuo and Zig Zag (shown). These high-performance seating fabrics are made from New Zealand wool combined with five per cent nylon. www.camirafabrics.com/us

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Burnish | Innovations By being located in Soho, New York and surrounded by so much fashion, Innovations Design Studio had plenty of inspiration to draw on for eight new wallcovering collections in 2016. For example, Burmish’s large-scale, amorphic vinyl repeat replicates a frost pattern that the designers found while window shopping for jewelry in the neighbourhood. www.innovationsusa.com

Sipario | Snowsound Designed by Alberto Meda and Francesco Meda for Snowsound USA, the new Sipario modular fiber structure reduces environmental noise, so that sound energy dissipates into the ‘air spaces’ generated by the high-density textile layers of the structure. www.snowsoundusa.com

Luray | Global Designed by Synergy Associates for Global, the Luray upholstered seating series looks equally great around the conference table or behind the executive desk.

The polished aluminum can be specified with a urethane or wood top cap, and contrasting stitching is also available to compliment a wide selection of textiles or leather covering. www.globalfurnituregroup.com

Trea | Humanscale With an earlier soft launch that earned the Trea numerous awards including the Red Dot Best of the Best, interest in the multipurpose chair from Humanscale and designer Todd Bracher was high at NeoCon, marking the first time the chair is available to market with an array of customizable options, including multiple bases and finishes (with new upholstery and seat options coming soon). Most notable is the solid state recline mechanism that pivots to follow the natural point of rotation at the hip.

Cloud | Davis Furniture The Cloud chair, designed by Wolfgang C.R. Mezger, brings a new level of comfort and security to the modern office.

The seat and back pad are a blend of down, feather and polyester fiber cushions, while reinforced copolymer casters have a brake feature that prevents the chair from rolling away without weight in it. www.davisfurniture.com

www.humanscale.com

Sherbrooke | EarthWerks EarthWerks debuted a new WPC collection, called Sherbrooke. The vinyl planks are waterproof, yet look like typical wood flooring. The result is a product that adds a sophisticated, residential look and imbues a feeling of “home” into commercial spaces. www.earthwerks.ca

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noraplan® valua plank NATURE-INSPIRED DESIGN. BOUNDLESS POSSIBILITIES. Create an inviting, comfortable atmosphere with the nature-inspired texture and detail of noraplan® valua plank. A calming color palette brings the warmth of nature indoors while meeting the performance needs of your facility.

Take a closer look. www.nora.com/us/valua

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seen Federico Varone | Duo Dio Found in the Argentina pavilion at WantedDesign was the curious yet whimsical Duo Dio chair by Federico Varone, which utilizes two fluid forms fused together at an almost invisible point. www. federicovarone.com.ar

Moas | Icolamp Originally founded in Brooklyn but now operating out of Buenos Aires, Moas is a design and architectural studio that dabbles in product design. One of the pieces they brought back to the homeland was the Icolamp, a geometric lamp with triangular facets and available in three different finishes. www. estudiomoas.com.ar

An Apple Ripe for Plucking

Emeco | Run When your spiritual centre is chairs, it doesn’t take much of a leap to start thinking about tables as well. Such was the case for Emeco, who asked long-time collaborators Sam Hecht and Kim Colin to conceive a parallel furniture collection, and the result is Run – a series of tables, benches and shelves inspired by the collective congenial atmosphere around public furniture like canteen tables, park benches and library shelves. www.emeco.net

May was an exciting month to be in the Big Apple.

With four main shows – such as ICFF and nearby WantedDesign – and a myriad of offsite events, NYCxDESIGN had something to tantalize, tempt and torment a design aficionado’s palate.

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Arborite + Ouli | SUO Bench Canadian laminate producer Arborite teamed with LA-based design duo Ouli to create an exhibit for Sight Unseen OFFSITE, one of ICFF’s satellite shows.

Ouli designer Brooke Intrachat used a selection of Arborite laminates, with designs ranging from bold primary colors to stone looks, to fashion her take on a dining set composed of a table, bench, and chairs. The pieces play with materiality and reinvention through aesthetics, and the exhibit highlights the laminates’ versatility across innumerable applications. www.arborite.com

Les Ateliers Guyon | Méliès The new suspended chair designed by Felix Guyon of Quebec outfit Les Ateliers Guyon is part of a larger collection of objects and luminaires inspired by the romantic period of Paris’ second industrialization, otherwise known as La Belle Époque. Each product bears the name of a famous person from that era, with this chair named after one of the first movie directors, Georges Méliès, whose imagination, according to Guyon, “soars in a boundless sky and the past and future meet.” www.lesateliers-guyon. com

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seen Sony | Life Space UX Sony unveiled a new line of products during NYCxDESIGN that are part of the Life Space UX concept that, according to the electronics giant, “provides transformative sensorial impact, with light, sound and visual applied in unexpected ways.� The three new products include the LED Bulb Speaker, the new Portable Ultra Short Throw Projector and the Glass Sound Speaker (shown). This last one is the most geek-tastic of the three, and offers 360 degrees of non-directional sound reverberated through an elegant glass cylinder, and an LED filament housed within the cylinder combines ambient illumination with music. www.sony.com/ electronics/life-space-ux/

HBF Textiles | Winter Collection Elodie Blanchard has designed a Winter 2016 Collection of textiles for HBF that draws heavily on soft patterns and textures found in both the natural world and modern architecture. For example with Cut Out, Blanchard was inspired by the paintings of Franz Kline and Barnett Newman and plays with the juxtaposition between positive and negative space. www.hbftextiles.com

Malafor | Vertical stool This Polish design studio has been experimenting with inflatable seating for a while, with the idea to combine air pressure and nautical inspirations, like sailing textiles. One outcome of that is the Air collection, where inflated cushions rest on oak frames in simple, frugal forms. The seats come in very durable fabric that is punctureresistant and flame retardant, making them ideal for public spaces. www.malafor.com

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Lambert & Fils | Laurent Montreal-based Lambert & Fils launched a new lighting fixture called Laurent at ICFF that combines glass opalescent spheres with bold lines to create a volumetric presence.

The studio explored new materials like chrome and acrylic, and devised an adjustable suspension system of wires and anchors that allows the pendant’s final form to vary from a pure, minimalist orb to something more intricate and Art Deco. www.lambertetfils.com

Bernhardt Design | Mellow Paris-based designer Océane Delain’s creation had already done the rounds at other shows, including Maison & Object 2015, and along the way scooped up recognition like a Red Dot Award: Design Concept. While not an official launch at ICFF, it was still a scene-stealer. www.bernhardtdesign. com

Vzor | RM58 armchair RM58 is an updated version of an iconic armchair designed by Roman Modzelewski, and one of the earliest Polish designs for a piece of furniture made of polyester-glass laminate. The new materials and technologies (rotomolding) used by Vzor means being able to avoid constraints related to craft manufacturing, yet the precisely developed form still constitutes a faithful replica of the original. www.vzor.pl

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TEXAS GRANITE

SOLID VINYL TILE

Texas GraniteÂŽ the floor that never needs waxing to stay beautiful.

Designed for the exacting requirements of healthcare environments, Texas Granite is backed by decades of experience supplying flooring to healthcare and institutional facilities alike.

This unique formulation is an extremely dense homogeneous, low maintenance flooring ideally suited for the challenges of high traffic areas. Texas Granite can be buffed to achieve different shine levels.

From a high gloss to a low gloss, you’ve got options! www.american-biltrite.com

Best of Canada

By David Lasker

The 19th annual design awards attracted a record number of entries, and a subsequent record number of winners.

Johnson Chou

Sue Bennett

Canadian Interiors’ Best of Canada Design Awards is the country’s only design competition to focus on interior design projects and products without regard to size, budget or location. We welcome submissions from interior designers, architects, interior architects, decorators and crafts persons. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Employing the adage “When it rains, it pours,” last year was a rain shower of entries (175, at that point a record), but this year was a downpour. Categories for project submissions include: exhibit; hospitality; institutional; marketing; office; residential; and retail. This year, we introduced an online submission portal that eliminated the need for entrants to mail in hard copies, as has been the process for the last 18 years; and when building anything online, there were bugs that needed to be worked out. This caused a tighter than normal window for submissions. Despite this, 316 entries were received - an all-time record. -------------------------------------------------We were able to enlist the aid of four design industry heavyweights to wade through the submissions to find the gold in this crucible. They are: Sue Bennett, CEO and principal of the eponymous Uxbridge, Ont.-based design firm Bennett Design; another principal and owner of an eponymous design firm, this one in Toronto, Johnson Chou; Scot Laughton, professor and Studio Head of the Industrial Design, School of Animation, Arts and Design department at Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning; and Jeremy Vandermeij, Executive Director of the Toronto Design Offsite Festival. - -------------------------------------------------Because of the sheer number of entries, judging could not be contained to a one-day affair. Continuing the tradition of judging the projects and products anonymously and on their own merits, this year the process was broken into two phases: a first cull done off-site, and then a week later the judges convened at a location to debate, discuss and defend the remaining entrants. Ultimately, a total of 31 winners were chosen, which include three products and 28 projects representing a cross-Canada spectrum as well as international locales such as the United States and The Netherlands. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------When it came time to select Project of the Year, the judges were unanimous that the honour be bestowed on two: the soft and glowing Aesop store on Queen Street West in Toronto, by superkül (“This is so refreshing! You can’t say it’s this or that style” / “It’s not like it’s part of any aesthetic that’s being overused” were among the judges adulations); and He, She & It, a delicate project consisting of three artist studios, by Davidson Rafailidis (“The beauty! The simplicity! It’s very poetic,” enthused one judge, a sentiment shared by all). - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • Congratulations to all 31 winners!

Jeremy Vandermeij

(absent: Scot Laughton)

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Aesop Toronto superkül Toronto

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Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

Matte black and titanium finishes started appearing on luxury and performance cars a couple of years ago. Now something like that trendy automotive look makes a bold retail statement at the first Canadian store for Aesop, the Australian skin-care product line. Company philosophy dictates site-specific store design, reflecting the urban context. With its muted industrial aesthetic, the 990-sq.-ft. flagship salutes the historic mix of residential and manufacturing in its Queen Street West neighbourhood. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Display and sampling counters are arranged in a linear fashion along the quintessentially Torontonian deep and narrow space, forming islands around which customers can test the various creams, lotions, cleansers and serums. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The interior was gutted to the existing maple flooring and original brick. This forms the substrate for an unusual art installation-like display system. Toronto artist Kathryn Walter was commissioned to wrap the east wall and part of the ceiling in layers of industrial felt and steel.

Long shallow floating display shelves embed in the folds of the pleated wall with no visible means of support. Lacking the techy, mechanical busyness of typical shelving, Aesop’s appears clean and seamless, the guts concealed from view. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The display wall observes Rule Number One of high-end retail: don’t junk up the shelves by cramming in too much product. There is, as graphic designers say, plenty of white space around the goods. Calculating the proportion of blank felt wall to the total Aesop-item surface area would reveal parsimonious placement, the better to ensure a calm, serene, upmarket environment. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The wax coating on the blackened-steel shelves gleams with a soft, glowing lustre. The metal’s dark patina contrasts appealingly against the wood, brick and felt. The material recurs in the store’s many display tables, counters, sinks and even overhead in the ceiling lighting troughs.

-------------------------------------------------Could all these non-glossy, non-greasy surfaces be a hidden persuader, to cite Vance Packard’s 1957 bestseller on motivational consumer techniques? Skin shine being the bane of portrait photogs and selfie shooters, the expanses of matte finish in the store subliminally convey the message that Aesop products keep your skin similarly non-reflective.

-------------------------------------------------•

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Project of the Year

Vandermeij: It’s breathtaking. The details in this shop are impeccable. The wall shelves are thin steel that disappear into the drywall with no visible support and the felt installation is dynamic and excellently crafted.

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Chou: This one is about simplification, clarification and condensing ideas.

And about humble materials like the [greenhouse’s] galvanized steel frame.

Bennett: Can you imagine working in that studio? It’s just like a blank canvas.

It allows you the freedom to do amazing work because it’s not enforcing itself on what you’re about to do.

Chou: Which is what you want. And the lighting is perfect. The beauty! The simplicity! It’s very poetic. It’s so elemental and humble at the same time.

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

Project of the Year

Florian Holzherr

He, She & It studio, Buffalo, NY Davidson Rafailidis, Buffalo, NY

He, She & It is a 1,480-sq.-ft. assemblage of three disparate spaces for a client couple: a painter’s studio, a workshop for a ceramist-silversmith, and a greenhouse. “His” studio is a top-lit windowless white box offering even, indirect natural light and big wall surfaces for hanging art.

-------------------------------------------------“Her” space has dedicated areas for messy, wet ceramic work downstairs and, upstairs, a loft space snuggling under the roof slope for making jewelry. The interior is dressed in soaped maple wood; the soap leaves the wood porous and fragrant. In either area, she can gaze out through large windows with generous views. - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------“It” is a translucent polycarbonate greenhouse that gives abundant daylight and protection from freezing for seedlings and mature plants.

-------------------------------------------------Where it gets interesting is how the three spaces connect. They form a cluster of pitched-roof sheds that, while appearing as autonomous volumes, depend on each other for structural support. - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Three sets of sliding bi-fold panels can be closed or opened to demarcate the separate spaces or to create an open plan. These sliding partitions also play a part in the building’s heating and cooling. On cold, sunny winter days they are opened to let the solar gain from the greenhouse heat the whole building. On cloudy, cold winter days the insulated partition walls are closed to shrink the volume requiring heat.

And on hot days, the greenhouse’s continuous ridge vent opens to transform the room into a solar chimney that propels a constant draft throughout the building, even during the dog days of summer. - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

31

9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

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Retail

The Exchange Brewery Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Williamson Williamson Toronto (completed under Williamson Chong Architects)

Bob Gundu

33

Though better known for wine and theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake is also home to a craft brewing industry dating back to the 1700s. The 3,500-sq.-ft. Exchange Brewery occupies an 1880s building that hosted the town’s first telephone exchange, hence the venue’s name.

-------------------------------------------------Appearing unusually upmarket for a brewpub, the project solves the usual brewpub problem of integrating those honking big fermenting tanks and attendant plumbing without cluttering the resto with industrial messiness. The entry feature wall comprises black and walnut-stained oak display cabinets topped with a black bottle wall. - - -------------------------------------------------Toward the centre of the floor plan, curving glass walls distribute light from the skylight and offer views into the brewhouse, which required an 18-foot basement excavation. Tasting bars on the two floors feature fronts and marble tops that reciprocate their black/ white colour schemes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Retail

Belmonte Raw Toronto Green Tangerine Design Oakville, Ont.

Belmonte Raw is an organic raw food and juice bar in the shopping concourse of Toronto’s Exchange Tower, accessible throughout the financial district via the underground PATH pedestrian walkway system.

-------------------------------------------------It distinguishes itself from its nearby subterranean competition by breaking from their prevailing washed-palette look. In its challenging, 680-sq.-ft. L-shaped space, Carrera marble and mahogany countertops play off against a backdrop of black-stained tongue-and-groove planks with polished-brass signage. The bar does double duty as a customer education area. Its exaggerated knife-edge profile, and the foot rail and bag hooks in brass that stand out against the dark bar front, catch the eye of peckish passersby. The stools, with their contoured wood-slab seats, look like a comfortable landing spot. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Music and literature’s underground workers, from the cowering Nibelungs in Wagner’s Das Rheingold to the monster cannibals in H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine, never had it so good. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Lisa Petrole

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

Mackage Laval, Que. Burdifilek Toronto

34

Mackage has evolved from winter outerwear to a lifestyle brand while remembering its origins. In its first flagship, winter references abound.

One wall features an enormous backlit image of snowy Rocky Mountain peaks; the emerging ambient light sets a moody, smoky tone for the lighting generally. The cash desk evokes a chiseled chunk of an iceberg; the big, bold sculptural gesture testifies to the trust of the client and the size of the budget. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Upmarket materials such as distressed oak (think cozy ski chalet), honed black marble, white statuario marble and brushed bronze convey the high performance and durability of the products while ensuring that the décor stays this side of macho. The store’s androgynous vibe is conducive to selling brand collections aimed at either sexes (or all gender persuasions, to be politically correct). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The client didn’t want to display different-sized product duplicates on the floor; goods on view are for display purposed only, resulting in minimal display of product, which in turn makes the place look more luxe. Customers need to talk to sales associates to get try-ons, establishing a bond that reduces sales resistance. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

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Retail

optima design

Espace BRP Montreal Optima Design Montreal

37

Though it may come as a surprise to much of Canada, Bombardier Recreational Products, manufacturer of powersports vehicles and engines under such storied brands as Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo, also offers a wide range of lifestyle items. BRP’s first Canadian flagship store, on the ground floor of a high-rise Montreal condo building, is divided into zones showcasing vehicles and apparel. Neither, however, looks remotely like a car dealership or a fashion boutique. - - - -------------------------------------------------The limited, uniform palette of finishes—black metal, wood and basebuilding concrete—and the lack of ambient lighting helps focus attention on the merchandise. This aspect, along with the relative sparsity of product within the 23-foot-high, 7,000-sq.-ft. space, gives an austere feel associated more readily with museums than retail. - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------To help bring down the intimidating scale of the room, hanging racks are set into the lower tiers of triple-height display cabinets, with the top storeys left open to display branding posters. Wall graphics, tablets and flat-screen monitors animate the space while guiding shoppers. - - - - - --------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Retail

Mark Lash Toronto Burdifilek Toronto

The jewelry store may be the last refuge of the shiny chrome finishes last seen in Eighties hotel lobbies. Perhaps the precious, sparkly, small-scale merchandise requires glittery surroundings to look its best, or we have been conditioned to expect such a presentation.

Indeed, the display vitrines at the Mark Lash flagship are framed with gleaming metal. Lighting in the store space emanates primarily from the vitrines, which focuses attention on the product. In other areas of the store, the gloss moderates. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The space was compartmentalized into three zones: the open, clutter-free showroom lined with sleek vitrines cantilevered on marble plinths showcasing the collections; the busy bits such as the cash point and ear-piercing areas, tucked away from the showroom while still allowing staff to eyeball customers in the retail area to maintain security; and the engagement room, a space for private consultations where bronzed mirror and iridescent layered dichroic glass lend an ethereal quality. Sliding floor-to-ceiling mirrors glide across the full length of the room, allowing customers to see how their prospective purchases will look when worn. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

Renato Cerisola

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

Cumbrae’s Toronto Giannone Petricone Associates Toronto

38

At Cumbrae’s Queen Street location in Toronto, refrigerated display units and walk-in coolers, with glare- and moisture-resistant glass and lined up the long, narrow, 1,500-sq.-ft. retail store are detailed like gallery vitrines. Cuts of meat in the reach-in merchandiser are showcased as elegantly as if they were pieces of jewelry. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The focal point is the steamy sandwiches “altar” at the back, clad in statuario marble. The white stone’s grey veins evoke the connective tissue in raw meat that influences tenderness and juiciness. Near the entry, striations of meat are CNC-burned into the smoked-oak panelling.

The facing prosciutto counter is surfaced, ironically, with stretched and stitched pigskin (do customers appreciate the irony?). - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Point-of-sale stations are debossed with the names of the original farms associated with Cumbrae’s. Hand-lettered signage with an A-to-Z list of top restaurants serving Cumbrae’s product reinforces the shop’s foodie status. The second floor, equipped with a full prep kitchen, faces the street with a large, tinted window framed in the shape of a cow: iconography as signage. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

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Retail

Hopson Grace Toronto Burdifilek Toronto

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

41

This 1,234-sq.-ft. store launch for housewares retailer Hopson Grace is a compendium of imaginative details that contribute to the aesthetic of the space without overshadowing the product on display.

For example, in the unconventional shelving wall, blond wood uppers seem to float above the dark base storage cabinets. The shelving gables are separated by small gaps instead of being ganged together, and stand slightly forward from the wall instead of flush against it. - -------------------------------------------------These separations allow light from LED strips concealed in the shelving, and ambient light from the large street window, to bathe the back of the display wall in an unexpected wash of light. The three-legged, marble-topped, reimagined harvest tables have likely prompted more than one shopper to do a double take because the tables exude the permanence and substantiality associated with four-legged tables. - - -------------------------------------------------Above the tables runs a rail from which hang teardrop-shaped lights in various states of blobbiness. There’s a wry sense of wit here and in the Art Moderne streamlined curved corners of the ceiling’s lighting cove. Even the transition of flooring materials, where the wood flooring segment in the centre of the store butts against the perimetrical tile, was carefully thought through. To achieve the straightest edge, board-ends don’t touch the tile. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Residential

Tso House Beitou, Taiwan Chih Chung Shen Taipei, Taiwan

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

42

Beitou, north of the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, is known for its steamy, sulfurous hot springs and impressive views of rugged mountains and ocean. This 3,900-sq.-ft. weekend house was recently renovated to open up the interior to those scenic landscape views and to provide extensive shelving to showcase the owner’s collectibles. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------To help ensure that these two items remain the primary focal points, the typical, potentially distracting boogie-woogie of HVAC grills and registers mounted on floors or walls here gives way to linear slot diffusers concealed in thin, elongated ceiling slots. By night, the home becomes a masculine man cave. Broad surfaces of black iron, bronze mirror and darkly iridescent titanium nitride-coated steel add a measure of Hollywood glam. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Skygarden House Toronto Dubbeldam Architecture + Design Toronto

Shai Gil

43

This house’s owners used to spend their weekends at their country home, located next to a stream and surrounded by trees. They wanted their new home in the city to emulate that bucolic experience. The new home feels larger than its 2,400 square feet, thanks to several adjoining outdoor spaces with varying levels of privacy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The main floor plays tone against tone. The white kitchen cabinetry contrasts against the dark-stained oak slats of the movable vestibule screen and wall, the kitchen island with its charcoal Silestone countertop and white oak shelving and flooring. Boldly coloured furniture pieces add pops of colour. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------In back, the living room opens out to the patio deck with a completely glazed exterior wall of doors, windows and spandrel panels. The elevation is wrapped with a bold, giant-order gable-topped frame that seems to stand apart from the rest of the rear elevation, enabling the viewer simultaneously to grasp the actual house and its Platonic essence. - - - -------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

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Residential

Angxuan Sun

Courtyard House Toronto AtelierSUN Toronto

45

Here’s one residence whose interior will never look gloomy. The Courtyard House is so named because it is organized around a sky-lit lightwell that brings natural light deep into the interior of the 3,000-sq.-ft., two-storey dwelling. Well, two-and-a-half: the dog-leg stairs’ half-landing connects to a mezzanine with about enough room for a dining table.

-------------------------------------------------One advantage of angled stairways in a house is that they act as an acoustic and visual barrier between floors. This aspect evidently emboldened the designers to expose the toilets in two of the upstairs bathrooms by placing them next to glazed inner walls overlooking the courtyard. So this is a very personal house. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The bamboo tree shooting up from the lightwell’s gravel pit, the slender delicacy of the stair-rail balusters, and the vast expanses of blond wood impart a sense of Oriental calm. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Office VICE Media Canada Toronto The Design Agency Toronto

Brown goes to town at TV, digital and print media company VICE’s new Toronto bureau. As dark and masculine as a steakhouse, the décor aims, in the design team’s own words, at the “vibe of a classic cigar lounge.” There’s certainly nothing feminine about the lobby, with its exposed-steel I-beam column, steel and dark stone reception desk, and raw concrete floor. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------In the adjacent saloon beyond the lobby, tall walnut shelves are stocked with bourbon and whisky. Next on the 24,500-sq.-ft. floor plan of the 300-person facility comes the clubby main meeting area, inspired by a gentleman’s parlour. Twin 500-lb. coffee tables made from sawn timber logs are flanked by plush tufted couches and set off by an oxblood-tinted accent wall. Any resemblance of these spaces to stage sets was purely intentional. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The high ceilings of the former decommissioned factory facilitate the deployment throughout of lighting and audio and video equipment, enabling the office to double as a recording studio. - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------• CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

Adrien Williams

46

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

Holt Renfrew head office Toronto Gensler Toronto

47

Mid-century Modernism thrives at Holt Renfrew. The renovated head office of Canada’s premier specialty department store occupies 16,000 square feet on each of two floors adjoining the Toronto flagship on Mink Mile, a.k.a. Bloor Street West. The interior’s refined details evoke the Mad Men-era interiors of Gordon Bunshaft, the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partner who set the look for corporate America during the Fifties and Sixties. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Consider the Apartment, billed as “a luxurious setting for private meetings and press conferences” on the 11th floor. The ultra-thin black metal frame around the sliding glass door panels, the subtle grey veins of the Calacatta Extra marble flooring, the velvet plush upholstery of the club chairs and the Baroque gold of the coffee table under the room’s false dome make an exquisite composition, rich yet uncluttered.

By attention to such minutiae is the high-end brand of the Westonowned fashionista heaven conveyed. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

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Office

Adrien Williams

Lightspeed Montreal ACDF Architecture Montreal

49

Long derelict in Old Montreal, the grand chateau-style CP-railway hotel Viger has been redeveloped. It was built in 1898 and designed

by Bruce Price of Château Frontenac and Banff Springs Hotel fame, and a historically sensitive renovation has attracted tenants such as Lightspeed, an information-technology firm that had outgrown its previous digs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The new home conveys a fun-loving corporate culture. The winks start at the laminate reception desk: when glimpsed from the elevator, it reads like an obliquely angled, flattened version of Lightspeed’s red-and-white logo. In the lobby, three stylized mini-houses faced in colour-popping high-gloss laminate cast faux shadows painted onto adjacent columns and floor areas. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------At the previous office, meetings would be held around a backyard swimming pool. The servery and common area commemorate this pool with a cheeky faux aqua-coloured version. Columnar fiberglass stools with a waterlogged texture, custom-made by local designer Etienne Hotte, rise up from the teal epoxy floor like lily pads. - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Marketing

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

Minto Westside sales centre Toronto Burdifilek Toronto

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

50

Sales centres typically put technical nitty-gritty—building model, floor plans, finish samples—front and centre. The Minto Westside sales centre took another approach that while not breaking radically new design ground is nevertheless beautifully put together. - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------This retrofit of a car dealership presented challenges such as floorgrade changes and fishbowl windows. Stairs step down to the reception desk, where a cove-lit bas-relief on the wall spells out condo attributes in various font sizes and degrees of projection. One’s impression is of entering a museum of modern art. - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------A vignettes room, with its display of fire logs (implying that there’s a wood-burning fireplace), glass coffee tables with brass-and-wooddetailed bases, and subtly restrained colour palette, evokes a luxurious club. In the process, it offers a painless preview of amenity-space finishes, including flat-cut European walnut panelling and bronzed metal. This is sales by flattery and persuasion, not arm-twisting. - - - --------------------------------------------------•

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Institutional Montreal Polytechnic Student Centre Montreal Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectes Montreal

Stephane Groleau

53

A previously unstructured yet high-traffic circulation space, the 27,000-sq.-ft. Montreal Polytechnic Student Centre gathers together all the school’s student services, a support centre, associations offices, a café, food kiosk and multifunctional spaces, creating a strong identity where students congregate at the heart of the institution. - - -------------------------------------------------To create a warm, welcoming atmosphere within the cold existing shell of rough concrete, and to add pizzazz to the uninteresting rectangular space, the architects hung an immense birch lattice from the ceiling. The irregularly-shaped framework of 641 fins was inspired by the undulations of a sail. Rising up from one side of the room, where it seamlessly integrates a long bench component, and continuing under the ceiling, the structure evokes the free-flowing, sensuously curving work of Alvar Aalto and Oscar Niemeyer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------As side benefits, the acoustically absorbent fins attenuate the noise level from sounds bouncing off the hard epoxy terrazzo floor, and serve as glare shields for the downlights. Is it architecture, sculpture or furniture? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Institutional Parkside Student Residence Toronto Diamond Schmitt Architects Toronto

Lisa Logan

The former Best Western Primrose Hotel Downtown-Toronto, a 23-storey precast-concrete structure, typified Seventies Brutalist arrogance in its disconnection from the life of the street. The second-storey façade of windowless concrete panels had all the charm of an above-ground basement. So the renovation of the building into a student residence, with the replacement of the offending blank wall with full-height windows offering views into and out from the expansive new main student lounge, is a gift to the city as much as to its young users. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The second storey’s newfound daylight reaches far back in the interior, illuminating the gym, laundry area and glass-walled meeting and reading rooms. A new slab opening near the front of the second floor creates a double-height atrium connection. Here, giant-scale, floor-standing versions of Artemide’s iconic Tolomeo desk lamp combine with the vivid red furniture upholstery accents to add drama to the public space. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

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Selmin Kara, Assistant Professor OCAD University

École de technologie supérieure student centre Montreal Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectes Montreal

The new student centre at Montreal’s École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) engineering school aims to unify the urban campus and stimulate the transformation of its rustbelt Griffintown neighbourhood into a creative community. The centre’s 222,108 square feet embraces classrooms, student services, a professional development center, café and leasable street-level commercial space. - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The multipurpose atrium claims the wow factor. A cantilevered truss running along the south side, recalling the district’s railway bridges, lifts the grand staircase. This subdivides into a normal stairway with a railing of powder-coated folded aluminum panels, and a wider amphitheatre-seating sector with each row rising to the height of three stair treads. The birch-slat ceiling with its dramatic folded planes reads like an inverted landscape element. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The folded-plane geometry culminates in the faceted seating nooks set into the white bulkhead near the stairs. Upholstered in vivid red felt cushion fabric, the nooks playfully evoke amethyst geodes. - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Stephane Brugger

55

9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Amanda Oster

Earnest Ice Cream Scoop Shop Vancouver Janks Design Group Vancouver

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

56

As befits an artisanal ice cream made in small batches with seasonal foraged ingredients such as fresh spruce bud and elderflower, Earnest Ice Cream’s Quebec Street retail store in Vancouver conveys warm and fuzzy feelings with its palette of natural materials, mosaic details and “Seriously Good” tagline stamped into the poured-concrete service counter front. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------Setting a suitably old-fashioned ice-cream parlour tone are the heritage building’s exposed brick-and-beam structure, reclaimedbarnwood highlights, Art Nouveau-inspired cartouche on the mirror panelling and the rustic industrial look of the pipe-fitting railings of the crowd-control barrier (this eatery boasts serious lineups). Meanwhile, copper downlights with exposed bulb heads, and white subway tile on the walls, swing the aesthetic balance toward the contemporary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The custom chandelier resembling floating ice cream balls in a cone, defining the seating area, adds a touch of good humour (if not Good Humor). To manipulate the room to appear wider, a large window was added opposite the entrance door to provide views into the adjacent production facility, which occupies most of the facility’s 2,700 square feet - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Hospitality

Eric Lau

Kinka Izakaya Toronto Dialogue 38 Toronto

57

An izakaya is a Japanese pub; “kinka” means “golden flower,” symbolizing happiness. Kinka Izakaya is a growing group of restaurants with eateries in Toronto, Montreal and Tokyo offering tapas-style servings of fare such as bibimbap kinoko (white rice, garlic-sautéed mushrooms and cheese with seaweed sauce) that are easy to share. The chain’s latest outpost, a 2,540-sq.-ft. resto in Toronto’s North York borough, features a slate-tile façade with walnut doors, an open kitchen and bar seating. There’s also a traditional tatami area where the black slate floor transitions to wood, where patrons with manners take their shoes off. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------The custom-designed, squared-off seating and Parsons-table-like dining stations are made of Douglas fir. Millwork, all of it in rift-cut white oak, is notable for the relentless, almost mesmerizing, procession of gridded screens along walls and bulkheads. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------The grids draw the eye away from the ceiling surfaces and services, which were left exposed to maximize room height. The lack of ostentation lends a suitably Japanese note of serenity to the interior. - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Hospitality

Kerun Ip

YU Seafood Richmond Hill, Ont. Dialogue 38 Toronto With “premium fin soup” at $38 and “stewed soup” of watercress and mangosteen with dried duck gizzard at $68, you’re in serious foodie territory.

It’s fascinating to see how the design telegraphs this information at YU Seafood, the 300-seat, 15,000-sq.-ft. upmarket Chinese seafood restaurant in Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A black granite portal and backlit walnut slats frame the glass entry doors, which provide a glimpse into the museum-like lobby. Here, customers are greeted by rift-cut white oak monoliths, 10 to 16 feet tall, inspired by deep-sea vegetation. The bold veining on the Calacatta marble (whiter, with more dramatic streaks than Carrara) walls nearly steals the show. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The hallway to the dining room is flanked by quatrefoil windows framing fish tanks that showcase the fresh offerings du jour. In the large, double-height main dining room, wooden screens and semicircular seating banquettes add intimacy. Behind the Arabescato granite raw seafood bar rises a 20-foot by 10-foot laser-cut coral sculpture, typifying the grand gestures in this imaginatively opulent project. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------•

Nikolas Koenig

Generator Hostel Amsterdam The Design Agency Toronto

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

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Generator’s new 168-room Amsterdam hostel follows the hospitality chain’s template of high design, low prices, and an array of public spaces that encourage a high degree of social interaction. This Generator is a conversion of a century-old brick building in the trendy Oost neighbourhood that formerly housed a natural-history museum. Many of the original heritage-designated spaces have been preserved and overlaid with contemporary twists. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------The erstwhile auditorium, for instance, lives on as a quirky bar complete with a line drawing on the tall walls of a fire escape; the main lounge boasts a gazebo resembling the ghostly outlines of a house. Local artists created supergraphics that give their respective spaces strong visual identities while acting as conversation starters. - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------Lighting supplier Blom & Blom scavenged and restored light fixtures from abandoned factories in East Germany that epitomize the hostel’s new-old look. Glass panes in the elevator cab allow visitors to enjoy the witty slogans newly painted in the elevator shaft. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------•

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Air France-KLM lounge Mississauga, Ont. Johnson Chou Design Toronto Isn’t there an unwritten law that airport-lounge reception desks are walled off in a gloomy antechamber and that you always have to turn a corner to see into the next part of the space? After being greeted in Toronto Pearson’s Air FranceKLM lounge at the imposing yet simple black Corian reception desk, the traveller will invariably look left toward the big open vista encompassing most of the lounge and culminating in the runway view through the expansive windows.

-----------------------------------------Curving walnut bulkheads and screens shepherd travellers through the space so gently that movement seems intuitive.

Sculptural screens articulate the main circulation spine.

Porcelain tile flooring transitioning to carpet denotes the various seating areas, for single and group, and short-, intermediate- and long-term stays. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------In the other direction, the hub-like servery adjoins communal dining tables where one can dine “en plein air” instead of at the more private, walnut-screened quiet areas.

All seating was custom-designed, including a chair, appearing in side, lounge and wingback configurations, whose splaying arms evoke airplane wings. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------•

Brenda Liu

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

Tokyo Smoke Found Toronto Steven Fong Architect Toronto

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To Boomers old enough to remember Woodstock, the term “head shop” conjures up Lava Lites, psychedelic stoner paraphernalia, Zap Comix and Milton Glaser’s 1967 Bob Dylan wall poster. So it’s a sign of the changing times—bye-bye, hippie summer of love—that marijuana purveyor Tokyo Smoke Found resembles a boutique coffee shop. The ambitious company website describes its shops as “high design cultural showrooms selling museum quality collectables and branded Tokyo Smoke goods on top of their custom roast coffee beans, artisinal [sic] sandwiches, baked goods and cold pressed juices” catering to “the creative class in the Cannabis space.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------The 330-sq.-ft. store occupies leftover space between two converted warehouses. The espresso bar, with street-side as well as interior counters, acts as both sidewalk pop-up and proper café. Propane tanksturned-pendants by Toronto studio Fugitive Glue hang above the communal table. Checkerplate loading-dock flooring sectors, raw-steel shelving and exposed vintage brick walls ratchet up the gritty urban industrial aesthetic. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Hospitality

Evan Dion

Figo Toronto Studio Munge Toronto

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The recipe for Figo restaurant in Toronto’s entertainment district?

Mix elements of Italian architecture; soft, feminine accents; and eclectic custom millwork. The 2,100-sq.-ft. eatery’s centrepiece is the open cucina (kitchen) framed by a Romanesque-inspired proscenium with six concentric shallow arches clad in a checkerboard of 4,000 white and grey ceramic tiles. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------An M.C. Escher-like, trompe l’oeil fretwork screen in stone marquetry stretches across the kitchen island. The barrier-free view ’twixt guests and chefs adds a personal, artisanal touch to the dining experience. Feminine touches include tall chairs at the communal table with lacy wire backs and gazelle-thin legs; pink tabletops; and a remarkable pink-ish ceiling that evokes water-brushed silk or the faded images on a water-damaged medieval fresco. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------As for millwork highlights, tall ganged see-through wine cabinets of stained white oak are shaped like Gothic (pointed-arch) windows. The wall beyond is faced with diagonally laid reclaimed barn board. Diners making their way along the polished concrete floor to the adjoining restrooms just might get the feeling they’re venturing into an old wine cellar.

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Design: Comley Van Brussel Design & Management Inc. Client: Investment Planning Counsel

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Dinner by Design: The Möbius Strip Toronto Gensler Toronto

Exhibit

For the second year, Monogram, Caesarstone and the Design Exchange teamed up on the DX Trading Floor this past January to present a charitable event titled Dinner by Design, featuring dining installations by notable Toronto design firms in support of AIDS hospice Casey House. Gensler’s contribution to the allotted 12-cubic-foot space was inspired by that geometric oddity, the Möbius strip, a single-sided surface. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------The concept was realized as a tableau in black and white. Against a backdrop of black lacquered wood, a continuous, tilting, LED-illuminated band wrapped above, beside, under and through a fanciful dining table. The Corian tabletop was set with acrylic placemats flanked by spider web-like steel-frame chairs with hexagonal starpatterns in the seat and back. It made a surreal impression. - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------•

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9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc.

Exhibit

Ontario’s Celebration Zone Toronto Hariri Pontarini Architects Toronto Ontario’s Celebration Zone was the primary destination for interactive events when Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. The challenge was to create two large-scale temporary structures that could be erected in 72 hours within the confines of Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre that would showcase Ontario’s identity and provide a platform for more than 500 free concerts and other events. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The two pavilions were built out of air beams joined by a quilted inflatable fabric skin and anchored and streamlined to withstand extreme wind forces. The pavilions covered approximately 13,000 and 4,000 square feet and reached a peak of 50 feet and 32 feet, respectively. Curvilinear openings along the sides gave a sense of lightness and eased access. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The existing landscaping was maintained and undisturbed by the structures; all materials were reused and repurposed after the structures were dismantled. The pavilions’ arched, undulating and vaguely animalistic vaulted shapes made a dramatic impact as sculptural objects in the urban landscape. - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------•

Product Lotus cocktail table Powell & Bonnell Toronto

In Buddhist iconography, the lotus symbolizes purity. The silhouette of a lotus seed pod was the inspiration behind the Lotus table. The sculptural, hand-formed stoneware cocktail table measures 12 inches in diameter and 21½ inches high. There are two finish options: black stoneware clay base and hand-brushed antique pewter glaze, and white stoneware clay base with a hand-brushed white satin glaze that has been sandblasted to a matte finish. The white finish is durable; the lustrous pewter glaze gradually assumes a subtle patina. - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

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Product The Garrison seat/table Stacklab Toronto

The Garrison is a sculptural steel casting intended for use indoors and out as a seat or low table. It recycles steel salvaged from the 2015 demolition of the namesake Garrison bridge near Toronto’s Fort York. Stacklab and its partnering firm Rebart procured two tonnes of bridge rebar, enough to release a limited edition run of 102 units.

Digital design and fabrication technology were used to make the product as light and strong as possible. This past April, the Garrison won the American Society of Interior Designers National Award for design innovation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------•

Fuego table Powell & Bonnell Toronto

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The Fuego table has an oval top available in a variety of sizes, from small side table to major dining surface; and finishes, including wood, glass and natural stone. Thanks to the slots fore and aft, the handformed steel-plate elliptical cone base looks thin, elegant and feather light, despite its weight and strength. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------• 9/10 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

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DX Auction

Original Collectors Night, the Design Exchange’s second annual fundraiser auction, was billed as “an immersive cocktail party in three acts—live auction, silent auction and story-telling performance.”

Fashion designers seemingly outnumbered interior designers, not surprisingly, considering the scheduling conflict with Chicago’s NeoCon. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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1— René Wikkerink, contractor and owner of Wikkerink Design Build; former Canadian House and Home honcho Mark Challen, set to launch his new venture, stylecooler.com in September; and Richard Azevedo, software sales exec at salesforce.com. 2— Interior designer Jeffrey Douglas, principal at Douglas Design Studio; Tanya Richards, CEO and co-founder, and Melandro Quilatan, principal, at interior design firm Tomas Pearce; and illustrator Steve Yeates. 3— Architect Jonathan Friedman, partner, Partisan Projects; fashion lawyer Anjli Patel; and visual artist Jordan Söderberg Mills, whose 10-foot-tall anaglyphic mirrors, which reflect two colours of light, graced the Hearn Generating Station venue for Luminato. 4— Solange Rivard, director of branding agency Soco; Karla Hewitt-Blackie, interior designer and owner of Homing Studio; Carineh Babayan, owner of fashion and furnishings firm CB1969; and multimedia artist Radha Chaddah.

The longest day

Diamond Schmitt Architects (DSA) hosted their 31st annual Summer Solstice Party at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto’s Don Valley. - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1—Lighting designer Paul Boken, VP, Mulvey & Banani Lighting; with DSA architects Brad Hindson, Graeme Reed and Mehdi Ghiyaei, and Maya Orzechowska, architectural staff. 2— John Clark, chairman, Commonwealth Fund Services; Abel Joseph “Jack” Diamond, himself; Kathleen McClure, implementation centre, Avoca co-op. 3— Dr. Ron Dembo, founder and CEO, Zero Footprint, a website that enables users to measure and track their carbon footprint, with heritage architects Michael McClelland, principal ERA Architects; and William Greer, for whom the Heritage Toronto Awards’s Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship prize was named. 4— DSA intern architect Fernanda Rubin; HR director Lilia Kiriakou; and intern architect Corina Ardeleanu. 5— Mitchell Cohen, president, Daniels (“Love where you live”) Corporation; psychotherapist Janice Lewis, and DSA partner Donald Schmitt. 6— DSA architects Emily Baxter and Stephanie Huss; Rebecca Ho-Dion, lighting design director at Alula Lighting Design; and DSA architects Joseph Yau and Erin Broda. 7— Yaprak Berktin, senior VP, Infrastructure Ontario; Ann Ford, joint VP, William Osler Health System; and David Sylvester, principal, Crossey Engineering.

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DX-Ryerson Influx

Ryerson’s School of Interior Design took over the Design Exchange’s exhibition hall with art installations said to “explore the influx of logic and creativity.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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1—Ryerson interior design assistant professor Jonathan Anderson, who curated the exhibits; fourth-year School of Interior Design students Artemis Han and Kayley Mullings, who is also an interior design intern at Studio Munge; and recent grad William Reive, who is going to UBC for his master’s in architecture. 2— Tiny Toronto’s Troydon Rosario, design; Sherry Leung, engineering; Sa’Ad Ahmed, founder; Laura Pellegatta, projects; Robert Gemmell, design; and Amanda Soriano, marketing. The firm designs and develops small homes whose “purpose is to demonstrate energy efficiency at a level not experienced in North America.” 3— Model and actor Kyana Brannigan, wearing necklace by Toronto’s Spark & Thistle; Tamar Elise, outreach co-ordinator at LGBT Youthline; and Design Exchange graphic designer Erica Crossfield.

4— Ryerson grads Murray Gibson, project designer at Figure3; Katrina Marie Clancy, junior designer at Inger Bartlett; Monika Matczak, junior designer at Barlow Reid Design; and Adam Wyrebek, interior designer at 2pi r Design.

Design Agency Block Party

Design Agency (DA) hosted their annual summer block party, spilling out of their west-end Toronto offices.

The catering featured happy clients such as Momofuku (high-end resto at the Shangri-la Hotel) and Nandos of piri-piri chicken fame. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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1—DA’s Lorelei Lucas, director of project management, and intermediate designer Julia Summerville. 2— Danny Tseng, architecture partner at Soldatova Tseng; Elizabeth Crisante, lawyer at Fedorsen law office; and Samantha Short, A&D account executive, Tusch Seating. 3— Allison McColeman with husband and DA partner Allen Chan; Jon Vaughan, sales rep at decorative planter maker CTi Plastic. 4— DA partner Anwar Mekhayech; Marisa Simunovic and Klaus Nienkamper II: she is wife and business partner he is president of Klaus, Nienkamper’s retail division; and registered nurse Sheila Abe. 5— Christopher Rowe, sales lead at Herman Miller Collection; Bradley Marks, interior designer at Designstead, who helped design the Vancouver Simons department store; and Diana Watters, fabricator at Unitfive, which creates custom metalwork lighting, fixtures and furniture.

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NorCal CanCon

San Francisco’s new Norwegiandesigned temple to art has a Canadian twist.

By Peter Sobchak

The opening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) earlier this year drew a lot of attention, and rightly so. Norwegian firm Snøhetta’s massive 235,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the original Mario Botta–designed 1995 building is impressive, and makes it the largest modern and contemporary art museum in the United States.

-------------------------------------------------But what may be news to some is the Canadian content: Vancouverbased Studio Brovhn is responsible for the museum’s benches, both inside and out. Working closely with the architects responsible for the furniture selection and design, Studio Brovhn tailored their wooden Planar benches to the Museum’s needs. Made out of maple wood, similar to the wood in the gallery flooring, the bench height was raised to meet the needs of an elderly demographic. The length of the interior benches was stretched to eight feet, and topped with thin-profile cushions with custom stitch details. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------A secondary project scope, the exterior versions span 10 feet, are made of aluminium with a powder coat finish, and are the result of two years of product development. Fortunately this process began a CANADIAN INTERIORS 9/10 2016

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year prior to Studio Brovhn’s working with the Museum. By the time the scope of indoor gallery benches at SFMOMA was almost complete, the metal benches were at the tail end of being production ready. “Developing the metal version of these benches took significantly longer than expected, and is the end result of partnering with the right metal supplier and resolving challenging engineering feats along the way,” says Miguel Brovhn, director of Studio Brovhn. - - - -------------------------------------------------In addition to the benches, Studio Brovhn was also tasked with designing the Botta atrium ticketing stations. In an area with high traffic and variable programmatic needs, mobility was key, so Studio Brovhn designed custom metal desks, based on the profile of the Planar benches, but with built-in casters visible only on the inner side of the legs. They also feature detachable privacy screens on the underside, matching accessories on the desk top (for monitor screens, map holder), and a mobile pedestal unit that rests under each desk to house items like a printer, computer towers, garbage bin and other supplies. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • www.studiobrovhn.com

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