AZURE_2014_07_08.pdf

The rise of keyless entry 

How smart is your front door? p. 36 

29 chairs, lights + LOUngers 

What we saw and loved in Milan p. 92 

Amersfoort’s wild new cultural hub 

Breathing life into a former industrial district p. 33 

THE BEST 

ARCHITECTURE 

AZ 

Awards 

Annual 

2014 

+ DESIGN 

+ 

Can ⁄ US $7.95 

jul ⁄ aug 2014 

PM40048073 R09064 

printed in canada 

new in lighting: high tech meets high style P. 98 

20 smart ways to make buildings greener P. 89

Seldom does 

innovation shine 

so bright. 

audi.ca/A8 

©2014 Audi Canada. “Audi”, “A8”, “Vorsprung durch Technik”, and the four rings emblem are registered trademarks of AUDI AG. European model shown.

With LED technology that produces light at a colour of 5,500 on the Kelvin 

scale – the same as daylight – nothing gets overlooked. Which is why our 

self-adjusting headlights, capable of swivelling to match the direction of 

travel, shine so bright in every possible respect. At Audi, we see every single 

detail, and so will you. 

The art of progress. The new Audi A8.

Aesync and Syz 

Aesync, a new conference chair, and Syz, a new table series – both designed by EOOS. 

Use them together or individually to meet, confer, collaborate. 

1 800 724 5665 keilhauer.com

© 2014 Antolini Luigi. All Rights reserved. 

Legendary Opulence. 

Presenting The Precioustone Collection. 

When it comes to innovations in natural stone, one company stands alone: Antolini. 

The result is the Precioustone Collection, setting the standard for the most advanced technologies and 

craftsmanship of Italy. This breathtaking collection of over 100 unique creations is unrivalled for its 

artful beauty and exquisite quality. The collection is available throughout the US. To locate the nearest 

Precioustone distributor, email LUXstyle@antolini.com and visit antoliniprecioustone.com for details.

Rose Quartz 

A s t o n e p h i l o s o p h y

KRONOS 

PURE 

INSPIRATION 

200 

Rubi authorized retailers 

throughout Canada 

Soligo Gruppo 

Québec, QC, G1P 3S4 

1.800.463.2197 

www.rubi.ca 

Soligo West 

Calgary, AB, T2G 1W5 

1.403.214.0130 

www.rubi.ca 

Kasa Distribution 

Florida USA 

1.561.445.9719 

www.kasadistribution.com 

Specializing in the design of exclusive 

lines of upscale plumbing products. 

www.rubi.ca

creating better environments 

44 colors. 3 coordinated sizes. 

endless possibilities. 

beautiful. durable. sustainable. hygienic. 

www.forboflooringNA.com/marmoleum

LIGNUM ET LAPIS 

kitchen from the Arclinea Collection, design Antonio Citterio 

Arclinea @ Livingspace 

1706 West 1st Street 

Vancouver, Bc 

T 604 683 1116 

www.livingspace.com 

www.arclinea.com | www.aroundkitchen.com 

Follow us on

Events 

Exhibitions 

Walking Tours 

Lectures 

Symposia 

Starting July 4 

buildingwaterlooregion.ca 

Building Waterloo Region—The largest architecture festival in 

Canada. A myriad of events across Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo, 

in collaboration with a stellar group of public galleries, museums, 

arts and educational institutions, provincial associations, and private 

partners. From first settlements through the industrial age, to post- 

World War II modernism, to innovative contemporary design. 

Chief Curators 

Rick Haldenby, Professor, University of Waterloo School of Architecture 

Esther E. Shipman, Curator of Architecture and Design, IDEA EXCHANGE 

BuildingWaterlooRegion @BuildingWR @BuildingWaterlooRegion 

Images (top to bottom) Riverside Silk Mills. Photo: City of Cambridge Archive. Eastwood Collegiate, Barnett and Rieder, 

Photo: University of Waterloo Library, Kitchener Waterloo Record Collection of Photographic Negatives. CIGI Campus, 

Kuwabara Payne McKenna and Blumberg. Photo: Maris Mazulis.

as TOLD by dxv 

Every home has a story. Tell yours with 

the anthology of kitchen and bathroom 

products from DXV. Culled from 150 years 

of pivotal design movements, each piece 

tells a distinctive story. What will yours be? 

Visit dxv.com to find your local showroom.

FREE TICKET ONLINE 

www.cersaie.it/onlinebooth 

Valentina Algeri for Cersaie 2014 

Civica Scuola Arte & Messaggio Milan - Visual Design 

ARMANDO TESTA 

22-26 SEPTEMBER 2014 

www.cersaie.it 

Organized by EDI.CER. spa Promoted by CONFINDUSTRIA CERAMICA In collaboration with 

Show Management: PROMOS srl - P.O. Box 37 - 40050 CENTERGROSS BOLOGNA (Italy) - Tel. +39.051.6646000 - Fax +39.051.862514 

Press Office: EDI.CER. spa - Viale Monte Santo 40 - 41049 SASSUOLO MO (Italy) - Tel. +39.0536.804585 - Fax +39.0536.806510 

Advertising Campaign co-financed by

est seat 

in the house 

Urbana base with Titan shower door 

urbana 

shower base with seat 

An innovative shower base with 

built-in seat and storage amenity 

to enhance your showering 

experience. 

Reserve your seat 

www.fleurco.com • www.designashower.com

Silica 

3 textures | 92 colors | one of a kind 

ink-erasable with water 

made from Silicone 

zero PVc - zero solvents 

memosamples.com

Contents 


Features 

2014 AZ Awards 

The best architecture and design 

48 

Meet the 

13 stand-out 

winners and 

36 finalists 

for the 2014 

AZ Awards 

70 

78 

48 Architecture 

The top five, in residential, 

landscape, temporary, and 

commercial projects 

62 design 

Innovations in furniture, 

lighting and products 

70 interiors 

Spectacular commercial and 

residential spaces 

78 concepts 

Visionary unbuilt competition 

entries and prototypes 

82 A+ award 

Exemplary student work 

44 The judges 

The five industry experts who 

made the tough choices 

62 82 

jul ⁄ aug 2014 21

Contents 


Departments 

show report 

92 Milan Furniture Fair What Tacchini, Arper and 

27 other big-name brands launched this year 

42 Et Cetera The MoMA Design Store and 

Kickstarter’s novel collaboration, and more 

show report 

34 Where Are They Now? A look at five new 

projects by past AZ Award winners 

36 Focus Smart new ways to lock your front 

door, plus stylish door hardware 

38 Touch Wood Panya Clark Espinal explores 

the invisible space between art and design 

also 

98 Light + Building High-tech options that took centre 

stage at the world’s premier lighting show 

40 Calendar Bjarke Ingels’ giant maze; 

the Louis Kahn show in London; Raymond 

Moriyama’s $100,000 prize; and more 

groundbreaker 

Material World 

30 Letter from the Editor 

102 Media Shelf Books, films and websites: what 

we’re reading, watching and downloading 

104 Advertiser Index 

105 Boldface Movers, shakers, winners and 

green do-gooders 

106 Trailer Capture the light 

33 Pumping up the volumes Neutelings Riedijk 

Architects’ cultural hub is studded with style 

89 Intelligent surfaces From kinetic shades 

to climate- responsive cladding 

on our cover 

Inside the Livraria Cultura 

in São Paolo, designed by 

Marcio Kogan of Studio 

MK27. The spectacular 

bookstore, photographed 

by Fernando Guerra, won 

this year’s AZ Award for 

Best Commercial Interior. 

22 jul ⁄ aug 2014

ANOTHER 

FACET 

CUSTOM ARCHITECTURAL FABRICATORS 

Project: Fly Condos, Toronto, ON 

Interior Design: Munge Leung 

Engineering, Fabrication & Installation of Columns: Eventscape Inc. 

Architects: Graziani + Corazza Architects 

Developer: Empire Communities 

416 231 8855 | INFO@EVENTSCAPE.US | EVENTSCAPE.US

Contents 


take 

azure 

with you, 

wherever 

you go 

online 

→ azuremagazine.com 

design 

architecture 

Light Style We’re always scouting for great 

in ter ior products, and in August we will round 

up sensational lighting ideas, such as Werner 

Aisslinger’s double-shaded Aspen pendant 

for B.Lux. 

Clean Slate All summer long, we’ll look at 

inviting summer homes and cottages that offer 

an escape from the city – for example, the slateshingled 

House in Kings Cross by Bortolotto 

Design Architect. 

interiors 

curiosity 

go to 

zinio.com/azure 

and get your 

own digital 

subscription 

Enjoy over 60% savings, plus: 

→ Convenient, instant access on 

multiple platforms 

→ Search, zoom, link, bookmark 

and other navigation features 

→ Share, save articles and images, 

and archive issues 

→ Interactive experience and quick 

links to additional online content 

Inner Beauty Visit us online for fresh residential, 

retail and restaurant interiors, including Jensen 

Architects’ award-winning home for the Shed food 

community, a combined café, culinary market 

and meeting space in Sonoma County, California. 

video ► 

Click on our Video section 

for exclusive interviews 

with such notable designers 

and architects as Karim 

Rashid and Philippe Starck. 

job board 

View career openings in 

Canada and internationally 

in 10 fields, among them 

architecture, interior design 

and graphic design. 

Craft Works Log on to explore Gathering, an 

exhibition at the Design Museum Holon, in Israel. 

Curator Li Edelkoort’s selection of objects puts 

the spotlight on domestic craft, as represented by 

such international artists as Fehling & Peiz. 

events 

Updated daily with dates 

and deadlines for current 

and upcoming conferences, 

exhibits, competitions and 

openings around the globe. 

digital 

Packed with innovations, 

state-of-the-art builds 

and the latest in furniture 

and home accessories 

from across the world. 

we’re open 24 ⁄ 7 twitter.com/azuremagazine facebook.com/azuremagazine azuremagazine.com/app 

24 jul ⁄ aug 2014 azuremagazine.com

DESIGN PORTRAIT. 

Anne, the creative director, and the two loves of her life: Jacob and Michel. Michel is designed by Antonio Citterio. 

www.bebitalia.com 

INFORM INTERIORS: 

50 & 97 Water Street 

Vancouver - BC 

Tel. 604 682 3868 

www.informinteriors.com 

KIOSK DESIGN: 

288 King Street East 

Toronto, Canada 

T.416.539.9665. 

www.kioskdesign.ca

Vol. 30 – No. 233 jul ⁄ aug 2014 

Editorial Director 

Nelda Rodger 

Editor 

Catherine Osborne 

Creative Director 

Karen Simpson 

Managing Editor 

Diane Chan 

Associate Editors 

David Dick-Agnew, Erin Donnelly 

Copy Chief 

Pamela Capraru 

Contributing Editors 

Andrew Braithwaite, Tim McKeough, Elizabeth Pagliacolo, 

Rachel Pulfer, David Theodore, Adele Weder 

Contributors 

Shannon Anderson, Daniel Baird, Chantal Braganza, 

Lian Chang, Chris Chapman, Jentry Chin, Giovanna Dunmall, 

Matthew Furtado, Will Jones, Paige Magarrey, Terri Peters, 

Carolyn Pioro, David Sokol, Catherine Sweeney, Jeanne Tan 

Associate Art Director 

Vicky Lee 

Junior Designer 

Taylor Kristan 

Website 

azuremagazine.com 

Web Coordinator 

Francesco Sgaramella 

Web Designer 

Kari Silver 

Letters to the Editor 

Azure welcomes your comments. 

Please send your letters to: azure@azureonline.com 

Staff can be reached at: firstname@azureonline.com 

Azure is published eight times per year (Jan ⁄ Feb, 

March ⁄ April, May, June, July ⁄ Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov ⁄ Dec). 

Published by AZURE Publishing Inc. 

460 Richmond St. W., Ste. 601 

Toronto, ON Canada M5V 1Y1 

Tel: (416) 203-9674, Fax: (416) 203-9842 

E-mail: azure@azureonline.com 

Online: azuremagazine.com 

Canada Post PM 40048073 

All rights reserved. Any reproduction of the contents 

without written authorization from the publisher is strictly 

prohibited. The publisher cannot be held responsible for 

loss of, or damage to, unsolicited materials. All submissions 

for editorial consideration must include a self‐addressed, 

stamped envelope and return postage. 

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government 

of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the 

Department of Canadian Heritage. We also acknowledge 

the support of the OMDC Magazine Fund, an initiative of the 

Ontario Media Development Corporation. 

Azure is a registered trademark of AZURE Publishing Inc. 

Registered United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

© 2014 AZURE Publishing Inc. 

Printed in Canada 


The definitive 

source for all 

things design 

in Toronto 

Vol. 30 – No. 233 jul ⁄ aug 2014 

Publisher 

Sergio Sgaramella 

Senior Account Managers 

Jeffrey Bakazias 

(416) 203-9674 x238 

jeffrey@azureonline.com 

Laura Levy 

(416) 203-9674 x221 

laura@azureonline.com 

Dinah Quattrin 

(416) 993-9636 

dinah@azureonline.com 

Production Manager 

Alessandro Cancian 

Office Manager 

Rhonda Bell 

Consumer Marketing Manager 

Sofiola Papadhimitri 

Consumer Marketing Assistant 

Hannah Trumper 

Print Subscription Information 

Tel: (416) 932-5082 

E-mail: customerservice@azureonline.com 

Website: azuremagazine.com/subscribe 

By mail: Azure Magazine, Subscriber Services, PO Box 1211, 

Station K, Toronto, ON Canada M4P 3E4 

2014 Print Subscription Rates 

Canada ⁄ U.S.: 1 year (eight issues), $34.95. 

International: 1 year – surface, $65.00. 

Allow eight to 10 weeks for delivery or for address changes. 

Digital Subscription Information 

Digital subscriptions to Azure may be purchased through 

azuremagazine.com/subscribe and azuremagazine.com/app. 

2014 Digital Subscription Rates 

Worldwide: 1 year (eight issues), $25.95; 

2 years (16 issues), $35.95 

Back Issues 

Print-format back issues of Azure are available for $16 for 

delivery in Canada, $18 for U.S. delivery, and $23 for all other 

international surface delivery. Orders may be placed through 

shop.azuremagazine.com, by calling (416) 203-9674 x232, 

or with prepayment to: Azure Back Issues, 460 Richmond 

St. W., Ste. 601, Toronto, ON Canada M5V 1Y1. Digital back 

issues are available through zinio.com/azure. 

Mailing Lists 

We occasionally make our subscribers’ names available to 

companies whose products or services may be of interest. 

To be excluded from these mailings, please send your 

request, with a copy of your subscription mailing label, to: 

Azure, 460 Richmond St. W., Ste. 601, Toronto, ON 

Canada M5V 1Y1. 

What 

to Buy 

Where 

to Shop 

Who 

to Hire 

Get 

Inspired 

→ Visit the new 

DesignlinesMagazine.com 

Newsstand 

For information on Azure magazine on newsstands in 

Canada and the U.S., call 1 (800) 263-9661; internationally, 

call (514) 355-5610. 

Azure is a member of Magazines Canada. 

ISSN 0829-982X 

Member of the Canadian 

Circulations Audit Board 

Indexed by Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI). 

Send undeliverable Canadian copies, address changes 

and subscription orders to: Azure Magazine, PO Box 1211, 

Station K, Toronto, ON Canada M4P 3E4. 

USPS 014-112. Published by AZURE Publish ing Inc., U.S. 

Office of Publication c/o Adrienne and Associates, 866 

Humboldt Pkwy., Buffalo, NY 14211. Periodicals postage paid 

at Buffalo, NY. U.S. POSTMASTER: Send address changes 

to: AZURE Publishing Inc., PO Box 1014, Niagara Falls, NY 

14304-9803. 


Quick Ship now available 

RUCHE bed by Inga Sempé 

ligne-roset-usa.com

letter from the editor 

THE-BAC.EDU 

↑ AZ Award prototypes at the Azure office. Each year, the winners’ trophies 

are handcrafted in a unique material, including Caesarstone (2011); glass 

by Jeff Goodman Studio (2012); and a combination of wood and Caesarstone 

(2013). This year’s A and Z were fabricated in Italy from reconstituted wood 

manufactured by Alpi. 

Master of Architecture 2014 Graduate Jamie Schwadel, Architectural Designer 

at BAC Practice employer Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. (C7A), and Master 

of Architecture 2011 Graduate Kirsten Lawson, Associate AIA, Architectural 

Designer at C7A. 

85% of BAC grads are employed at 

the time of program completion 

ONSITE DEGREE PROGRAMS 

∙ Master and Bachelor of Architecture 

∙ Master and Bachelor of Interior Design 

∙ Master and Bachelor of Landscape Architecture 

∙ Bachelor of Design Studies 

LOW-RESIDENCY ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAMS 

∙ Master of Architecture 

∙ Master of Design Studies in Design for Human Health 

∙ Master of Design Studies in Historic Preservation 

∙ Master of Design Studies in Sustainable Design 

ONLINE AND ONSITE PROFESSIONAL 

AND CONTINUING EDUCATION 

∙ Certificate Programs, Workshops, and Individual Courses 

ADMISSIONS@THE-BAC.EDU | 617.585.0123 

One advantage of establishing an awards program is seeing it take 

off. When we launched the AZ Awards over four years ago, nothing 

seemed certain. Prizes form such a large part of architecture and design 

culture that they have practically become an official season, when PR 

firms (or in-house marketing desks, or interns) sift through the many 

possibilities to determine which ones to enter, what documentation is 

required and which deadlines loom. Icon magazine recently joked that 

there were enough awards out there to warrant an AWRDR app, which 

would help firms play the odds, based on their submissions’ “thrill” 

factor, or how much it might cause “competitor jealousy”. 

Amid a crowded field, the AZ Awards have continued to grow in 

stature and numbers. This year, 652 entries poured in from 36 countries, 

from as far away as El Salvador and Lebanon. In part, the increased 

global reach reflects what this year’s jurors told us, as others have in the 

past: that peer recognition is vital to attaining professional excellence, 

and it can be difficult to achieve. At no other time can a group of experts 

step outside of their own practices and honour the great work of others. 

While the 13 winners and 36 finalists exhibit a rich diversity, two 

themes emerged on jury day: sustainability remains crucial to great 

design; and endeavours that surpass expectations – visually, socially, 

budget-wise or with unbridled invention – will always earn judicial 

respect and admiration. As juror Ron Arad observed, “I look for things 

that make me jealous, and that make me wish I had come up with the 

idea myself.” 

In light of those themes, it comes as no surprise that the award for 

Best Architecture Under 1,000 Square Metres did not go to a starchitect, 

but to Kikuma Watanabe of Japan, for his school in an impoverished 

area of Thailand simply constructed from bags of earth and sticks of 

bamboo. As well, Brian Richer of Castor Design in Toronto won Best 

Lighting Design, for a lamp that uses an expired Apple adapter to draw 

power. Not all of the recipients fit within these two themes, but if an 

app were created for beating the odds at winning an AZ Award, designs 

that make an impact on the world and change it for the better have the 

leading edge – something to keep in mind for 2015. 

Azure congratulates all of the 2014 winners and merit award honourees, 

and many thanks to our esteemed jurors: Ron Arad, Diego Burdi, 

Jamie Gray, Patricia Patkau and Charles Waldheim. 

Catherine Osborne, Editor 


Senzafine Tess wardrobe. Ubik walk-in closet. Santa Monica armchair design Jean-Marie Massaud. 

to find your nearest showroom 

call 1-888-poliform 

info@poliformusa.com / www.poliformusa.com 

“design now” quick ship program available 

New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto, 

Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary

Intelligent control 

120V On/Off switch 

Cable F Connector 

20A tamper resistant 

15A tamper resistant 

RJ45 CAT5, CAT6 

RJ12 

22 

22 Series by Omer Arbel 

Tamper resistant outlet 

15A and 20A 

trim-less and flush mounted 

suite of electrical components 

www.bocci.ca 

info@bocci.ca 

TR

groundbreaker 

pumping up 

the volumes 

Neutelings Riedijk Architects’ 

cultural hub in the Netherlands 

is studded with style 

BY jeanne tan 

Three cantilevered, 

metal-clad structures 

crown a layered glass 

and brick facade. 

The Eemhuis, designed by Neutelings Riedijk Architects of Rotterdam, 

never quite sits still. There is a movement of people, a play of lines and an 

interweaving of functions. This lively energy, combined with a strong urban 

presence, befits the building’s role as the new cultural heart of Amersfoort. 

The innovative project unites four local institutions – the city library, 

the regional archives, an arts school and exhibition space – as part of a 

re develop ment scheme to boost local cultural life, and revitalize this former 

industrial district an hour’s drive from Amsterdam. Looking back at the 

four-storey structure from the new Eemplein urban square, it literally pops 

out: the tripartite facade of brick and glass crowned with reflective, futuristic 

structures would be hard to miss. 

The layered exterior reveals the 16,000-square-metre centre’s stacked 

program, organized organically by purpose. The library resides on the open 

lower floors, while the arts school is perched on top, with each department – 

theatre and dance, visual arts and music – housed in one of the cantilevered 

metal structures. Anchoring the new community hub are the archives at 

the building’s core. 

While each institution has its own space, the fun happens where they 

intersect; the interchange between visitors and resources is palpable. 

“Instead of viewing the institutes individually, we looked at their activities to 

find the similarities,” explains Eric Thijssen, project leader at Neutelings Riedijk. 

This overlap is most impressive in the entrance hall, where a grand reading 

room invites visitors to step up to the library and the archive above. Multiple 

routes allow them to navigate at their own tempo. Wandering through the 

Eemhuis uncovers a wealth of surprises, with hidden nooks, balconies and 

dramatic views as the reward. 

Rich, textural materials take on visual, functional and symbolic roles here. 

The striking studded metal skin evolved from the desire to express and 

differentiate the public function of the building from the surrounding residential 

and commercial structures. Glazed black bricks on the exterior echo the site’s 

industrial heritage and establish urban coherence, while great swaths of 

warm oak, a traditional Dutch material, unify the interior. 

The Eemhuis has quickly become a beacon in the community since its 

opening this past spring. “We wanted to create a volkspaleis, a palace for the 

people, and stimulate all types of use. It’s a place where everyone is free to 

enter,” says Thijssen. “You’re not obliged to do anything here. What makes us 

most proud is when people come and just want to stay.” 

azuremagazine.com 


BRIE DE MEAUX BURGER 

PEI ground sirloin, porcini mushrooms, artisanal lettuce, 

truffle oil, and creamy Brie de Meaux prepared to 

perfection on the Jenn-Air gas cooktop. 

Created by Chef Mark McEwan 

Visit jennair.ca/mcewan for the recipe.

A finely crafted burger created in a Jenn-Air kitchen 

is Mark McEwan’s idea of luxury. 

Like Mark, we believe in being exceptional at everything we do. The Jenn-Air cooktop is the most powerful in 

the industry, giving you complete control over everything you do, from high-heat for searing to precision for 

gentle simmering, so even the ordinary will come out extraordinary. That’s the unprecedented luxury of Jenn-Air. 

Visit jennair.ca/mcewan for the recipe.

® 

Registered trade-mark/Trade-mark of Jenn-Air U.S.A. Used under license in Canada. ©2014 All rights reserved.

just in 

where are 

they now? 

We tracked down some winners 

from the first AZ Awards to find out 

what they’ve been up to since 2011 

BY David dick-Agnew 

→ MOLO 

Just weeks after Molo’s Softlight claimed 

the first-ever AZ Award for Best Lighting, 

the Vancouver design firm headed to Japan 

to open Nebuta House, a paper lantern 

museum dramatically clad in ribbons of red 

steel. Molo’s relationship with the country 

is ongoing; in March, Softlights featured 

prominently in a performance by the 

National Ballet of Japan. molodesign.com 

↓ Matter Design 

Brandon Clifford and Wes McGee’s Ply Shelf, a computermodelled 

design for a plywood shelf, took the prize for 

Best Furniture. The Boston studio continues to devise 

elegant products and structures using advanced fabrication 

methods, including its La Voûte de Lefevre installation, 

a honeycombed, vaulted structure composed of 287 

CNC‐routered plywood cells. matterdesignstudio. com 

Campaign 

This London studio won Best Temporary Project for an installation created 

for Dunhill, one of a slew of eye-popping retail concepts it has worked on 

for such top fashion brands as Burberry and Nike. More recently, it crafted 

a travelling pavilion for Samsung that immersed visitors in a blue-tinged 

world of inflated bubbles. campaigndesign. co. uk 

→ Alex Josephson 

After graduating from the University 

of Waterloo, Alex Josephson – the first 

student to win the A + Award – started 

Partisans with Pooya Baktash. Since 

then, the partners have let space-suited 

models wander through the offices of 

Extuple, a futuristic environment they 

recently completed, fitted with glass office 

partitions and a wavy, sculpted wooden 

ceiling. The duo is also among the teams 

at work on Union Station, Toronto’s central 

rail hub, now undergoing a major overhaul. 

The new station will bring to the city’s 

south-end more than 14,800 square 

metres of space for food, shopping and 

culture. partisanprojects. com 

↑ Ju-Hyun Kim 

The New York architect grabbed the jury’s attention, 

winning Best Unrealized Concept for his Metropolitan 

Vertical Amusement Park, and he is still thinking big. 

One of his latest schemes addresses megastore blight 

in Manhattan’s Lower East Side by topping several 

blocks of big box outlets with an artificial mountain. 

The green-scaped terrain would provide space for 

outdoor sports, a mountain bike route, and habitat for 

birds, trees and butterflies. juhyunkim. com 

photo courtesty National Ballet 

of Japan, by Takashi Shikama 

34 jul ⁄ aug 2014 

azuremagazine.com

ceramic tiles 

— by Ceragres — 

Ceramic — Porcelain — slate — Mosaïcs — stone countertops 

Toronto 

Ottawa 

Montreal 

Quebec 

170 Tycos Dr. 

3268 Hawthorne Rd. 

9975, boul. St-Laurent 

8120, boul. Décarie - Carré Union 

275, av. St-Sacrement 

ceragres.ca

focus 

OPEN 

HOUSE 

Entry systems today are smarter 

than ever. When high tech comes 

knocking, will you answer the door? 

BY erin donnelly 

Forward thinking is a critical design tool today. By the 

time a product rolls off the assembly line, technology has 

already advanced, creating a potentially endless struggle 

to keep up with the Jetsons. However, it seems product 

designer Yves Béhar, of Fuseproject in San Francisco, 

stays one step ahead by keeping an eye on the future. This 

spring brought the release of his latest venture, the August 

Smart Lock, a streamlined design that aims to be “safe, 

simple and social.” It’s the brainchild of California innovator 

August, co-founded by Béhar with Jason Johnson, a veteran 

of start-ups and tech companies such as Dolby, and Global 

IP Solutions (since acquired by Google). 

The lock is one of several devices vying to gain a foothold 

in the smart-home market, similar to what Nest has done 

with its app-controlled thermo stats. Among the competitors 

is Kwikset’s Kevo Bluetooth lock, sold for $240, which 

opens with just a tap. Lockitron, based in Mountain View, 

California, has a smart option priced at $195. It is now in 

production, thanks to a crowd-funding initiative that raised 

over US$2.3 million. Other concepts include the Off door 

handle, which allows you to switch off electricity and gas 

connections as you exit; and Grabit, which uses an ergonomically 

placed thumbprint reader. 

Some of these high-tech systems employ the same 

security encryption as online banking, and like car entry 

systems many products offer a Bluetooth-enabled autounlock 

feature. They also track comings and goings, a 

debatable “benefit.” Going back to August’s three tenets 

of safe, simple and social, one marvels at how a lock can 

be “social.” August and Lockitron’s models let you send 

invitations to friends so they can access your house, and 

for others to download the app to open the lock. Whether 

we need our door locks to do all of these things remains to 

be seen. August Smart Lock, $215, august. com 

Street Smart Architects get a handle on hardware 

This cylindrical handle, part of Tom Kundig’s 

collection for 12th Avenue Iron, is available in a 

range of sizes and finishes including glossy 

red or white, and wax-finished blackened steel. 

From $155, 12thavenueiron. com 

Among Olivari’s latest collection is the uniquely 

proportioned Conca, from Patricia Urquiola, 

which lends a surprising visual weight. In chrome, 

matte chrome and Superinox satin. From $160, 

olivari. com 

Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi crafted 

this handle for her own home. Now in production by 

Izé, this model is faithful to the original details, 

and it comes in all of the company’s finish options. 

$435, ize. info 


art dept 

touch 

wood 

Camouflaging a full dining set, 

Panya Clark Espinal’s installation 

plays with perception 

BY shannon anderson 

↑ Each component of 

Lost in the Wood lines 

up perfectly within the 

overall composition. 

when it comes to art, everyone is well acquainted with the 

rule “Look but don’t touch”, but artist Panya Clark Espinal trades 

social convention for communal interaction with her sculpture 

Lost in the Wood, a collaboration with architect Nathanael Gray. 

The dynamically rendered piece contains a fully functional 

dining set that visitors can touch and even use, further breaking 

down that invisible barrier. When it debuted at Toronto’s 

Christopher Cutts gallery last spring, people hosted culinary 

gatherings within it. Fabricated using two plywood screens 

and felt flooring as a base, the entire installation, including the 

table, stools and place settings, is adorned with the same 

wood plank graphics. The earth-hued “planks” are reminiscent 

of Brit designer Richard Woods’ architectural works with real 

and painted timbers. Indeed, Clark Espinal’s piece straddles the 

realms of art and design, beauty and functionality. “I wanted 

to make art that could engage people in a different way,” 

she says. “It’s an attempt to let them step inside an artwork, 

let it be fluid and transforming.” 

Fabricated using high- and low-tech methods – laser 

cutting and 3‐D printing, hand-painted surfaces and hand-cut 

floor ing – Lost in the Wood plays with anamorphosis: when 

viewed from a particular spot, the furnishings appear to flatten 

and become camouflaged, playing with the concepts of what 

is tangible and what is accessible. The gallery installation is 

just a launching pad for the work: envisioning future encounters, 

Clark Espinal imagines everything from partnerships with 

restaurants to a banquet in a farmer’s field. For the artist, “It’s 

a bit of an experiment.” 


design is possibility 

© 2014 Shaw, A Berkshire Hathaway Company 

BEIJING • CHICAGO • GUADALAJARA • HONG KONG • LONDON • LOS ANGELES • MELBOURNE • MEXICO CITY • MIAMI • MONTERREY 

• NANTONG • NEW YORK • SAN FRANCISCO • SHANGHAI • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • WWW.SHAWCONTRACTGROUP.COM

Calendar 

July 4 to september 1 

big maze at the national building museum 

Washington, D.c. 

With 34 projects in the works, few firms are generating as much 

interest these days as Bjarke Ingels’ BIG. This summer, the Danish 

firm’s playful installation at the National Building Museum in 

Washington, D.C., is sure to create buzz. The giant maze, which 

measures nearly 19 by 19 metres, will fill the institution’s Great 

Hall with a unique take on a traditional labyrinth. Ingels imagined 

the concept, featuring 5.5-metre-high walls around the perimeter, 

as a reversal of the typical maze configuration. The walls drop 

gradually toward the centre, so that once the core is reached a 

360-degree view of the path opens up, revealing the way out. 

For the claustrophobic, the hall’s balconies offer a complete aerial 

view of the interactive installation. nbm. org 

July 9 to October 12 

LOUIS KAHN: THE POWER OF architecture 

London 

Like so many great artists, Louis Kahn had few opportunities 

during his lifetime to share his work with the world: he died 

nearly bankrupt in 1974. Yet decades later, he is continuously 

cited as a significant influence in today’s architectural field; 

his projects have been realized as recently as 2012, when his 

Roosevelt Memorial was constructed in New York. His legacy 

is fully celebrated in this exhibit at London’s Design Museum, 

with original models and drawings, as well as rare film footage 

and photos of the 20th-century icon. designmuseum.org 

to august 10 

tapas: spanish design for food 

toronto 

From the ubiquitous jamón ibérico to colourful pans of 

paella, Spain takes its beautiful food seriously. The Design 

Exchange delves into this zest for gastronomic design, 

in a unique exhibition courtesy of curator Juli Capella and 

organizer AC/E Acción Cultural Española. With more than 

150 food-related objects – including Enoc Armengol’s 

Panpaati, a whimsical table and chair setting fabricated 

entirely from bread – this exhibition is sure to whet your 

appetite for culinary art. dx. org 

The Moriyama RAIC International Prize 

submission deadline: august 1 

This exciting new Canadian award, which rivals the Pritzker 

Prize by matching its $100,000 purse and global reach, was 

established by architect Raymond Moriyama and the Royal 

Architectural Institute of Canada to promote architecture’s 

role in transforming society. Through his career, Moriyama – 

renowned for the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and 

Toronto’s original Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, among 

many other cultural icons – stayed focused on humanistic 

values of social justice, equality and inclusivity. This award 

aims to keep those altruistic ideals alive in contemporary 

practice. raic. org 

upcoming fairs 

AUGUST 30 TO SEPTEMBER 2 

TENDENCE, FRANKFURT, 

GERMANy 

Halls of tabletop accessories, 

home furnishings and seasonal 

decor. 

tendence. messefrankfurt. com 

SEPTEMBER 5 TO 9 

MAISON&OBJET, PARIS 

Fine furniture, ceramics and more. 

maison-objet.com 


HOMI MILANO, MILAN, italy 

Concepts for experiencing 

the home, indoors and out. 

homimilano. com 


LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 

An annual event that 

includes 100% Design. 

londondesignfestival.com, 

100percentdesign.co.uk 


CERSAIE, BOLOGNA, italy 

Aisles of tiles and bath fittings. 

cersaie.it 


ABITARE IL TEMPO, VERONA, 

ITALy 

Luxury contemporary furniture 

and lighting from across Italy. 

abitareiltempo.com 


IDS WEST, VANCOUVER 

Interior design catering to the 

West Coast. idswest.com 

OCTOBER 18 TO 23 

HIGH POINT market, 

North carolina 

Housewares and home furnishings. 

highpointmarket.org 


GROHE 

GRANDERA 

CAPTURE STYLE 

THAT IS 

SIMPLY GRAND 

Enjoy the grandeur and sophistication of yesterday 

complemented by the modern sensibilities of 

today. GROHE’s Grandera collection reconciles 

opposite geometric shapes, circle and square, in 

one harmonious look. The result is flowing feminine 

forms with defined masculine edges. Thanks to Grohe 

StarLight ® technology, the fittings retain their shine 

and resilience while Grohe SilkMove ® technology 

guarantees easy movement of the handle and precise 

temperature control for years. Timeless, simple and 

yet extravagant… relax and take it all in. GROHE.CA

et cetera 

← REVIVE CARPET 

Rens and Desso’s latest 

rug collection gives 

out-of-date pieces new 

life via a manual dyeing 

process. Varying reactions 

between fibres and vibrant 

pigments result in a 

unique palette each time. 

$1,480, rens‐ desso. com 

↑ HORTENSIA BY 

gUFRAM 

Part of a limited edition 

by Marcel Wanders, this 

sculpted floral pouffe is 

realized in soft polyurethane 

foam. Hortensia 

is also available in a white 

version called Magnolia. 

gufram. it 

← NEW ROMAN By 

PAOla c. 

Jaime Hayon’s architectural 

collection of vessels 

atop metal stands, in 

ceramic, glass, aluminum, 

copper and silver plate, 

is inspired by the Roman 

Empire and includes pieces 

such as the Colosseum II 

fruit bowl. paolac. com 

↑ Floating SKATE RAMp 

Pro skater Bob Burnquist 

teamed up with California’s 

tourism board to bring 

this dreamy concept to life. 

Engineered to remain 

stable on water, the wooden 

skate ramp here appears 

to float on crystal-clear 

Lake Tahoe. 

visitcalifornia. com 

→ MOMA KICKSTARTER 

MoMA Design Store has 

partnered with Kickstarter 

to offer a suite of crowdsourced 

inventions, such as 

Velvetwire’s Powerslayer, 

an energy-saving charger 

that turns off automatically 

once a device is fully 

powered. $98, 

momastore. org 

↑ BAAN DINNER SET 

CUPBOARD 

This whimsical steel and 

ash wood structure stows 

glasses as chandeliers, 

and plates in a stepped plot 

to represent a stair case. 

A winner in the European 

A’ Design Awards, it was 

devised by Bangkok studio 

Partly Cloudy Design. 

compiled by erin donnelly 

Skate Ramp photo courtesy of visit 

california and 9mphoto 


Meet the judges 

our fourth annual AZ Awards jury 

3 

5 

1 

2 

4 

Our illustrious judges 

convened in Toronto on a 

cold February day to evaluate 

the 652 entries to the 

fourth annual AZ Awards. 

Their final selection of 13 

winners and 36 awards 

of merit reflects just how 

sophisticated and intelligent 

architecture and 

design have become, from 

schools constructed out 

of earthbags to buildings 

that bloom in the desert. 

1 diego burdi 

Along with Paul Filek, 

Diego Burdi helms 

Burdifilek, the Toronto 

interior design firm 

behind such stellar 

hospitality and retail 

environments as the 

W Hotel in Atlanta; and 

the flagship Joe Fresh 

boutique in New York, 

located in a historical 

building on 5th Avenue. 

2 patricia patkau 

Patricia Patkau is 

co-principal of Patkau 

Architecture in Vancouver. 

Her firm has won 

dozens of accolades, 

including two AZ Awards, 

one for Cot tages at 

Falling water, now under 

construction. She is an 

Honorary Fellow of the 

American Institute of 

Architects and the Royal 

Institute of Architects. 

3 charles 

waldheim 

As the landscape 

archi tecture chair at 

Harvard’s Graduate 

School of Design, Charles 

Waldheim knows what 

goes into creating smart 

green space. He helped 

to advance the discipline 

of “landscape urbanism,” 

which describes 

landscape as a path to 

order within cities. 

4 Jamie gray 

Jamie Gray is the owneroperator 

of Matter, a 

leading furniture and 

accessories retailer in 

Manhattan that specializes 

in launching young 

talent. In 2010, he began 

manufacturing products 

by some of his favourite 

designers, under the 

label Matter-Made. 

5 ron arad 

London-based Ron Arad 

designed such postmodern 

classics as the 

Rover chair, made out 

of an old car seat, and 

the flexible Bookworm 

bookshelf for Kartell. He 

is also an architect, and 

in 2010 he completed 

the Design Museum 

Holon outside Tel Aviv, 

where he was born. 

PHOTO BY araSH MOALLEMI 

44 jul ⁄ aug 2014 az awards annual azuremagazine.com

THANK YOU 

TO OUR SPONSORS 

the 2014 AZ AWARDS CELEBRATe THE BEST in ARCHITECTURE and DESIGN 

presented by: 

BMW 

Caesarstone 

Keilhauer 

sponsored by: 

GE Monogram 

Urban Capital 

George Brown College 

TD bank group 

gala Partner: 

carpenters local 27 

strategic Partners: 

Alpi, extreme reach Mijo, Henry of Pelham, HÔtel Le Germain, 

Lowe-Martin Group, ninutik, Peroni, terroni, V2Com 

CARPENTERS 

&ALLIED WORKERS 

LOCAL 27 

CARPENTERS 

UNION 

Newswire ⌐ Fil de presse 

design • architecture • lifestyle 

az awards annual jul ⁄ aug 2014 45

JOIN OUR 

GROWING 

AWARD 

WINNING 

DESIGN 

COMMUNITY 

We are industry focused, offering 

field education and leading in applied 

research and design innovation. 

RECENT AWARDS 

George Brown College’s Institute without Boundaries (IwB) 

among the top four urban design schools – Azure Magazine 

George Brown School of Fashion Studies ranked 24th out of 

the top 50 Fashion Schools in the world – Fashionista.com 

Best Booth and Best Student Work in the Creative Class 

Awards from IDS 2014 

Best in Show at the 2014 Level Up Student Games Showcase 

Winner of the 2014 Canada Goose/Sporting Life 

Student Jacket Design 

Finalists in the 2014 Télio Canada’s Breakthrough Designers 

Awards 

Ubisoft Gallery Finalist in 2014 

Winner of the 2013 Unisource Design and Print Excellence 

Award for Catalogues and Books 

Five Applied Arts Magazine Student Award winners in 2013 

Three Advertising and Design Club of Canada Student Awards 

in 2013 

Three RGD Student Awards in 2013 

GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE 

SCHOOL OF DESIGN PROGRAMS 

Art & Design Foundation 

Graphic Design 

Interaction Design and Development 

Game Development 

Game Design 

Advanced Digital Design 

Design Management 

Interdisciplinary Design Strategy 

(Institute without Boundaries) 

GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE 

SCHOOL OF FASHION 

STUDIES PROGRAMS 

Fashion Techniques and Design 

Fashion Management 

Fashion Business Industry 

International Fashion Development 

and Management 

Gemmology 

Jewellery Essentials 

Jewellery Methods 

Jewellery Arts 

For more information on the Schools of Design and Fashion 

Studies, or to become a valued member of our award-winning 

design community, please visit www.georgebrown.ca/AD/ 

or call (416) 415-5000 ext. 2137. 

GBC.ARTS.DESIGN

the winners’ 

circle 

Each year, we 

ask industry 

experts to weigh 

in on hundreds of 

project and product 

submissions 

from around the 

world. The point? 

To celebrate 

the talents who 

inform, improve 

and beautify our 

lives. Here are the 

49 winners and 

finalists for the 

2014 AZ Awards. 

PHOTO BY Chris Chapman, set design by jentry chin 


winneR 

Residential 

architecture 

Cliff House 

Location: Nova Scotia, Canada 

Firm: MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple 

Architects Team: Brian MacKay-Lyons 

with Kevin Reid and Talbot Sweetapple 

The East Coast firm has earned an international 

reputation for its contemporary 

approach to traditional materials, and 

to characteristic Maritime architecture. 

MLS has earned over 100 awards since 

principal Brian MacKay-Lyons founded 

the studio in 1984. mlsarchitects.ca 

“monumental modesty” is how Brian 

MacKay-Lyons describes Cliff 

House. Expressing a drama utterly 

suited to its breathtaking surroundings, 

the house is the first in a 

series of projects to be built on a 

privately owned property on the 

Atlantic coast. Measuring just 

89 square metres, it is a triumph in 

every aspect – a stunningly compact 

building crafted using a frugal 

palette of glass, wood, aluminum 

and steel, and realized without 

breaking the bank. 

The skeleton forms the primary 

boxy volume, which sits on a galvanized 

superstructure anchored 

to bedrock, the engineering of 

which enables the house to rest 

two-thirds of its mass above solid 

ground. Inside, a conventional 

framing system is left exposed, to 

the point of almost being ignored; 

after all, it is the panoramic views, 

visible from three sides of the great 

room, that the house intends to 

exploit. Beyond this central space, 

kept warm by a wood-burning 

stove, there is a compact service 

core with an open kitchen and a 

bathroom, a sleeping perch above 

and not much more. 

For those who have sat in the 

great room, vertigo constitutes a 

part of the experience. Toronto 

writer Larry Gaudet, who first 

wrote about Cliff House for Azure 

in 2012, noted, “It’s as if it has 

slipped from its foundation and 

is about to topple forward.… 

You’re both drawn to the windows 

and repelled by them. You have 

entered the guts of the thing, and 

it’s only after you settle down, after 

your heartbeat normalizes, that 

you say, now this is amazing.”

“For such a small project, 

Cliff House has impressive 

grandness. The entrance is 

a simple abstract box, and 

then inside you are hit with 

a rich topography of rock.” 

Patricia Patkau, juror 


Location: Sangkhlaburi, Thailand 

Firm: D Environmental Design System 

Laboratory Team: Kikuma Watanabe 

with Erika Izumi, Yusuke Kataoka, 

Miku Okazaki, Syunya Takahashi and 

Hidehiro Tamaki 

D Environmental Design System 

Laboratory of Nara, founded in 2007, 

explores the life-changing potential 

of earthbag design. Projects similar to 

School Floating in the Sky have been 

built in Uganda and Jordan. d-ken.info 

winneR 

Architecture 

< 1,000 square metres 

school floating 

in the sky 

“You can see immediately that this 

building works perfectly. It has an 

inspiring connection to place that we 

can all recognize and relate to.” 

Patricia Patkau, juror 

Travel guide books describe 

Sangkhlaburi village as a place to 

go if you want to stay clear of other 

travellers. It is located in a remote 

part of Thailand near the Myanmar 

border, and its most notable landmark 

is a 400-metre-long wooden 

bridge. It is quiet in Sangkhlaburi; 

it is also poverty stricken, and in 

2012 Kikuma Watanabe decided to 

improve the lives of the disproportionate 

number of children there 

who have been orphaned because 

their parents were unable to keep 

them. To do so, he asked the children 

to draw their dream school. One 

drew a flying ship, which became 

the basis of School Floating in the 

Sky, a two-storey structure made 

from earthbags and bamboo. 

Watanabe, who is also a professor 

at the Kochi University of 

Technology in Japan, has built other 

structures like this before, and he 

taught the locals how to assemble 

the school’s three domed volumes 

by filling sacks with dirt. An internal 

grid of steel bars was also added 

to ensure earthquake resistance. 

The rounded volumes create 

cool, dark interiors, a respite from 

the region’s intense heat. The top 

level, made of bamboo, functions as 

a Buddhist room and learning area. 

Since its completion, the school has 

become a multi- functional space for 

the entire community, and it has provided 

young minds with a compelling 

idea: good design can change things, 

even when all you have is dirt. 


winner 

landscape 

Architecture 

The citydeck 

“Green Bay is not a design epicentre, 

but Stoss has used its design intelligence 

to help the city recuperate its waterfront 

and, in turn, open it up to future 

development. That’s very appealing.” 

Charles Waldheim, juror 

Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin Firm: 

Stoss Landscape Urbanism Team: Scott 

Bishop and Chris Reed with Caroline 

Aragon, Tim Barner, Cathy Braasch, Nick 

Buehrens, Steve Carlucci, Jill Desimini, 

Adrian Fehrmann, Susan Fitzgerald, Carl 

Frushour, Hiroshi Hatae, Jana Kienitz, Lisl 

Kotheimer, Shannon Lee, Kristin Malone, 

Bryan Miyahara, Chris Muskopf, Graham 

Palmer, Megan Studer and Sarah Wright 

Established in 2000, this Boston firm’s 

portfolio includes projects both small and 

large, from a rubber-surfaced playground 

in Quebec to a plan that would revitalize 

Detroit via public spaces and sustainable 

infrastructure. stoss.net 

it is every heaLThy city’s dream to boast 

of a waterfront defined by extensive 

boardwalks, quaint cafés and public 

seating that invites citizens to relax 

and enjoy the view. Yet waterside 

projects require that rare alignment 

of creative vision, good governance 

and public consent. 

In Wisconsin, it took Stoss 

Landscape Urbanism three years 

to complete a three-phase waterside 

master plan that has given 

downtown Green Bay a remarkable 

new lease on life, and without bigbudget 

spending. A meandering 

boardwalk made of hard-wearing 

ipe wood now runs for over 

400 metres along the formerly 

neglected Fox River. To further 

animate the promenade, Stoss 

terraced the walkways and added 

elevated lookouts anchored by 

concrete-filled pipes. It also created 

floating docks, brought in during 

the summer to let boaters moor 

their vessels there. Integrated, 

too, are various kinds of seating 

options that include long and 

short benches, and inviting chaise 

lounges, ideal for sunbathing or 

stargazing. Beneath the ipe planks 

is another ingenious feature, a 

stormwater management system 

to help control seasonal flooding. 

Completed in 2012, and at a cost 

of US$14 million, the project is now 

filling in with bustling restaurants 

and pubs, and with joggers and 

dog walkers populating the deck. 

Plantings of ginkgo, elm and 

Kentucky coffeetree are also starting 

to mature. The latest sign that 

CityDeck is a resounding success? 

Residential development is now 

under way in a part of Green Bay 

that was lost to the city before. 


winner 

Architecture 

> 1,000 square 

metres 

Vol Walker Hall 

and The Steven 

L. Anderson 

Design Center 

Location: Fayetteville, Arkansas 

Firms: Marlon Blackwell Architect and 

Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects Team: 

Marlon Blackwell, Mark Herrmann, David 

Jaehning and Joe Stanley with Meryati 

Johari Blackwell, Jonathan Boelkins, 

William Burks, Angela Carpenter, Craig 

Curzon, John Dupree, Conley Fikes, 

Laura Lyon, Sarah Menyhart Bennings, 

J. B. Mullins, Bradford Payne, Michael 

Pope, Kimberly Braden Prescott, Stephen 

Reyenga, Reese Rowland, Michelle Teague, 

Jim Thacker, Christopher Thomas and 

Wesley Walls. 

Marlon Blackwell’s eponymous studio 

in Fayetteville builds thoughtful, economically 

styled projects that range 

from houses to retail interiors. Polk 

Stanley WilcoxArchitects has offices in 

Little Rock and Fayetteville, and it draws 

from decades of experience in institutional 

design, particularly in health care 

and education. marlonblackwell.com, 

polkstanleywilcox.com 

When vol walker hall first opened its 

doors in the 1930s, it was a library. 

Since 1968, it has been home to the 

University of Arkansas’s architecture 

school, and though its stately 

presence is beloved the building 

had reached its limits, especially in 

providing adequate studio space for 

a growing student body. Only new 

construction could fix that problem, 

so local firm Marlon Blackwell 

Architect partnered with Polk 

Stanley Wilcox Architects to bring 

the old hall into the 21st century. 

Their first move was to scoop 

out the structural core, leaving 

the perimeter untouched on three 

sides. On the western edge, they 

added a four-storey volume that 

matches the original building’s 

dimensions, a gesture that lets the 

twin structures complement each 

other’s similarities as much as 

express their differences. 

In other hands, the addition 

could have become a jarringly 

futuristic bauble, out of synch with 

the campus’s regal surroundings. 

But Blackwell’s firm has a sharp 

eye for clean-lined, modernist 

forms. The new wing, called the 

Steven L. Anderson Design Center, 

corresponds to the original beaux 

arts building in visual weight, 

and both are clad in limestone. The 

reimagined western facade injects 

a fresh layer of contemporary 

design: its curtain wall is veiled by 

slats of fritted glass angled to funnel 

daylight in while blocking out the 

late afternoon sun. 

The centre now houses that badly 

needed studio space, along with 

a lower-level auditorium lit from 

above by second-floor windows. 

Traffic flows freely throughout 

the two buildings via a glassed-in 

corridor with two sets of stairs. 

The narrow passage also doubles 

as a chamber for filtering in natural 

light. Even on the interior, old and 

new are juxtaposed, but neither 

vocabulary overwhelms the other. 

It’s not often that such subtlety can 

be so commanding as well. 

“This is an extraordinarily deft 

project in the way it respects 

what’s new and what’s old. It’s 

precisely of its place and could 

not be anywhere else.” 




winner 

temporary 

architecture 

open housE 

“There is a lot of joy in this project, it’s 

a crazy idea that has actually been 

realized, and that in itself is delightful.” 

Ron Arad, juror 

Location: York, Alabama Artist: Matthew 

Mazzotta Team: Curtis Oliveira, Jegan 

Vincent De Paul and Cory Vineyard 

Matthew Mazzotta is a conceptual artist 

engaged in public art with a social good. 

He is also a lecturer and a graduate of 

MIT, with a master’s of science in visual 

studies. Among his other noteworthy 

projects is Park Spark, a receptacle tank 

installed in parks that transforms dog 

waste into usable methane energy. 

matthewmazzotta.com 

the recession thAT began in 2008, 

fuelled as it was by predatory lending, 

left swaths of America with 

blighted properties and abandoned 

homes. How might such spaces be 

revived and repurposed, and how 

can such fractured communities be 

rebuilt? Artist Matthew Mazzotta’s 

answer is Open House, a unique 

collaboration with the Coleman 

Center for the Arts and the good 

citizens of York, Alabama. 

The project emerged out of 

conversations Mazzotta had with 

the people of York, a town of just 

2,854 located near the Mississippi 

border. Their discussions focused 

on what kind of public venue the 

town might need, and Mazzotta 

came up with Open House, an 

in gen ious house-shaped structure 

that unfolds from the roof down to 

become five rows of bench seating 

with an open-air stage. 

The inventive design requires 

four people, a hand winch, and a 

couple of hours of teamwork to 

reveal itself. The resulting theatre, 

which seats up to 100, can be used 

for anything from film screenings 

to theatre performances to commun 

ity meetings. 

The metamorphosis of Open 

House is fascinating to watch, as 

the facade of the tiny clapboard 

house cracks open between the 

front door and a window, and as 

sections begin to roll outward, 

forming seating like church pews, 

all semblance of the house having 

disappeared. Mazzotta reused 

scraps of wood from a house that 

had fallen into decay, but he left 

intact the trademark pink cladding, 

a small reminder to those who 

knew the house before its demise 

that something good has emerged 

from the abandoned wreckage. 


awards 

of merit 

architecture 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

1 

2 

Architecture 

> 1,000 Square Metres 

1 Regent Park Aquatic 

centre 

Location: Toronto, Ontario 

Firm: MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller 

Archi tects, Toronto 

Beyond its condo-strewn skyline, one 

of Toronto’s most impressive recent 

transformations is taking place in 

Regent Park, a once-notorious housing 

project that is transitioning into a 

vibrant mixed-use community. This 

aquatic centre serves as its heart, 

inviting in both long-time residents 

and newcomers. Clad in black zinc 

panels with a green roof, the lowslung 

2,600-square-metre building 

is generously glazed: a raised, glasscovered 

spine runs along its axis, 

and a “dorsal fin” of a skylight brings 

light into the swim halls and change 

rooms, with double sliding doors off 

the main pool area leading sunbathers 

to the park-side terrace. Inside, the 

faceted wooden ceilings bring a 

sense of grandeur to the morning 

swim. mjmarchitects.com 

2 Valencia Waste 

tReatment Plant 

Location: Valencia, Spain Firm: Israel 

Alba, Madrid Team: Israel Alba with 

Mónica Domínguez, Zina Petrikova, 

Laura Rojo and Ines Steuber 

Through their thoughtful architecture, 

the four long, parallel structures that 

constitute this waste treatment plant 

achieve the facility’s central tenets: 

to connect with its environment, and 

to engage visitors. The sculpted buildings, 

which process 450,000 tonnes 

of waste each year, sink at one end 

into the rising topography and receive 

ample natural light inside. Visitors 

can enter via a plaza dotted with local 

orange trees to tour the plant and 

learn about energy conservation. 

israelalba.com 


4 

awards 

of merit 

ARCHITECTURE 

5 

3 

3 Elena Garro Cultural 

CEnter 

Location: Mexico City, Mexico Firms: 

Fernanda Canales and Arquitectura 

911sc, Mexico City Team: Fernanda 

Canales, Jose Castillo and Saidee 

Springall 

A balustraded mezzanine seen through 

triple-height glazing hints at this striking 

cultural centre’s former life as an early 

20th-century home. Once inside the 

concrete volume, visitors are surrounded 

by soaring bookcases that establish the 

modern identity of the must-visit bookstore, 

just one of the new volumes 

that local firms Fernanda Canales and 

Arquitectura 911sc wrapped around the 

old residence in the southern Coyoacán 

district. fernandacanales. com, 

arq911. com 

4 WMS BoathouSE 

at Clark Park 

Location: Chicago, Illinois Firm: Studio 

Gang Architects, Chicago Team: Jeanne 

Gang with William Emmick, Jay Hoffman, 

Mark Schendel and Christopher Vant Hoff 

Capturing the rhythm of rowing in its 

exuberant roofline, this boathouse by 

Studio Gang symbolizes the Chicago 

River’s evolution into the city’s next 

recreational frontier. The 2,100-squaremetre 

facility’s zinc-clad volumes are 

dually oriented, toward each other and 

toward the river, and their slate-shingled 

peaks incorporate glazed clerestories. 

In the interior, finished in warm Douglas 

fir plywood and black locust wood, 

one room is entirely devoted to indoor 

training tanks. Yet this new Chicago icon, 

with its 4,043-metre-long launch dock, 

is for everyone, as seen in its generous 

camp and community programming. 

studiogang. net 

5 CoMMunity Rowing 

BoathouSE 

Location: Boston, Massachusetts Firm: 

Anmahian Winton Architects, Cambridge, 

Massachusetts Team: Alex Anmahian 

and Nick Winton with Joel Lamere, 

Sydney Schremser and Todd Thiel 


6 

7 

Recalling the tobacco barns and covered 

bridges of New England, this handsome 

rowing centre on the Charles River is 

clad in composite wood-resin panels 

and louvres rendered in subtly varying 

geometric cuts. They are operable by 

simple chain pulls to control light and 

ventilation gain; the mechanism also 

syncs with the geothermal heating and 

cooling system to make the boathouse 

an efficient, comfortable year-round 

facility. A second, smaller pavilion is 

clad in glass shingles. aw‐arch. com 

6 Joseph L. Rotman School 

of Management expansion 

Location: Toronto, Ontario Firm: 

KPMB Architects, Toronto Team: Bruce 

Kuwabara and Marianne McKenna 

with Luigi LaRocca, Paulo Rocha and 

Dave Smythe 

A cascade of lustrous volumes, the 

University of Toronto’s new business 

school campus has a 400-seat lecture 

hall cantilevered from its second 

storey, a bold gesture that telegraphs 

the facility’s future-forward culture. Clad 

in tinted glazing and Ductal concrete 

panels, the remaining spaces house a 

broad program of offices and research 

labs, student lounges and study rooms. 

However, it’s not all business all the 

time: a twisting atrium staircase with a 

pink accent brings a tailored flair to the 

10-storey main building. kpmb. com 

Architecture 

< 1,000 Square Metres 

7 the screen 

Location: Dichen Valley, China Firm: 

Li Xiaodong Atelier, China Team: 

Li Xiaodong with Martijn de Geus, Jerry 

Hau, Renske van Dam and Ying Xin 

A poetic brick lattice building greets 

travellers on the Dichen Valley mountain 

range. This 600-square-metre structure 

contains offices and living quarters for 

the workers who will maintain the route’s 

planned viewing and resting platforms. 

The open-weave facade pays tribute 

to Chinese craftsmanship, and interior 

screens in local bamboo continue the 

expansive yet private feel. lixiaodong. net 


awards 

of merit 

ARCHITECTURE 

8 

9 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

10 

8 ecohawks research 

facility 

Location: Lawrence, Kansas Studio: 

Studio 804, University of Kansas 

Team: Dan Rockhill with Hayder Alsaad, 

Max Anderson, Melanie Arthur, Liz 

Avenius, Ryan Berry, Matthew Bethel, 

Ashlee Burleson, Mark Hageman, 

Hunter Hanahan, Kelli Hawkins, Hannah 

Hindman, Owen Huisenga, Mike Kelly, 

Rachel Mattes, Kate Medin, Mandy Moore, 

Matt Patterson, Ryan Shults, Bryan 

Stockton and Mark Zeitler 

Every year, Dan Rockhill’s Studio 804 at 

the University of Kansas gives graduate 

students in architecture invaluable 

experience by challenging them to build 

one sustainable project from the ground 

up. Most recently, the studio worked 

with EcoHawks, a student-run group that 

researches electric vehicles, biofuels, 

wind turbine technology and more, to 

build a new LEED Platinum facility. The 

250-square-metre building incorporates 

three volumes – two fabrication 

areas and one open-air space – behind 

a recycled-aluminum woven skin and 

translucent shading system. The latter’s 

insulated, aerogel-filled panels keep the 

building cool, while solar panels and a 

water retention system round out the 

environmental features. studio804.com 

9 assiniboine park 

washrooms 

Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Firm: 

Peter Sampson Architecture Studio, 

Winnipeg Architect: Peter Sampson 

Wrapped in milled cedar and fronted 

in mirrored glass, the three shipping 

containers that form these attractive 

public washrooms have completely 

shed their humble beginnings. The 

architects sourced the containers in 

Winnipeg, where the Canadian National 

and Canadian Pacific Railways abandon 

a number of them each year, then they 

prefabricated the units in a warehouse. 

The 12-metre modules contain women’s, 

men’s and barrier-free facilities, each 

marked by a different colour. The mirrored 

exterior reflects the surrounding 


11 

trees and nature – playing up the notion 

of relieving oneself in the bushes, while 

presenting the park with an image of 

itself. psastudio. ca 

Landscape Architecture 

10 folly forest 

Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Firm: 

Straub Thurmayr Landscape Architects 

and Urban Designers, Winnipeg Team: 

Dietmar Straub and Anna Thurmayr 

The children at Strathcona School now 

have the stars at their feet. In reviving 

this paved play area, local landscape 

architects Dietmar Straub and Anna 

Thurmayr punched holes into the 

50-year-old asphalt surface, then outlined 

these geometric perforations 

in bright yellow and red, and planted 

some 100 trees inside them. To add rich 

texture and provide ground cover for 

the new plantings, they arranged bricks, 

logs and stones inside the bases. The 

budget-friendly, reanimated space, complete 

with such objets trouvés as a rusty 

cauldron and silvery wooden beams, 

now gives a whole constellation back to 

this low-income neighbourhood. 

11 Mangfall park Rosenheim 

Location: Rosenheim, Germany Firm: 

A24 Landschaft Landschaftsarchitektur, 

Berlin Team: Steffan Robel and Joachim 

Swillus with Carole Blessner, Stephan 

Huber and Joachim Naundorf 

To reconnect Rosenheim to its rivers, 

Berlin landscape firm A24 ingeniously 

transformed 13 hectares of urban 

waterfront in the city in Upper Bavaria. 

The backbone of this brilliant scheme 

is a 500-metre-long boardwalk, which 

morphs from ramp to promenade to 

landscaped steps leading down to the 

water’s edge, and connects to eight 

pedestrian bridges. While these bridges 

link the riverbanks, the previously 

buried Mühlbach creek was uncovered, 

and guarded inlets along its path were 

reimagined as urban gardens. A timbered 

platform rises above tiered lawns, provides 

a viewing platform to the Chiemgau 

Alps, to the east. a24‐landschaft. de 


awards 

of merit 

ARCHITECTURE 

12 

13 

Residential Architecture 

12 Les Marais 

Location: Wentworth-Nord, Quebec 

Firm: Alain Carle Architecte, Montreal 

Team: Alain Carle with Isaniel Lévesque, 

Jean-François Marceau and Cuong Tran 

Three beguiling structures in blackpainted 

wood and red cedar rise up 

from the wetlands of Wentworth-Nord. 

Inspired by barns scattered across rural 

tracts in North America, the two main 

houses and the storage building play 

with the iconic peaked roof, carving 

into it and multiplying it in imaginative 

ways. A section of roof is excised here to 

create a semi-shaded terrace, and a wall 

of cladding is stripped away there for a 

majestic window wall. The 604-squaremetre 

complex is connected by a blackpainted 

wooden plateau, which serves as 

a collective space for the occupants. 

13 MaiDEn Tower 

Location: Vorarlberg, Austria Firm: 

Marte.Marte Architects, Weiler, Austria 

Team: Bernhard Marte and Stefan Marte 

Austrian architect Stefan Marte’s 

add-on to his family home contains 

three stacked bedrooms for his young 

daughters. The interiors of the Rapunzelinspired 

structure match those of the 

main house, with simple birch plywood 

surfacing and minimal accoutrements. 

The Corten exterior stands in contrast, 

evoking a suit of armour wrapped 

around the all-glass east facade. The 

three damsels can climb down and walk 

through an underground passage to 

reach the main house, or run outside 

and splash around in the Corten pool. 

marte‐marte.com 

14 Redux house 

Location: São Paulo, Brazil Firm: 

StudioMK27, São Paulo Team: Marcio 

Kogan and Samanta Cafardo with 

Suzana Glogowski, Beatriz Meyer, 

Oswaldo Pessano and Mariana Ruzante 

In a gated community on the edge 

of a forest, this home rests on a plinth, 

like a captivating object for display. 

Sandwiched between the floor slab 


14 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

15 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

16 

and the ceiling, four boxes house the private 

areas, tucked behind vertical wooden 

slats; and the public zones, encased in 

sliding glass panels. The spaces between 

these enclosures create open yet intimate 

corridors. A gently cantilevered concrete 

deck and pool add further drama. 

marciokogan. com. br 

Temporary Architecture 

15 artinpublic 

Location: Victoria, British Columbia 

Firm: D’Ambrosio Architecture + 

Urbanism, Victoria Team: Franc 

D’Ambrosio with Bill Porteous 

When construction hoarding goes up 

in a high-traffic area, it can be a worse 

eyesore than an open construction pit. 

So designer Franc D’Ambrosio came up 

with an enclosure that is as useful to 

foremen as it is a delight for passersby. 

His firm’s Big Red Box arranged all of the 

outbuildings on a British Columbia construction 

site (trailers, portable toilets 

and other necessities) behind a bold 

red wall. Slots carved into the wall give 

workers access to fresh air and a view 

to the street. Artist Bill Porteous was also 

commissioned to paint a mural for the 

construction fence. fdarc.ca 

16 MirrorMirror tents 

Location: New York Firm: Davidson 

Rafailidis, Buffalo Team: Stephanie 

Davidson and Georg Rafailidis with 

Jia Ma and Aleksandr Marchuk 

Easily the world’s coolest street festival 

tent, MirrorMirror consists of just three 

simple elements: a gabled, hinged roof 

covered in stretched reflective Mylar 

foil; foldable steel tripod frames; and 

concrete block anchors – all deployed 

in six minutes or less. After it was 

chosen as the winning entry in a 

competition by New York’s Storefront 

for Art and Architecture, along with 

the New Museum, the portable pop-up 

venue enjoyed its first moment in the 

sun during 2013’s Ideas City, where 

it reflected the action on the sidewalk, 

boosting the energy of the Bowery 

event. davidsonrafailidis. net 


winner 

lighting 

design 

Coil lamp 

“Castor’s work is often lighthearted, 

and you can see that in the Coil Lamp. 

The piece is intelligent and made with 

an economy of materials. At the same 

time, it taps into a Dutch sensibility, but 

without being too Dutch.” 

Jamie Gray, juror 

Designers: Brian Richer with Jesse 

Mykolyn and Kei Ng Studio: Castor Design, 

Toronto, Ontario 

Since 2006, Kei Ng and Brian Richer have 

collaborated on various enterprises, from 

products to art installations to the interior 

of Toronto’s popular nose-to-tail restaurant 

Parts & Labour. Their furniture and lighting 

can be found at retailers such as Klaus 

in Toronto, New York’s Matter, and Lane 

Crawford in Hong Kong. castordesign.ca 

Bringing new life to utilitarian 

objects that no longer have a function 

is something Castor Design 

has mastered as few other greenconscious 

product designers have. 

Old fire extinguishers have been 

sawn into colourful cup-shaped 

pendants; used fluorescent bulbs 

have been reconfigured to form 

oblong chandeliers; and the Carrara 

marble removed from the First 

Canadian Place tower in Toronto 

a few years ago has found its way 

into the duo’s growing collection 

of minimalist home accessories 

and furniture. In their hands, what 

is old, spent and burnt out is just 

waiting to be reborn. 

Coil Lamp fits in beautifully 

with the studio’s unique artist ry 

of retooling: it is modestly 

con struct ed from a single piece 

of machined aluminum rod, with 

a copper-plated base and a custom 

spring. To power the five-watt 

LED, a magnetized Apple MagSafe 

first-generation adapter snaps onto 

the heel of the light. Assuming that 

we all have one or more of these 

now-redundant adapters still kicking 

around, Castor doesn’t sell the 

cord with the lamp. Rather, it offers 

an original and wise way for buyers 

to re purpose their own stash of 

short-lived technology. 


“I’ve seen a lot of furniture 

that is over-exaggerated 

and over-animated. U Turn 

is just the opposite. It has 

phenomenal proportioning 

and style that will stand 

the test of time.” 

Diego Burdi, juror 

winner 

furniture 

design 

u turn chair 

Designer: Niels Bendtsen, Vancouver, 

British Columbia 

Niels Bendtsen is one of those rare 

creative talents with a head for business. 

The owner and chief designer of the 

furniture and accessories brand Bensen 

also crafts pieces for such leading 

manufacturers as Poliform, Montis and 

Linteloo. bensen.ca 

what more can be done to the tub 

chair? Quite a lot, if you are Niels 

Bendtsen, chief designer and 

owner of Bensen, one of North 

America’s leading furniture 

manufacturers. Since 1981, he has 

brought his Danish sensibility 

for refined craftsmanship and his 

Canadian pragmatism to every 

piece of furniture that bears his 

“other Bensen” name. U Turn is 

no different, yet its tulip shape, 

which allows sitters to tuck in their 

feet when getting up, also gives 

the chair a leaner, cleaner, taller 

profile that takes any swivel chair 

stumpiness out of the equation. 

Mechanically, U Turn borrows 

from the auto industry for its 

smooth 360‐degree rotation; the 

steel frame and elastic suspension 

are held within a custom mould 

injected with liquid foam to create 

a supportive yet flexible seat. As 

with all Bensen products, attention 

to detail is no small matter, and 

precision tailoring can be seen in 

the flat-fell seams of the slipcovers, 

which come in a range of hues and 

fabrics, including leather and wool. 

It is often said that the best 

songs are the ones that seem familiar 

the first time you hear them. 

U Turn is just like that: its form 

resembles what has come before, 

but there is a confidence, too, in the 

finely tuned adjustments that make 

this archetype altogether new. 


people’s 

chOIce 

winner 

winner 

product design 

net effect 

carpet tile 

“You get brownie points for attempting 

to save the environment, but the question 

is, how good are the results? I’m 

convinced that Net Effect is not just full 

of good intentions; it’s equally good 

as a product.” 


Designer: David Oakey, Lagrange, 

Georgia 

David Oakey Designs has been a 

leader in biomimicry since the 1990s, 

and works exclusively with Interface on 

the evolution of sustainable textiles. 

davidoakeydesigns.com, interface.com 

Ray anderson, the former chair of 

Interface, died in 2011, but his mission 

to “climb Mount Sus tain ability” 

remains a motto for his company, 

and for other modular flooring 

brands that have embraced green 

design as essential to bus iness. 

Anderson would likely approve of 

the Net Effect carpet tile collection, 

launched last year by Interface and 

designed to deliver exactly what he 

preached to his green summit followers: 

take nothing, and do no harm. 

The tiles are the vision of David 

Oakey, who crafted the elegant 

patterns based on endless shades 

of oceanic blues, from seafoam 

greens to wave-cresting whites; but 

central to the project is the nylon 

used in the carpet’s makeup. 

Interface and Oakey worked with 

Net-Works, a conservation initiative 

that gathers and reuses discarded 

fishing nets from Danajon Bank, 

the Philippines, one of the world’s 

few double barrier reefs. 

The aim is twofold: to remove 

garbage from a fragile ecosystem, 

and to provide an alternate source 

of income to fishing. Rather than 

the nets being tossed, the nylon is 

reconstituted (along with other 

recycled waste, such as carpet fluff) 

into durable, dramatic flooring. 

Net Effect represents something 

much bigger than what one sees 

when it is laid out on the floor: it is 

a stellar example of the completecycle 

thinking that Anderson so 

profoundly understood. 


awards 

of merit 

Design 1 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

3 

2 

Furniture Design 

1 Bikini island 

Designer: Werner Aisslinger, Berlin, 

Germany Manufacturer: Moroso 

Bikini Island turns seating into a rich 

landscape, with daybeds, sofas, tables, 

pouffes – even tubular frames that 

support curtains and hanging planters – 

joining like pieces in a vibrant puzzle. 

It also introduces the multi-purpose 

furniture popular in flexible office 

environments to the living room, where 

it attempts to move family living beyond 

the mono-sofa layout pointed at a TV 

screen. Variable heights and configurations 

enable everything from working to 

lounging. aisslinger.de, moroso. it 

2 Kona 

Designer: Miles Keller, Toronto, Ontario 

Manufacturer: Dystil 

In Toronto, the white ash species is 

threatened by the emerald ash borer. 

A furniture maker who has found creative 

reuse for the felled trees, Miles Keller 

has designed Kona, a chaise longue that 

evokes another item typically made from 

white ash: snowshoes. Named after the 

Cree word for snow, Kona features a 

steam-bent frame spanned by leather 

mesh, which is CNC cut and held in place 

using wooden wedges and slots, along 

with copper rivets. dystil. ca 

3 Stack buffet 

Designer: Héctor Esrawe, Mexico City, 

Mexico Manufacturer: Esrawe Studio 

Stack Buffet is a study in contrasts, 

between light and dark materials, clean 

and chaotic elements. It was designed 

in the studio of Hector Esrawe and constructed 

with three types of lacquered 

wood: walnut, oak and tazalem. Floating 

atop a two-piece, cross-shaped base, 

the console is anchored at one end by a 

cabinet with two drawers that suggests 

playfully haphazard stacked trays. 

esrawe. com 


4 

awards 

of merit 

design 

5 

4 jumpseat wall 

Design Studio: Ziba Design, Portland, 

Oregon Designers: Sohrab Vassoughi 

with Dave Knaub, Mehdi Mojtabavi and 

Paul Petri Manufacturer: Sedia Systems 

Developed for the health care sector, the 

JumpSeat Wall folds down to maximize 

space in busy hospital hallways, patient 

rooms and waiting areas. The seat is 

attached to the wall by way of a fixed, 

reinforced steel plate; and the front 

panel (a spring steel core beneath flexible 

plywood panels and slats, covered in a 


6 

high-density foam cushion) relies on the 

materials’ tensile strength to support a 

person’s weight. When not in use, the unit 

protrudes a mere 10 centimetres from the 

wall. sediasystems. com, ziba.com 

5 COVER 

Designer: Giuseppe Bavuso, Milan, Italy 

Manufacturer: Rimadesio 

Fronted in transparent or lacquered 

glass, this minimalist storage system is 

so versatile that it suits any space, from 

bedrooms to offices. The supporting 

structure is secured to the floor and 

ceiling, and equipped with hinged 

doors from Rimadesio’s Ecolorsystem 

collection. These single-tempered glass 

finishes are available in various waterbased 

paint tones, in glossy and matte 

finishes, allowing for optimal customization. 

An LED system illuminates the 

interior, which is fitted with various fixed 

modules (hanger bars and drawer units 

among them) that lend the system an 

architectural grandeur. bavuso-design. 

com, rimadesio. com 

Lighting Design 

6 lightfalls 

Designer: Todd Bracher, New York 

Manufacturer: 3M 

Through a sleight of hand dubbed the 

virtual LED effect, a limited number of 

LEDs power a sea of light in this physicsmeets-design 

collaboration between 

3M and designer Todd Bracher. The 

bulbous forms of Lightfalls are covered 

in reflective film to bounce the glow 

from module to module, creating the 

illusion that each one is self-powered. 

The system comes in seven configurations, 

complete with powder-coated 

aluminum mounting hardware and 

two light hues, and it can be arrayed 

in myriad ways to light up spaces from 

small alcoves to entire rooms. 3m. com, 

toddbracher.net 


7 

awards 

of merit 

design 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

8 

7 halo light 

Design Firm: Pensar, Seattle, 

Washington Design Team: Alex 

Diener and Kristin Will with Max Baker, 

Chad Brinckerhoff, Jonathan Hadley, 

Aaron Johnson, John Manthey, John 

Murkowski, Andrew Royal and Trent 

Wetherbee Manufacturer: Illumagear 

Designed to help construction workers 

to see and be seen at night, this hard 

hat attachment by safety product 

manufacturer Illumagear is exactly 

what it sounds like: a halo of light 

that illuminates individuals and their 

workspace. The ring of LEDs – powered 

by a 12-hour battery – repels dust and 

water, can be spotted from up to 400 

metres in all directions, and sets to 

four different modes: full light, a bright 

pulse mode, a task light (which is 

brighter on the front), and a dimmed 

mode for working alongside someone 

else. Simple yet ingenious, the design 

makes one wonder why nobody 

thought of it before. illumagear. com, 

pensardevelopment.com 

Product Design 

8 formwork 

Design Firm: Industrial Facility, 

London, U.K. Designers: Kim Colin 

and Sam Hecht Manufacturer: 

Herman Miller 

The best things in life are stackable, 

especially when it comes to workspaces, 

where everything needs to be 

within reach yet there’s no room for it. 

Solving this problem in style, Industrial 

Facility devised this easy-on-the-eyes 

system of containers – a pencil cup, 

a tissue box, a media stand, three 

trays and two boxes – that pile on top 

of one another in endless configurations, 

and can be mixed and matched 

in four neutral hues. But functionality 

is the true star: such details as 

cantilevered edges, removable lids 

and cup holders maximize every inch, 

while silicone accents secure smart 

phones and tablets. hermanmiller. 

com, industrialfacility.co.uk 


“Just having the commitment to create a 

bookstore of this magnitude is fantastic. 

It’s like a cultural department store, and the 

books themselves are a mosaic art piece.” 


70 jul ⁄ aug 2014 az awards annual

winner 

Commercial 

interior 

livraria cultura 

at Iguatemi 

Location: São Paulo Firm: Studio MK27 

Team: Marcio Kogan with Luciana Antunes, 

Maria Cristina Motta, Diana Radomysler, 

Mariana Ruzante, Mariana Simas and 

Marcio Tanaka 

Principal Marcio Kogan, who heads up a 

team of 24, is best known for his elegant, 

low-key residential spaces, including 

V4 House, which won the 2012 AZ Award 

for Best Residential Interior. 

marciokogan.com.br 

Bookstores have always been more 

than just places to buy books; 

they are also places to browse, to 

hang out, to talk and read and think. 

They are places where people 

linger, and they are by nature fluid, 

multi-use spaces. Those are the 

ideas behind Marcio Kogan’s spectacular 

interior for the Livraria 

Cultura, in the heart of São Paulo. 

A simple rectangle reached by 

escalator, the 2,500-square-metre 

store, located in a mall, has been 

left open at its core, then wrapped 

by two tiers of books tightly packed 

within LED-illuminated shelving 

units. The internal lighting makes 

the volumes the focus, offering 

an elegant contrast to the warm, 

striated Perobinha wood that covers 

the floor, the Freijó ceiling and 

16 matching display tables. Nelson 

Coconut Chairs, upholstered in 

two shades of orange, invite visitors 

to stay awhile. At one end, an 

expansive stair leads up a walkway 

that follows along the bookshelves, 

serving as yet another area to sit, 

talk, read or people-watch. 

What is perhaps the most 

ingenious aspect of the Livraria 

Cultura, though, is the degree to 

which its openness and coziness 

enable it to be an ideal social 

space for live music, book signings 

or conferences. Its commercial 

purpose (after all, it’s not a public 

library but a bookstore) is discreetly 

submerged, and the welcoming 

design allows your mind to wander. 

For that reason alone, you might 

well end up wandering out with a 

book – even one or two you hadn’t 

planned to purchase. The culture 

of bookstores, alive and well in 

Brazil, is still all about discovery 

and surprise. 


Location: Bloemendaal, the Nether lands 

Firm: i29 Interior Architects 

Launched in 2002, i29 has won numerous 

awards for its artful interiors, many of 

which have appeared in Azure over the 

years, including an office covered entirely 

in industrial felt. Its portfolio also includes 

retail shops, schools, hotels and even a 

mobile unit. i29.nl 

there is strength in numbers, or in 

this case the abundance and 

repetition of modest materials. 

At Villa Bloemendaal, in North 

Holland, humble plywood is elevated 

to star status in an expertly articulated 

interior by Dutch firm i29. 

Well known for its ingenious use of 

basic materials and dramatic colour 

blocking, the studio has given a 

two-storey house, designed in 2011 

by Paul de Ruiter Architects, a theatrical 

sense of character and style. 

Via a simple palette, the interior 

manifests into a white and wood 

envelope punctuated by furniture 

in black and grey. The confident yet 

quiet scheme allows the exterior of 

the villa, located in the Kennemer 

dunes, to enter into the conversation. 

Uninterrupted sightlines to 

the outdoors are paramount to the 

layout, and with no large visual 

distractions to compete with the 

views, the eye easily scans between 

inside and out. 

The most striking feature, of 

course, is the pine panelling that 

covers various surfaces, including 

walls, sliding pocket doors, and 

such room-defining built-ins as an 

open fireplace in the living area, 

and bunk beds in the children’s 

room. Plywood usually gets 

covered over, but i29 has treated 

the utilitarian material as a 

high-end finish, using the multidirectional 

grain to give this villa 

a cabin-like coziness – one that 

matches the natural surroundings. 


winner 

Residential 

interior 

Home o9 

“This is a stunning interior: elegant, well 

proportioned, and beautifully lit with 

natural light. The wood finishing is a 

bold move that warms everything up.” 



awards 

of merit 

interiors 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

1 2 

Residential Interiors 

1 Through House 


Firm: Dub bel dam Architecture + Design, 

Toronto Team: Heather Dubbeldam with 

Johanna Bollozos, Oliver Dang, Lynden 

Giles, Jacob JeBailey, Bindya Lad, Jason 

LeBlanc and Suzanna MacDonald 

For a client who wanted to transform 

his old 135-square-metre home amid a 

dense urban setting into a bright, modern 

space, architect Heather Dubbeldam 

carved out a sense of capaciousness via 

an open plan and varied ceiling heights. 

The L‐shaped interior also draws the eye 

out to the intimate back garden, with 

millwork sporting horizontal lines of riftcut 

white oak, a fireplace clad in stacked 

strips of felt, and porcelain tiles laid in a 

striated pattern. The result is a pleasing 

optical illusion: more space, same 

footprint. dubbeldam. ca 

2 Moore Park residence 


Firm: Drew Mandel Architects, Toronto 

Team: Drew Mandel and Jowenne Poon 

with Jasmine Maggs and Rachel Tameirao 

In rebuilding a family home as an infill 

on a Toronto street, Drew Mandel 

sought to harmonize the structure with 

its surroundings, and make it a warm, 

light-filled haven for the owners. A 

board-formed concrete wall frames the 

backyard, capping views out through 

the expansive southern glazing, while 

transparent interior walls usher natural 

light into all corners of the three-storey 

space. Among the boldest moves: a 

built-in fireplace that spans a wall, and 

floors finished half in oak and half in 

polished concrete. 

drewmandelarchitects.com 

3 residence Freundorf 

Location: Freundorf, Austria 

Firm: Project A01 Architects, Austria and 

Germany Team: Andreas Schmitzer with 

Eleonora Gallenzi and Judith Schafelner 

A pure white palette amps up the drama 

in this family home, in the Austrian village 

of Freundorf, which is already energized 


3 

4 people’s 

choice 

winner 

by its jutting, multidirectional footprint. 

The 356-square-metre interior is a study 

in less is more, with off-kilter columns, 

stairs and windows anchored by the 

showpiece fireplace. Its rectilinear form, 

edged in concrete block, adds a layer 

of sophisticated contrast while punctuating 

the open concept space. A sunken 

wine lounge a few steps down from the 

kitchen, a spa and a cantilevered master 

suite are among the standout features. 

projecta01. com 

Commercial Interiors 

4 Auriga restaurant 

and lounge 

Location: Mumbai, India 

Firm: Sanjay Puri Architects, Mumbai 

Team: Sanjay Puri with Madhavi Belsare 

Like dancing inside a work of origami, 

the nightlife experience at Auriga is 

enhanced by faceted walls, and pillars 

covered in recycled galvanized iron. 

Backlit by coloured LEDs, the foldedpaper 

effect becomes electric at dusk. 

Patrons can also head upstairs to the 

restaurant, a more subdued affair with a 

sloping ceiling of recycled plywood strips 

fashioned into a mille feuille topography. 

To create this enticingly cavernous hot 

spot, local firm Sanjay Puri transformed 

an old two-storey warehouse, removing 

the exterior wall to craft an aluminum 

facade whose frenetic geometry hints at 

what’s inside. sanjaypuriarchitects. com 


awards 

of merit 

interiors 

5 

6 

5 gamsei cocktail bar 

Location: Munich, Germany 

Firm: Buero Wagner, Vienna, Austria 

Team: Fabian A. Wagner with 

Andreas Kreft 

This intimate cocktail bar in the 

fashionable Munich neighbourhood 

of Glockenbach places its mix ol o 

gists front and centre. Framed by 

amphitheatre-style bench seating 

on either side of the central bar 

and accessed by folding doors that 

connect the interior to the sidewalk, 

Gamsei evokes the open, communal 

spirit of a Bavarian beer hall. Crafted 

in natural oil-finished oak, the interior 

emphasizes a grid-like aesthetic, 

where the vertical slats of the cupboard 

doors are complemented by a 

meticulous horizontal arrangement 

of white ceramic bottles on shelves. 

The boldest move: a grid of black steel 

mesh above the bar that suspends 

an array of the same handsome bottles 

filled with house-made liquors and 

syrups. buero‐wagner. com 

6 LAX – Immersive 

multimedia architecture 

Location: Los Angeles, California 

Team: Digital Kitchen, Electrosonic, 

Fentress Architects, Moment Factory, 

MRA Inter national, Sardi Design, 

Smart Monkeys 

Moment Factory has transformed the 

new Tom Bradley International Terminal 

at Los Angeles International Airport into 

a magical multimedia extravaganza. 

Leading a team of more than 300 contributors, 

the Montreal studio designed 

seven architectural-scale digital media 

features. Evoking a railway station clock 

tower, the seven-storey, LED-animated 

Time Tower in the main departure hall 

presents a digital dance performance 

to mark each hour. Several “portals” 

display video and sound effects triggered 

by passengers’ movements. The 

studio also produced over four hours 

of continuous video, with images from 

the golden age of Hollywood, to keep 

even long-haul travellers entertained. 

momentfactory.com 


1106579 1071278 1118971 1089277 1102366 1020541 1104105 1106588 1121487 

5100047 1001279 1110673 1171102 1123457 1101896 1015612 1093117 1169954 1083010 

1095680 1085023 1103997 1034567 1128498 1088650 

1085494 1126116 1099491 1106828 

1111534 1106276 1003803 5100389 1092688 

1083715 1096225 1104019 1165416 1117017 1131166 1102367 1101957 1101218 

1103454 5100155 1035384 1048792 1081783 1085083 1170307 1068155 1101389 1125597 

1068781 1141664 1116943 1109250 1105604 1101995 1103729 1167633 1073872 

1070669 1106724 1102349 1092689 1164867 5100399 1055766 1130809 1127725 1102618 

1099628 1104939 1104265 1009329 1103838 1085027 1170625 1106285 1176577 

1106905 1105150 1098989 1168577 1162230 1103161 1003339 5100358 

WWW.ARCHITONIC.COM 

www.architonic.com/PRODUCT CODE 

1166414 1106246 5100015 1003430 1103616 1092697

winner 

unbuilt 

competition 

entrY 

media 

headquarters 

“A building that uses heliotropism as 

a response to climate change and as its 

primary urban form is fascinating.” 


people’s 

choice 

winner 

Location: Middle East 

Firm: REX Archi tecture, New York 

Team: Alberto Cumerlato, Tomas Janka, 

Gabriel Jewell-Vitale, Roberto Otero, 

Joshua Prince-Ramus, Aude Soffer, Alex 

Tehranian and Cristina Webb 

Joshua Prince-Ramus founded REX in 2006. 

Among the firm’s best-known projects is 

the Vakko Fashion and Power Media Center, 

in Istanbul, which involved building a new 

structure that incorporated the skeleton of 

an unfinished and abandoned hotel. 

rex-ny.com 

unlike many buildings rising in the 

Middle East, this competition entry 

for two sister media companies 

shuns the desire to be the tallest and 

pointiest. Instead, it looks to modernist 

sobriety, with two identical, 

flat-roofed towers. The twins, conceived 

by REX of New York, are not 

short on technology; they are full 

of astounding features that make 

cloud-scraping engineering seem 

like a fad of the past. Most notable 

are the facades, which blossom into 

a traditional Islamic motif while 

blocking out the sun’s heat. 

The 14.5-metre-wide sunshades, 

sandwiched between floors, open 

and close like umbrellas. In under 

a minute, they simultaneously 

retract and bloom again, in keeping 

with the sun as it moves across the 

sky. The design also calls for clear 

windows – a rarity in desert cities, 

where heavily tinted green glass is 

the standard. 

Internally, the two buildings 

provide 240,200 square metres of 

office space that occupies the upper 

levels, with broadcasting studios 

and such amenities as cafés, lounges 

and health clubs clustered below. 

Larger studios that require full 

blackness are located underground. 

If the project did get the green 

light, its blooming facades would 

also serve as a massive media screen. 

REX has envisioned adding powerful 

LEDs to the cap of each shade, 

turning the two towers into a jumbo 

screen for live broadcasts. 


“I like things like this, 

because without too 

much effort the designer 

did one thing that 

changes everything.” 


people’s 

choice 

winner 

winner 

design 

concept 

tangent 

clock 

Designer: Scott Sullivan, San Francisco 

Before launching Line to Line Design in 

San Francisco, Scott Sullivan worked 

at IDEO design consultancy in Palo Alto, 

California. He has registered over 40 

patents in his name. linetolinedesign.com 

we are all slaves to time, and clocks 

represent the degree to which 

hours and minutes dominate our 

lives. Scott Sullivan, the de signer of 

Tangent Clock, wants to change 

that love-hate relationship and turn 

time into a beautiful sculpture. Built 

around a central cylinder made of 

three white disks, the hour and 

minute hands are set at a tangent to 

the curving form, and the cylinder 

(rather than the hands) slowly turns. 

Time passes fluidly and discreetly, 

without the usual jarring ticks. 

The fabrication of Tangent 

Clock demanded some ingenuity: 

the rotationally balanced hands 

are made of lightweight plastics, to 

minimize torque; and the clock’s 

eight snap-together parts fit within a 

package about the size of two hockey 

pucks. With its design so considered, 

right down to the box, it is just 

a matter of time before Tangent 

finds its way into production. 


awards 

of merit 

unbuilt 

concepts 

1 

2 3 

1 Taichung cultural center 

Location: Taichung, Taiwan Firm: 

Platform for Architecture + Research, 

Los Angeles and New York Team: 

Jennifer Marmon with David Burpee, 

Ross Ferrari, Angus Goble, Youree Hong, 

Josshuae Matias, Ruben Rodela, 

Matthew Young and Leandro Yuang 

In 2013, the Taichung city government 

invited architects to put forth their most 

daring visions for an expansive new 

cultural centre. The tilted loop structure 

by Platform for Architecture + Research 

sought to integrate the programmed 

elements of a library and a museum with 

an outdoor gallery and an open urban 

plaza. The structure’s form, replete with 

ramps and stairs that create connections 

throughout its stacked diagonal 

orientation, produces a dynamic space 

meant to attract curious passers-by 

who drift into the central plaza. Clad in a 

translucent skin of fritted ETFE and 

high-performance glazing that encompasses 

roof, ceiling, wall and terrace, the 

cultural centre is oriented to optimize 

natural light and frame views of the 

nearby Taiwan Tower. p‐ar.com 

2 ring House 

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 

Firm: MZ Architects, Kaslik, Lebanon 

Architect: Marwan Zgheib 

A perfect circle, this live-work concept 

for a Saudi Arabian jewellery artist 

sits within the artist’s family estate, 

offering privacy and sanctuary through 

its elemental shape. A ring wall punctuated 

by a single narrow opening 

creates a cocoon, bisected within by a 

glass-enclosed level that contains the 

residence’s functional spaces: kitchen, 

atelier, bedroom. The concrete structure 

includes a secluded rear patio with a 

solitary planted tree, and a water feature 

carved into the floor, evoking the placid 

surface of a lake disrupted by a drop of 

rain. mz‐ architects. com 

3 Meditation house 

Location: Jebaa, Lebanon 

Firm: MZ Architects, Kaslik, Lebanon 


4 

Architect: Marwan Zgheib 

Like a giant rock nestled into the hillside 

above Jebaa, Lebanon, this proposed 

weekend retreat for a travelling businessman 

feels both futuristic and primitive. 

An isolated place for contemplation, 

the two-level house has venting at front 

and rear, rainwater collection, and an 

open terrace oriented west toward the 

Mediterranean. A stone staircase leads 

through the cracked roof and up the 

hill to the prayer hall, a diagonal shaft 

oriented toward Mecca, carved into the 

hill to offer an unadorned, light-filled 

vertical space for solitary religious 

communion. mz‐ architects. com 

4 LUminous moon-gate 

Location: Taichung, Taiwan 

Firm: Form4 Architecture, San Francisco 

Team: John Marx with Felix Lin and 

Pierluigi Serraino 

Also rising to the challenge set forth 

by the Taichung city government for a 

new cultural centre, Form4 proposed 

a series of rounded volumes – chiefly a 

10-storey library, ascended via a grand 

staircase, and a horizontal museum – in 

conversation with each other. Together, 

they resemble giant eggs rolling along 

the landscape, their curved building 

envelopes encased in a metre-thick 

cavity wall fitted with movable louvres, 

providing passive ventilation and ample 

surface area for solar panels. For the 

architects, the iconic shapes symbolize 

“a portal into heightened consciousness, 

a lantern of knowledge, a cultural lung 

for the city.” form4inc. com 


winner 

A+ student 

Award 

Smith Creek 

Park 

“It’s amazing to see a project like this 

go from design to fruition, and on such 

limited resources.” 

Jamie Gray, juror 

82 jul ⁄ aug 2014 az awards annual 

azuremagazine.com

Location: Clifton Forge, Virginia 

School: Design/buildLAB at Virginia Tech 

Team: Professors Keith Zawistowski 

and Marie Zawistowski with Bethel 

Abate, Aiysha Alsane, Tyler Atkins, Justin 

Dennis, Lauren Duda, Huy Duong, Derek 

Ellison, Megumi Ezure, Katherine Harpst, 

Ryan Hawkins, Catherine Ives, Anna 

Knowles-Bagwell, Michael Kretz, Kyle Lee, 

Jennifer Leeds, Stephanie Mahoney, Leo 

Naegele, Margaret Nelson, Stephen Perry, 

Fernanda Rosales, Leah Schaffer, Katherine 

Schaffernoth, Amanda Schlichting, Ian 

Shelton, Brent Sikora, Claudia Siles, Emarie 

Skelton, Samantha Stephenson, Taylor 

Terrill, Daniel Vantresca, Bryana Warner, 

Samuel “Aaron” Williams and Samantha Yeh. 

Design/buildLAB gives architecture 

students hands-on experience, from 

concept development to realization. The 

program’s newest structure, completed 

in June, is a field house for Clifton Forge’s 

Little League team. designbuildlab.org 

A PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE and an open stage 

in Clifton Forge, Virginia, may be 

modest in scale, but their impact 

has been enormous. Besides adding 

a vital community hub in place of 

a brownfield, the double-barrelled 

project has given the students of 

design/buildLAB a chance to see 

how urban renewal can re invigorate 

a neighbourhood. 

As part of Virginia Tech, the lab 

places experiential learning at the 

core of its architectural program. 

The third-year curriculum requires 

students to problem-solve real issues, 

and a select group gets to don tool 

belts and see their vision through to 

completion. Over two school terms, 

two teams realized the adjoining 

projects and worked collaboratively 

with the town’s residents. 

The Masonic Amphitheatre, 

com pleted in 2012, was built first. 

Its cresting wave profile – made 

from white oak, among other local ly 

sourced materials – offers a simple 

form for solving practical require- 

ments, including an acoustic shell 

to buffer the sound of a nearby creek. 

To complement the venue, a 30- 

metre-long bridge was constructed, 

to shorten the journey between the 

main street and the theatre. 

With each new piece of infrastructure, 

design/buildLAB is 

helping Clifton Forge to realize its 

own aspirations of becoming an 

arts centre, with one small but 

groundbreaking project at a time. 


awards 

of merit 

A+ Student 

award 

1 

people’s 

choice 

winner 

2 

1 VÄÄrtus jewellery 

Designer: Rowan Liivamägi, 

Emily Carr University of Art + Design, 

Vancouver, British Columbia 

An elegant take on medical aids, 

this collection of customizable 

3‐D‐printed jewellery helps people 

with arthritis perform basic daily 

tasks. The key chain, for example, 

helps to unlock doors, while the ring 

buttons shirts and operates zippers; 

and the double ring keeps a pen 

or pencil anchored between fingers 

and thumb to help with writing and 

drawing. The sculptural items, in a 

variety of materials and colours, are 

designed to take away the embarrassment 

often associated with 

arthritic aids and instead empower 

users to develop a unique sense of 

self. rowanliivamagi. com 

2 revitalizing bamyan 

Designer: Safira Lakhani, University 

of Waterloo, Ontario 

Bamyan, in central Afghanistan, suffers 

from an extremely arid climate, 

causing it to rely heavily on foreign aid. 

Yet this impoverished town can take 

ownership over its land resources by 

storing more water from snow melt. 

This fundamental idea animates Safira 

Lakhani’s proposal, which centres 

on the implementation of light-timber 

frames throughout the land to capture 

snow melt and allow it to trickle down 

into new underground cisterns. 

Along this snow fence route, Lakhani 

en visions greenhouses and multi- 

generational homes that would honour 

the local vernacular – and make the 

community proud – by paying homage 

to traditional mud brick courtyards 

and cave typologies. 


BMW FOR AZURE 

PERFORMANCE 

ELECTRIFIED 

The 2014 BMW i8 revolutionizes the shape of things to come 

One hundred and twenty-eight 

years after the automobile’s 

invention, common thinking would 

lead us to believe that all of 

the revolutionary ideas about how 

to improve it have long since 

been discovered. 

Here’s the thing, though: common 

thinking doesn’t hold much sway 

over the 2014 BMW i8. 

The drive system of this plug-in 

hybrid sports car is a potent 

blend of electric propulsion and 

internal combustion technologies, 

pushed to their natural limits. 

It’s the heart of the BMW i8 – a 

heart that beats strong and fast. 

As brilliant as the hybrid system 

is, the structure of the car is 

equally inspired. Only the most 

advanced materials found 

their way onto the factory floor in 

Leipzig, Germany, including 

carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic 

(CFRP), aluminum, magnesium 

and hardened thin glass – 

building blocks known for being 

super-strong, ultra-lightweight 

and renewable. 

The 2014 BMW i8 is an 

automobile unlike any other, the 

direct result of uncommon 

thinking and an unwavering refusal 

to be shackled by 128 years 

of history. 

The BMW i8 made its 

North American debut in 

Los Angeles in late April.


Sculpted shape, flowing lines 

The BMW i8 was designed to showcase the future of 

sustainable mobility, while maintaining the dynamism and 

excitement that all BMWs are known for. Starting with a 

concept introduced in 2009 called Vision Efficient Dynamics, 

the design team updated and improved the original iteration. 

The engineering brief called for a lightweight hybrid sports car 

with radical performance and sustainability characteristics, 

and the designers were tasked with fulfilling that mandate. 

The result is a design focused on purpose and athleticism, 

with aerodynamics and muscular proportions underpinning 

every curve. Each visually arresting angle showcases an 

innovative approach that goes beyond convention. Working 

with such materials as CFRP, aluminum and thermoplastic, 

BMW’s designers have created a form that ties these elements 

together in a highly dynamic package. The i8 looks fast just 

standing still, with fluid lines that appear to have been shaped 

in a wind tunnel. 

1 

3 

1 Stream flow and 

layering principles are 

used to create a sculpted 

wedge shape that 

is both futuristic and 

aerodynamic. 

2 Scissor doors open 

up and outward 

in a wing-like motion. 

3 Signature design 

features include a “black 

belt” that runs from 

front to rear over the hood, 

the roofline and the 

rear section. 

4 The i8’s interior 

is a new-age environment 

where the occupants 

are surrounded by an array 

of high-pixel displays 

and LEDs. 

2 

4 

Two aluminum-framed drive modules, containing powerful, efficient 

electric and gas motors, are mounted beneath the low-slung panels 

of the front and rear sections. The brand pedigree is most evident from 

the short overhangs and the long wheelbase, indicating that the i8 is a 

true performer. 

Signature “i” features include a “black belt” – a black section that 

runs from front to rear over the hood, the roofline and the rear – as well 

as interlocking and overlapping side panels. The side and rear views 

show the stream flow and layering principles used to create a sculpted 

wedge shape that is both futuristic and aerodynamic. The rear fenders 

and overhangs are attached in an artful way that makes them appear to 

float in mid-air, emphasizing the wide stance and fluid lines of the rear. 

Adding to the drama are scissor doors that open up and outward in a 

wing-like motion, revealing the CFRP that frames the passenger cell. 

The interior incorporates a redefined premium philosophy that includes 

sustainably sourced and treated materials, with uncompromising fit 

and finish. The cabin of an “i” vehicle is a new-age environment where the 

occupants are surrounded by an array of high-pixel displays and LEDs. 

Each component and surface flows over long, elegant lines, reminding 

occupants that they are experiencing a high-end sports car designed 

with a sustainable future in mind.


Lightweight, agile and engaging 

Until the arrival of the 2014 BMW i8, hybrid cars were 

burdened with what critics would consider a key component 

and a fatal flaw: the battery pack. 

The critics were right, and they still are – to a degree. 

Electrified vehicles run on batteries linked together to 

provide an energy source for the motor. More batteries equal 

more weight that needs to be accelerated down the road. 

But there are other factors that the critics haven’t 

considered. First, battery technology is charging forward at 

a furious pace, and the lithium-ion battery pack in the 

BMW i8 is a powerhouse. Second, the backbone of the car 

is the result of a revolutionary weight-loss regime. 

The platform consists of a CFRP passenger cell fastened 

to an aluminum chassis. This design enables the BMW i8 

to weigh in at just 1,485 kilograms, significantly less than the 

average mid-size sedan. 

With a lightweight, super-strong chassis as their starting 

point, the engineers at BMW tuned the electric power steering 

and the adaptive suspension system to a fine point. In the 

process, they hit upon a fantastic compromise: a sports car 

that doesn’t sacrifice ride comfort for cornering capability. 

To improve matters, the battery pack is mounted beneath 

the floor, in the middle of the vehicle. This design ensures 

a low centre of gravity and 50:50 weight distribution, front to 

back, both of which contribute to razor-sharp handling. 

In the final analysis, the liberal use of lightweight materials, 

especially carbon fibre, has served to make the BMW i8 a rare 

vehicle: a hybrid sports car with true sports car capabilities. 

5 

6 

5 The passenger cell 

is crafted out of 

carbon-fibre-reinforced 

plastic, significantly 

reducing the vehicle’s 

overall weight. 

6 This sports car is 

no gas guzzler: it achieves 

2.8 L/100 km in 

com bined city and highway 

driving – and it can be 

recharged using a 

standard electrical outlet. 

7 In sport mode, the 

hybrid system taps 

in to the full power 

available from both the 

electric motor and 

the gasoline engine. 

“We didn’t just want to make an 

electric car, or a hybrid car. 

We wanted to offer new mobility 

that is at least as emotional, 

and as fun to drive, as the products 

we’re known for.” 

Adrian van Hooydonk, director of BMW Group design 

7 

Pure performance, purity 

of purpose 

The plug-in hybrid powertrain of the 2014 BMW i8 comprises 

two different energy sources. A 96-kW electric motor (131 

h.p.) sends power to the front wheels through a two-stage 

transmission. The rear wheels are motivated by a turbocharged, 

1.5-litre, three- cylinder gasoline engine (231 h.p.) 

linked to a six-speed automatic transmission. This gives 

this unique sports car another unique attribute: true 

all-wheel drive. 

The hybrid system and its five distinct drive modes are 

accessed via the Driving Experience Control switch, the 

eDrive button and the shift lever, all located in the centre 

console, all conveniently oriented toward the driver. Of 

the five modes, eDrive and eDrive EcoPro are dedicated to 

all-electric motoring. With eDrive engaged, the BMW i8 is 

capable of travelling for up to 37 kilometres and attaining 

speeds of up to 120 km/h, all with zero tailpipe emissions. 

At the other end of the scale is the sport mode, triggered 

by the shift lever, which signals the hybrid system to tap 

into the full power available from both energy sources. In this 

case, the BMW i8 can sprint from zero to 100 km/h in a 

scant 4.4 seconds and achieve an electronically limited top 

speed of 250 km/h. 

In a stunning display of duality, this hybrid sports car also 

boasts sparkling fuel consumption – just 2.8 L/100 km 

in combined city/highway driving – and, of course, it can be 

recharged using a standard electrical outlet.


TALKING 

CARS 

with director of BMW Group design 

Adrian van Hooydonk and Benoit Jacob, 

head of design for BMW i 

What separates the design of BMW i8 from 

the parent brand? 

Benoit Jacob: It was very important to show 

the new brand, BMW i. It needed to signal 

aesthetically that it differs slightly, but it must 

also be recognizable as a BMW, so we struck 

a balance. In the i8, you will recognize BMW in 

the front, the kidney grilles, all those sorts 

of elements. On the other hand, you will find 

elements that are unique to the “i” family. With 

a new brand like BMW i, you have a bit more 

freedom, a little less dogma, which gives you 

the opportunity to be more creative and 

reactive to the challenges that are presented. 

Adrian van Hooydonk: We wanted it to look 

very different from the cars we’ve made so far, 

because we felt that the technology was so 

new. It can drive electric and has low to zero 

emissions, it’s built out of carbon fibre, and all 

of that is quite revolutionary. With that, we 

felt we should make a very modern, futuristic 

shape. We didn’t just want to make an electric 

car, or a hybrid car. We wanted to offer new 

mobility that is at least as emotional, as fun to 

drive, as the products we’re known for. 

The final product looks futuristic and still 

somewhat conceptual. How did you stay true 

to the original concept introduced in 2009? 

Benoit Jacob: The i8 is probably the first case 

in the automotive industry where the promise 

matched the car delivered, and this was done 

very quickly. I had enough experience to say, 

“We have an asset. Why don’t we simply 

develop it?” We strove to make it better, more 

believable. This was a design we already 

knew people liked. There were a few things to 

be addressed – the proportions had to be 

reworked according to a new package – but 

it’s not so different. 

The i8 is a halo car for BMW. Why is this car 

so important? 

Benoit Jacob: It’s a performance car, from 

a design standpoint, but the car itself is also 

a performance. That’s the idea of BMW i, to 

make the impossible possible. This is actually 

reflected in the design. It’s quite an engineering 

marvel, so the design had to express that. It 

would have been really disappointing to have 

this super-high-tech product, a kind of future 

car, with an extremely conventional design. 

Adrian van Hooydonk: Well, I have to say 

that this whole project is a dream come true. 

Because we had complete freedom, the car 

was designed to show that new mobility could 

be striking and emotional. Thinking with the 

right side of the brain, we were conscious of 

the need to deal with sustainability, to bring 

the emissions down, and we did do some 

head-scratching. But the whole company was 

behind it, because everyone was so excited 

that this was the way forward. 

Tell us about the importance of designing 

an attractive sustainable car. 

Benoit Jacob: I said to my team, “Let’s not 

just design an electric car. Let’s design an 

exciting car. And if on top of that it’s sustainable, 

that’s even better.” It was important not 

to just take the “Let’s save the world” approach. 

Electric cars are often dull, looking like a 

guilt-managed product where the beauty was 

compromised. Our take is different: we want 

to break through and bring sustainability 

across in a serious manner, but it also has to 

look special. 

Adrian van Hooydonk: We know from our 

market research that the number one reason 

for buying a BMW is design. If you asked 

car aficionados 10 years ago if they wanted a 

hybrid or electric car, they probably would 

have said, “No, I don’t ever want one.” Now, 

even in countries like the United Arab Emirates, 

where they have no notion that oil may one 

day disappear, when they saw this car they 

wanted it. This tells me that through design, 

you can make something so desirable 

that people want it, no matter the technology 

behind it. 

bmw-i.com


Cruise 

Control 

These automated and responsive systems 

and intelligent products optimize buildings 

while improving energy performance 

BY Lian Chang 

Project: 

HygroSkin 

Alongside high-tech systems that automate 

a building’s response to its occupants and 

surroundings, nature offers its own mechanisms. 

Inspired by the way scales on a spruce cone close 

when wet and open once dry to disperse seeds, 

German architect Achim Menges has designed 

and built HygroSkin, a climate-responsive pavilion 

for the Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain du 

Centre in Orléans, France. 

Collaborating with Oliver David Krieg, Steffen 

Reichert, and the Institute for Computational 

Design at the University of Stuttgart, Menges 

employed a seven-axis robotic manufacturing 

process to craft a structure that is high tech in 

conception but low tech in action. Without the 

sensors, actuators and software we normally 

associate with automation, responsiveness here 

is literally ingrained in the natural material and 

computer programmed into its form. Making use 

of the directionally dependent way that wood 

absorbs humidity to swell across the grain, the 

pavilion’s 1,100 apertures are made using a 

composite veneer based on quarter-cut maple, 

which self-forms into conical surfaces. Given a 

shift from 30 to 90 per cent relative humidity – 

that is, from sunny skies to rain – the petals of the 

28 geometrically unique components straighten 

and close within just a few minutes, with no 

electrical input or external controls. Could this 

smart use of common materials suggest the future 

of intelligent building envelopes and weatherdependent 

aperture control? achimmenges.net 

Kinetic Shading 

From interior blinds to exterior shades and louvred 

pergolas, these programmable systems deliver automated 

comfort and efficiency as well as manual controls. 

Draper Omega venetian blinds can be installed on building 

interiors and exteriors or within double facades, reducing 

solar heat gain by up to 92 per cent. A custom control 

option allows aluminum slats to be retracted, deployed, or 

tilted in response to solar brightness and direction, wind 

and temperature. draperinc. com 

Marvin exterior shades are integrated into window casings 

to create a retractable, concealable blind for residential 

applications. The slats can be programmed to tilt open, 

inviting the sun to provide more warmth and light during 

specified times or lighting conditions, and to close 

completely when shade or privacy are desired. marvin. com 

Mechoshade MagnaShade, gold winner of the 2013 Neo Con 

Window Treatments Award, is a super-wide motorized roller 

system that offers shading or blackout in spans as large 

as 12 metres; and it attaches via a patented floating mount 

system with a shallow profile. Through software or simple 

switches, MagnaShade works with lighting, audio/visual 

and other building management control systems. 

mechoshade.com 

Skyco motorized shade systems can operate through 

a wired network, wireless radio control, or distributed 

sensors that don’t need to connect back to a centralized 

location. Dye-sensitized photovoltaic cells, which absorb 

sunlight like the chlorophyll in leaves, can be incorporated 

to supply electricity to motors, even under low light 

conditions in the morning or evening. skycoshade. com 

← Suncoast Enclosures, an Alberta outfit, sells a 

mod u lar louvred roof in powder-coated aluminum for 

adjustable patio shading in residential or commercial 

settings. Powered by a solar battery, the louvres can open 

to a full 180 degrees, or close completely to keep you dry, 

with an optional rain sensor or at the touch of a remote. 

suncoastenclosures.com 



Smart Glass 

These high-performance glazing products combine 

sleek profiles with unobstructed views, providing shade 

via tinted effects and generating electricity. 

Glass Apps’ Smart Film is a self-adhesive layer, available 

in a range of sizes and colours, for applications on new 

or existing glass. It creates smart windows that instantly 

switch from clear to frosted, allowing for privacy while 

admitting light. Once the switch is connected to any 

building management system, the film can be automated 

to respond to light levels, occupancy or a programmed 

schedule. glass‐apps. com 

Innovative glass SolarSmart self-tinting glass darkens in 

bright sunlight, blocking heat, glare and damaging UV rays 

without obstructing views. Powered and controlled by the 

sun’s warmth, it requires no wires or controls. It also comes 

as an insulated glass unit, ideal for windows, doors, curtain 

walls, atriums or skylights. innovativeglasscorp. com 

Onyx Solar’s low-E photovoltaic and insulated glass offers 

four light transmission levels, from 30 per cent clear to 

fully opaque. Generating 32 to 62 watt-peaks of electricity 

per square metre, the glass reduces solar heat transmission 

by up to 90 per cent in comparison with traditional 

laminated glass. onyxsolar. com 

↓ SageGlass electronically tintable insulated glass 

units can be programmed to transition gradually from 

dark to clear, or from one to 62 per cent light transmission. 

Daylighting, glare and solar heat loads can be managed 

based on occupancy, natural lighting levels, or a schedule 

integrated via a zone-based building management system. 

The units are fabricated to fit into a range of frame 

types. sageglass. com 

View Dynamic Glass progresses through four tint 

variations to allow unobstructed views with reduced 

solar heat gain and glare. These standard and custominsulated 

units come in various sizes, and are automated 

through solar tracking and environmental sensors, 

building management system integration or an iOS app, 

with optional wall switches for manual overrides. 

viewglass. com 

Ventilation and 

Air Quality 

From easy-to-install components for residential use, 

to sophisticated systems for large corporate and 

institutional projects, these products subtly simplify 

ventilation control. 

ABB As an open standard offering, the i‐bus KNX range 

of hardware optimizes the interaction of all networked 

building systems in corporate, institutional and high-end 

residential applications, including heating and ventilation, 

climate and energy management, as well as lighting, 

shading, security and surveillance. KNX open-network 

communications protocol technology is third-party verified, 

and interoperable with the largest range of products 

from manufacturers worldwide. abb. com 

Broan NuTone offers UltraSense technology with 16 models 

of multi-speed fans and fan/lights for operation based on 

humidity or motion sensing in residential applications. 

The units are simple to install, energy efficient – and 

extremely quiet, at less than 0.3 sones, the lowest sound 

rating possible. broan.com 

KMC provides wired and wireless sensors, actuators, 

valves, control devices, and software for full local and 

web-based remote HVAC automation, to suit a host of 

commercial and institutional applications. The company’s 

latest line of carbon monoxide detectors boasts new 

standard features, including a status indicator, a test 

button and selectable alerts. kmccontrols. com 

→ Velux VSS solar-powered skylights, intended for 

resi den tial installation, are opened remotely to bring 

fresh air indoors. A built-in rain sensor closes the skylight 

in wet weather, as the no-leak warranty promises. No 

additional wiring is required for the skylight, which comes 

with an optional motorized interior roller or blackout 

blind. velux. com 

Daylight Harvesting and 

Programmable Lighting 

The most energy-efficient lamp is the one that’s 

not on. These controls, fixtures and bulbs “harvest” 

daylight by intelligently dimming or switching off 

artificial illumination in response to levels of sunlight. 

Digital Lumens LightRules software directly connects 

intelligent LEDs to each other, through both a localized 

network and a centralized connection, which enables 

programmability and reporting capabilities. By sensing 

occupancy and local light levels, each LED reacts from 

moment to moment, to provide lighting as needed while 

generating energy savings of up to 90 per cent for retail, 

athletic, industrial or agricultural facilities. 

digitallumens. com 

Hubell wiSCAPE locally intelligent modules can be installed 

in new or existing street lights. They control dimming, 

sched ul ing and motion detection, and deliver maintenance 

alerts to reduce energy consumption and light pollution. 

Lighting levels can then be managed, based on occupancy 

and activity levels, in exterior and public spaces such 

as building complexes, campuses and urban or suburban 

landscapes. hubbell‐automation. com 

Lighting Science’s Definity Digital bulb series includes 

the patented blue-enriched Awake & Alert, which boosts 

users’ energy levels; and the reduced-blue Good Night, 

used by NASA astronauts to curb light-induced melatonin 

suppression. Combined with an intelligent control system, 

these products gently and automatically enhance sleep 

quality and daytime performance. lsgc. com 

→ Solatube’s reflective tube systems passively capture, 

amplify and diffuse natural light into interiors that can’t 

accommodate window or skylight installations. Patented 

Smart LED Systems, integrated within the tubes, employ 

sensors and artificial lights to provide seamless, optimized 

illumination, both day and night. solatube. com 

Xicato’s XIM LED module is a 100-plus-lumen-per-watt 

intelligent, networked and sensor-enabled light with 

an integrated LED driver, dimming capability and localized 

diagnostics. Because the technology is built into the 

fixture, these modules are future-proofed in their 

integration with building automation systems. xicato. com 


J U N E 2 6 - S E P T E M B E R 2 1, 2 0 14 

JANICE WRIGHT CHENEY, Widow, 2012, wool, cochineal dye, velvet, taxidermy form, pins, wood 

TERRANCE HOULE, Iiniiwahkiimah, 2012, vinyl 

Check out this acclaimed exhibition of work by 61 contemporary Canadian artists and collectives 

presented in a collaborative, multi-venue format at Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen, 

Université de Moncton, Galerie Sans Nom, Moncton, Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, 

Sackville, and Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown. 

www.ohcanadaeast.com 

Oh, Canada is organized by MASS MoCA. The exhibition is curated by Denise Markonish and made 

possible by the generous support of TD Bank Group and the Canada Council for the Arts. 

SPONSORED BY 

O w e n s A r t G A l l e r y

milan furn 

1 

2 

3 

8 

show report 

sunny all week 

Brilliant hues, bold shapes – and clear skies – took centre stage 

at the 53rd salone del mobile in milan by catherine Osborne 

can good weather recalibrate perceptions of what 

constitutes good design? Milan’s exceptional azure 

skies during the run of the fair, from April 8 to 13, 

added a perkiness to the furnishings on display, along 

with a bounce in everyone’s step, which has been 

notably absent in a city stuck in the doldrums of a 

dreary economy for years now. The cloudless forecast 

also might have made saturated colours and brilliant 

patterns seem more sun soaked than usual. At Moroso, 

pink tones ruled, while Tacchini’s booth was awash in 

blues and greens. At Arper, the soft seating and wooden 

benches were upholstered in pure reds and yellows 

from Kvadrat. Hella Jongerius’s sophisticated eye for 

mixing textures in original ways showed up at Vitra 

and Artek, and at Danskina, the Dutch carpet company 

where she is now creative director. 

While Kartell may have unabashedly presented its 

entire collection in gold, surrounded in gold walls and 

floors, many manufacturers played it safe with earthy 

palettes. But novelty always finds a way back in. There 

was Marcel Wanders flaunting his fantasy side with 

upholstery covered in giant butterfly wings, and Philippe 

Malouin’s all-foam chair, shaped like a flotation device 

and wrapped in royal blue velvet – both of which were 

refreshingly laissez-faire, and perfectly matched for 

a forecast that said sunny all week. 

92 jul ⁄ aug 2014

iture fair 

4 

5 

6 

7 

9 

1 HAPPy birthday, boURGIE 

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of 

Bourgie, Ferruccio Laviani’s bestselling 

lamp, Kartell invited 14 designers to retool 

the icon. Front Studio of Sweden stretched 

the base like an extended neck leaning 

in for a closer look. kartell. com 

2 mind the gap 

What gives the Jian lacquered aluminum 

outdoor furniture collection, by Neri&Hu, 

its poetic elegance is the narrow space left 

between the legs and armrests. Available 

through Gandia Blasco, in white, sand and 

anthracite. gandiablasco. com 

10 

3 WARMING UP THE BENCH 

Arper has launched an impressive lineup 

this year, including Zinta, a versatile 

modular system with a deep seat for 

casual reclining, and a backrest shelf that 

gives sitters a place to park their coffee 

mug or laptop. Various cushion and pad 

options are available. arper. com 

4 the nesTING hexAGon 

The four cylinders that make up this 

recliner also fit into one another to form an 

ottoman. Conceived by Werner Ais sling er, 

the seat was produced for Kvadrat as part 

of an exhibit to debut the new Divina textile 

collection. kvadrat. dk 

5 brass tactics 

Gold is gaining ground as a new metal 

trend, but Tom Dixon has cham pioned 

brass for a while. His Beat light col lec tion 

now includes table and floor versions, 

each sporting a conical shade made of 

hand-beaten brass. tomdixon. net 

6 foRM, fUN and felt 

Last year, Offecct presented prototypes 

of Jean-Marie Massaud’s asymmetric 

Airbergs, and they were a media hit. The 

unique elastic rib and spring engineering 

has since been perfected, and the felt 

beauties are now in production. offecct. se 

7 lUNAR moDUlEs 

Eva Marguerre and Marcel Besau’s 

North light series, for e15, consists of two 

metal circles joined at one point with a 

light sandwiched in between. It’s a simple 

gesture with tons of visual impact, 

especially as a floor lamp. e15.com 

8 sofTENING the edges 

No one does glass furniture quite like 

Glas Italia. Among its latest is Diapositive, 

by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, who 

added wood edging on the shelving units, 

to lose some of the fragility associated 

with glass. glasitalia. com 

9 the lIGHTNEss of being 

The Atoll lounger, designed by Patrick 

Norguet for Tacchini, looks like a giant 

palm leaf propped up on sticks. In fact, 

an interior and exterior metal frame 

absorbs most of the weight, giving the 

recliner its super-lean profile. tacchini. it 

10 the love nest 

Marcel Wanders’ lust for bringing more 

romance to our furniture never fails to 

impress. Last year’s Nest collection, for 

Moooi, now sports this stunning Flower 

Bits textile collage of blooms and butterfly 

wings. moooi.com 


milan furn 

12 

13 

11 

17 getting down to basics 

In collaboration with London Art 

Workshop, British artist Sarah Lucas 

has produced a limited-edition of 14 

brutalist-like pieces, including a partition 

wall and bench sofas, all made out of 

low-grade concrete and MDF. 

sadiecoles. com 

17 

18 new wave effects 

Doshi Levien’s latest for BD Barcelona 

riffs on the wave effect of corrugated 

metal. For this colour-block cabinet called 

Shanty, which sits atop four brass legs, 

each door opens in its own distinctive way. 

bdbarcelona. com 

16 

19 cabinet fever 

Rimadesio’s Self Up cabinet collection 

continues to expand with 62 colour ways, 

multiple size and shape options, and those 

oh-so distinctive, aluminum-crafted 

stiletto legs. rimadesio. it 

11 mad men mod 

Sé of London worked exclusively with 

Slovenian designer Nika Zupanc for its 

entire collection of ’50s mod sofas, bureaus, 

vanities and accessories accented with 

gold, including this delicate Full Moon table 

light. se-london.com 

12 the luxury of plush 

Having given Francesco Bettoni’s 

gener ously stuffed Mia chair a tryout at 

the MDF Italia booth, we can vouch that 

she feels as cozy as she looks – and as 

elegant, with extra-thick decorative trim to 

amplify the generous curves. mdfitalia.it 

14 holy mollo 

Canadian designer Philippe Malouin’s first 

product for Established & Sons is the 

Mollo chair, made entirely out of various 

densities of foam wrapped in rich velvet 

upholstery. Good luck getting up quickly 

from this nester. establishedandsons. com 

15 design within reach 

Named the Benson and designed by 

Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti, this handsome 

wood and metal side table with an elliptical 

base has a swivelling round top, to position 

it closer to a sofa without moving the 

entire unit. minotti. com 

19 

13 branching out 

Patrizia Bertolini has refreshed the classic 

wooden armchair by cleverly extending 

the four armrest spindles to just below the 

seat pan. Designed for Adele‐C, Lina is 

made of hickory and is available in natural 

wood or with a black tint. adele- c. it 

16 on the cutting edge 

Architect Daniel Libeskind launched 

10 new products during Milan Design Week, 

each expressing his signature shard-like 

geometry in some manner. The Web, a 

double-sided bookcase for Poliform, is 

made of Corian. poliformusa.com 

21 


iture fair 

15 

14 

18 

22 did someone say sleepover? 

Trust Campeggi, the Italian masters of 

multi-functional furniture, to come up with 

Family, an ingenious storage solution for 

spare beds: the four mattresses stack 

inside a cabinet disguised as a chest of 

drawers. campeggisrl. it 

20 

23 doing more with less 

The most revolutionary feature of Leon 

Ransmeier’s Chiaro chair, for Mattiazzi, 

is found underneath. The joinery between 

the legs and the armrest has been 

simplified, reducing the number of parts 

needed to make each chair. mattiazzi.eu 

20 when softness counts 

Almora, a conical chair with matching 

ottoman for B&B Italia, sits on a fivespoke 

base. It combines various materials, 

including a curved oak head rest that 

designers Doshi Levien upholstered with 

a cozy pad of shearling. bebitalia.com 

22 

23 

21 the look of tarpaulin 

The latest addition to Living Divani’s outdoor 

collection is the Kevlar-upholstered 

Poncho, by LucidiPevere of Udine, Italy. 

The designers took inspiration from the 

trucking industry’s use of tarps tied down 

with rope and grommets. livingdivani.it 


milan furn 

25 

24 

27 

26 

24 the beauty of eco-thinking 

Benjamin Hubert continues to explore 

ways of using less when making furniture. 

Shell, also known as Prop, designed for 

Moroso, does away with the fabric and 

filler that usually surround a sofa, leaving 

the wooden framework as the finish. 

The collection also includes a chair and 

matching side tables. moroso. it 

28 

25 big wheeler 

Lera Moiseeva’s Dot, created for 

Casa mania, is like a Transformer: a table 

one minute and a food cart the next, 

able to be lifted and rolled to wherever it’s 

needed. Made of solid ash and available in 

black or white. casamania. it 

26 head-turning light 

Diesel Living’s partnership with Foscarini 

has led to some stylish products, including 

the Fork collection, now in a short-stemmed 

version. The linen shade diffuses light with 

an elegant softness, ideal for a bedside 

table. diesel.foscarini. com 

27 modernizing marble 

Marsotto Edizioni works almost 

exclusively in Carrara marble and with 

international designers, including 

Philippe Nigro of Paris, who has carved a 

reception desk out of the distinctive stone, 

complete with housing for cables. 

marsotto‐edizioni. com 

29 

28 bent into shape 

Designs by Nendo always carry a spellbinding, 

almost magical lightness. For 

Desalto, the Japanese studio crafted 

seats with backrests made from a simple 

steel curve. Finished in white, they look as 

if they are made of paper. desalto. it 

29 floating on clouds 

Antonio Citterio, the maestro of sofa 

architecture, has collaborated with 

Flex form for 40 years now. His latest is 

Wing, a two- or three-seater built with 

blocks of down-filled cushions. flexform. it 

azuremagazine.com

iture fair 

Hay and Wrong 

The Cloud, a light 

installation by South 

African designer 

Christopher Jenner. 

for Hay’s pop-up 

store in the 

Brera district. 

off site 

showstoppers 

throughout milan, masterful exhibits were on display 

by the likes of philippe starck and christopher jenner 

by giovanna dunmall 

Philippe Starck’s 

Zénith chandelier 

for Baccarat. 

Salone is so much more than the world’s largest furniture trade 

fair. Every year, dozens of installations take over the city’s 

grand palazzos, its rarefied libraries and its endless supply of 

glamorous showrooms. This year was no exception, with French 

luxury crystal house Baccarat inhabiting the ninth-century 

Church of San Carpoforo and transforming it into a series of 

opulent domestic scenes. Unabashedly romantic, the contrast of 

glittering crystal and the church’s sombre stone walls made the 

exhibit particularly mesmerizing. The highlight was Philippe 

Starck’s 84-lamp Zénith chandelier, overhanging a sumptuously 

laid table in the church’s nave. The effect was reminiscent of 

da Vinci’s Last Supper – that is, if Leonardo were alive today and 

had a penchant for shimmering crystal. 

Equally striking was South African designer Christopher 

Jenner’s Cloud, made up of 120 of his handcrafted Urbem lights, 

whose bulbous shape was inspired by Milan’s street lamps from 

two centuries ago. The suspended display was enveloped in a 

mirror-polished stainless steel vortex that reflected the light in 

all directions. Enthralling music by Max Richter intoned, while 

wireless LEDs were programmed to simulate an electrical storm. 

Less atmospheric but no less rewarding was the pop-up store in 

the Brera district, produced by Hay of Denmark and its sister brand, 

Wrong for Hay. Together, they showed off furniture, textiles, 

glassware and lighting presented within sculptural arrangements. 

In another area, products were shelved warehouse-style. The blend 

of colourful and well-crafted wares seemed to hit the collective 

zeitgeist. Everyone who bought an item got to take it home in one 

of Nathalie Du Pasquier’s super-graphic retro-print totes that 

harken back to her Memphis Group days. 


light+buildin 

1 

2 

6 

5 

show report 

tech talks 

at frankfurt’s biennial lighting show, smart technology and 

oleds HAD their moments in the spotlight by DIANE CHAN 

with self-sufficiency and oled technology generating buzz in the 

lighting world for over a decade now, it is fascinating to see 

how design and the science of conserving light have melded 

into a dramatic arena where star names are at the fore. At 

Light + Building, the largest trade show of its kind, architects 

Jean Nouvel and David Chipperfield, along with designer 

Ross Lovegrove, showed off futuristic options. All of them are 

visionaries who understand that the most important energy 

requirement should be no energy consumption whatsoever. 

Artemide, with its maze-like booth, displayed new options 

from these top-tier players (Lovegrove’s Space Cloud was 

inspired by the film Gravity ), along with Daniel Libeskind, 

who was on hand to discuss the second iteration of his 

Paragon lamp, launched last year. 

Smart technology also reigned, with LG demonstrating 

HomeChat, a messaging interface that performs such functions 

as cycling lights to give the impression of an occupied home. 

Philips also launched its concept for an ethernet-powered 

system that connects light fixtures to a smartphone app, 

allowing lighting and temperature to be adjusted accordingly. 

What constitutes “the world’s first” may be debatable, but 

Ribag, Osram and others are using the moniker for OLEDs in 

lamp form. Flos, meanwhile, took the lead on another trend 

with The Black Line ceiling spotlights, which seem to disappear 

when not in use. Now that lighting and nanotechnology are 

in high gear, the only limit is our imag inations. 

98 jul ⁄ aug 2014 

azuremagazine.com

g frankfurt 

3 

4 

1 office party 

For Osram of Munich, Werner Aisslinger 

designed a gem-like pendant equipped 

with 16 super-efficient rect angu lar OLED 

panels. Each one has a life span of 15,000 

hours and is suitable for corporate or 

hospitality environments. osram. com 

2 downside up 

FontanaArte outfitted its booth with the 

adaptable Igloo, by Milan designers 

Studio Klass. Up to 200 techno-polymer 

modules snap together like Lego bricks 

to provide up- or downlighting as needed. 

fontanaarte. com 

3 ducks in a row 

Each of the LED lens modules – up to 14 in 

one pendant – of Zumtobel’s Sequence 

are adjustable via a smart device, catering 

to multiple users. This surface-mounted 

luminaire, in silver or white, combines 

direct and indirect lighting. zumtobel. com 

7 

4 multiple personalities 

Modular Lighting Instruments’ Médard 

lamp house, in black or white, shines with a 

sculptural organic base and a retrofitted 

LED lamp. The tiltable spotlight also comes 

in track- or surface-mounted models. 

supermodular. com 

8 

9 

10 

5 small but mighty 

Encased in aluminum, iGuzzini’s Trick is a 

round, compact luminaire that starts at 

just 45 millimetres in diameter. It produces 

geometric effects with highly concentrated 

lines, circles or decorative graphics, 

or grazing light effects. iguzzini. com 

6 get crackin’ 

Artemide’s suspended EggBoard nods 

to musicians who soundproof practice 

rooms with egg cartons. Made of soundabsorbing 

recycled polyester, it emits a 

soft down light. Available in green, grey and 

white. artemide. com 

7 disappearing act 

The virtually glare-free silicone spotlights 

of Flos’s Black Line disappear into the 

ceiling when switched off. Rows of two to 

12 LEDs emit narrow or flood beams. 

flos. com 

8 couch potato 

Paired with a free app, Light Control is a 

simple unit that enables users to manage 

every Nimbus LED fixture in the house via 

tablet or smart phone. nimbus‐group. com 

9 out of this world 

Four planes of perforated anodized 

aluminum plates, in endless configurations, 

make up Ross Lovegrove’s Space Cloud for 

Artemide. The designer took his inspiration 

from NASA photographs of Earth. 

artemide. com 

10 Move to the beat 

For Luceplan, Francisco Gomez Paz of 

Argentina designed the geometric 

Tango LED floor lamp. It contains three 

mobile aluminum shafts with elastomer 

joints, which enable the light direction 

to be adjusted with a gentle push. 

luceplan. com 


l 

+ 

b 

12 

14 cool and the gang 

Ribag’s Oviso collection was among a 

handful of direct OLED lamps launched 

this year. Five times more efficient than 

halo gens, operable with the wave of a 

hand and cool to the touch, they come in 

pen dant, wall and table models. ribag. com 

11 

15 escher-esque 

The cubic facade of Delta Light’s booth 

was inspired by its wall-mounted Forty‐5 

LED cluster sconce. This simple white 

design comes in two options for up- or 

downlighting. deltalight. com 

14 

16 the flash 

Belgian manufacturer Dark introduced 

Coolcat, a ceiling-mounted or pendant LED 

that features a contrasting rectangular 

strip. Available in 15 finishes, including 

mirrored glass, chrome and gold. dark. be 

13 

15 

11 blank canvas 

For OneSpace, Philips embedded 

glare-free LEDs into a fabric that reduces 

sound reflections and contains safe, 

non-combustible glass fibre and 

aluminum. The made-to-measure panel 

provides homogeneous lighting for retail 

and hospitality applications. philips. com 

17 walk the line 

Johto, by Belgium’s Kreon, offers dot-free, 

homogeneous illumination. The LED mood 

lighting system, in fixed or flexible styles, 

boasts a lifespan of over 50,000 hours and 

is ideal for office, residential and retail 

spaces. kreon. com 

16 

12 eye spy 

Danese’s Trix consists of an optical body 

placed inside a reflector in aluminum, 

transparent white or mirrored polycarbonate, 

suspended from a double-jointed rod 

that allows a wide range of motion. 

danesemilano. com 

17 

13 easy glider 

Fabricated from white-coated aluminum 

and natural oak, the clever Slide table 

lamp, by Belgium’s TossB, adjusts from 

40 to 70 centimetres in height with the turn 

of a knob. tossb. com 


14th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia 

PRESENTING SPONSOR 

PRESENTING PARTNERS 

DIAMOND 

Organized + Curated by Lateral Office 

Canada Pavilion | Venice, Italy | June 7 - November 23, 2014 

Thank you to our Sponsors and Partners! 

PLATINUM 

GOLD 

SILVER BRONZE 10 

Gerald Sheff & 

Shanitha Kachan 

BRONZE 5 

Gretchen & 

Donald Ross 

MEDIA SPONSORS 

STRATEGIC PARTNERS 

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS 

www.arcticadaptations.ca

media Shelf 

1 Buildings must die: a perverse 

view of architecture 

book by stephen cairns and jane m. jacobs 

2 

5 

3 

1 

4 

In 1830, Joseph Gandy, a draftsman in the architecture 

office of Sir John Soane, painted the 

design for the monumental Bank of England as a 

ruin. It is not a morbid scene. Daylight illuminates 

formerly intimate spaces; in a corner, people gather 

in a newly created courtyard; and the stepped 

foundation in the foreground seems to encroach, 

ready to reclaim the stone for nature. 

Can you imagine a designer now sharing such 

a drawing – romanticizing the idea of decay? And 

knowing that the client would appreciate it? In 

Buildings Must Die, Stephen Cairns, of the Future 

Cities Laboratory in Singapore, and Australian 

academic Jane M. Jacobs (not to be confused with 

the Canadian activist) challenge our modernist 

sensibilities by presenting such concepts as 

obsolescence, disaster and creative destruction 

as design problems. They question the “vanity of 

durability,” as well as our preoccupation with “good 

form” and notions of value. 

Should we ever let buildings die? Is there such 

a thing as sustainable demolition? This provocative 

hardcover’s well-known historical and contemporary 

writers link unlikely designs, theories and 

cultural references. From the U.K.’s X‐listing 

proposals (which presented a demolition hit list of 

unpopular buildings), to stills from the 1949 film 

The Fountainhead, to R&Sie(n)’s experimental work 

(the French provocateurs’ design for a museum in 

Bangkok was inspired by decay and the “corrupted” 

local biotope), each lends an unconventional context 

to our current culture of renovation, rebuilding, 

demolition and preservation. 

One highlight is a reference to the British 

reality TV series Demolition (2005), complete with 

photographs of the then head of the Royal 

Institute of British Architects, melodramatically 

wielding a sledgehammer to begin tearing down a 

modernist housing estate. The authors question 

the discourse that presents these buildings as the 

scapegoats at the root of contemporary social 

problems – a way of saying nothing about greedy 

economics and the widening inequality between 

rich and poor. Blame the concrete! 

As critic James Howard Kunstler argues, like it 

or not, buildings tell us about ourselves. Architects 

are taking a greater interest in the technological 

and ecological concepts of “living” buildings; and, as 

shown here, we should be critical and creative 

when considering our attitudes toward time and 

life cycle in the process and product of building. 

You May Also Like: Subnature: Architecture’s Other 

Environments, by David Gissen (Princeton Architectural 

Press), a 2009 book that proposes theories 

of pollution, nature, debris and other concepts not 

usually found in the sustainable design discourse. 

Terri Peters is an architect and writer whose Ph.D. 

research examines how modern housing estates in 

Denmark can be given new life through strategies 

of sustainable transformation. 

PHOTO BY TAYLOR KRISTAN 


2 Sensing Spaces 

Book Edited by Tom Neville and Vicky Wilson 

For Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, 

an ambitious exhibition presented by London’s 

Royal Academy of Arts, seven architects from 

disparate practices were invited to create 

immersive installations within the gallery halls. 

Asked to reflect upon architecture’s sensory, 

experiential and emotive qualities, they responded 

with wildly distinct interpretations. Kengo Kuma, 

for example, constructed a Japanese cypress– 

scented pavilion from bamboo rods. The 192-page 

hardcover brings these spaces to life with fullpage 

images, complemented by interviews that 

query the architects on the human aspect of built 

environments. It’s an enthralling exhibition that 

makes for a fascinating book. YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: 

The Rem Koolhaas–curated 2014 Venice Biennale, 

running until late November, which explores the 

fundamentals of building. BY Catherine Sweeney 

3 Codesigning Space: A Primer 

book by Dermot Egan and Oliver Marlow 

Space making in shared environments is often 

driven by developers, with minimal input from the 

people who will live or work in them. However, a 

vibrant resurgence in co-design is deconstructing 

that model and bringing more voices to the conversation. 

In Codesigning Space, the founders of 

London’s TILT Studio strike a balance between 

theory and practice. Ten thought-provoking essays 

are followed by 75 pages of practical strategies – 

such as Image Blast, a way of collecting input by 

crowd-sourcing mood boards – each illustrated with 

successful projects. These take-home ideas make 

this 144-page paperback from Artifice a valuable 

resource for creating an outstanding space. 

you may also like: WorkScape (Gestalten), a recent 

book that profiles enviable modern offices by 3XN, 

OMA and others. By Catherine SweenEy 

4 made by hand 

book edited by leanne hayman and nick warner 

For years, handmade goods produced with traditional 

processes have been returning to popularity. 

Made by Hand, a 192-page softcover from 

Black Dog Publishing, outlines the reasons in its 

introduction, from the ecological (burning fossil 

fuels to manufacture synthetic materials is 

detrimental to the environment) to the economical 

(although we often cycle through cheaply made 

objects, more costly artisanal pieces can last a 

lifetime). The final product need not be as oldfashioned 

as the process. The book profiles 37 

emer ging designers, from cobblers to eyeglass 

makers, who are committed to using traditional 

techniques to push contemporary design in 

new directions. They include Kirsty McDougall, 

who weaves tweeds to be turned into Converse 

sneakers. Featuring detailed photography with 

a nostalgic filter, Made by Hand will inspire you to 

toss those ubiquitous mass-produced items and 

invest in the past and the future. YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: 

Handmade Nation, Faythe Levine’s 2009 

documentary, which traces the new wave of the 

American artisanal movement through interviews 

with makers and curators. BY Diane Chan 

5 The Wrong hoUSe 

book by Steven Jacobs 

It’s a given that Alfred Hitchcock was a visionary 

filmmaker. Reading The Wrong House, one feels 

that he was a visionary architect as well. Although 

he never completed a building, the centrality of 

setting to his process is evident in such classics 

as Rear Window. In this 344-page softcover from 

nai010, Steven Jacobs dissects 10 of the British 

director’s sets, including the Bates Motel from 

Psycho. Floor plans pieced together from the films 

and surviving sketches are riddled with holes 

and contradictions, which lends them a provisory 

feel. The sense emerges that Hitchcock saw cinematic 

“moments,” then devised structures in which 

they could unfold – a method many architects 

might employ today. you may also like: Architecture 

and Film (Princeton Architectural Press), Mark 

Lamster’s 2000 analysis of how the movies portray 

architecture and architects. By David Dick‐Agnew 


advertiser index 

advertiser PAGE # advertiser PAGE # 

Alumilex 10 Forbo 12 

American Standard 15 George Brown College 46 

Antolini 6,7 Grohe 41 

Architonic 77 Innovia 26 

Arclinea 13 Idea Exchange 14 

Audi 2,3 IDS West 69 

AVANI 27 Jardine De Ville 11 

B&B Italia 25 Jenn-Air 

gatefold 

BMW 85 - 88,108 Keilhauer 4,5 

Bocci 32 Land Rover 43 

Boston Architectural College 30 Ligne Roset 29 

Caesarstone 107 Momentum 20 

Ceragres 35 Nienkämper 17 

Ceramics of Italy 8 Poliform 31 

Cersaie 16 rc3 37 

Confederation Centre of the Arts 91 Rubi 9 

European Flooring 19 Shaw 39 

Eventscape 23 Sheridan College 103 

Fleurco 18 Venice Biennale 101 

for advertising information 

please contact: 

Jeffrey Bakazias 

(416) 203-9674 x238 

jeffrey@azureonline.com 

Laura Levy 

(416) 203-9674 x221 

laura@azureonline.com 

Dinah Quattrin 

(416) 993-9636 

dinah@azureonline.com 

Subscribe to AZure today 

and save more than 70%! 

Phone: (416) 932-5082 

E-Mail: customerservice@azureonline.com 

Web: azuremagazine.com/subscribe 


oldface 

coming in azure: 

SEPTEMBER 2014 

Designs that are 

shaping the future 

Plus + 

Kitchens and appliances 

to bring out your inner chef 

show Reports from ICFF in 

New York, NeoCon in Chicago 

and the Biennale in Venice 

and the winners are… 

In May, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Royal 

Architectural Institute of Canada presented this 

year’s Governor General’s Medals in Architecture, at a 

ceremony held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Recognized for 

the outstanding designs of a dozen recently completed 

buildings, the winners included Teeple Architects, for 

the 60 Richmond East Housing Co-operative in Toronto; 

Les Architectes FABG, for the revitalization of a gas 

station in Verdun, Quebec, designed by Ludvig Mies van 

der Rohe; and Patkau Architects, for Tula House on 

Quadra Island, British Columbia. 

RAIC also bestowed fellowships for outstanding 

achie vement on 34 architects, including Halifax’s Graeme 

Duffus; Sylvie Girard of Montreal; Siamak Hariri and 

David Pontarini of Toronto; and Vancouver’s Lubor Tomas 

Trubka. Bjarke Ingels and Antoine Predock received 

honorary fellowships. The full lists can be viewed at raic.org. 

The American Institute of Architects and its committee 

on the environment have named their Top Ten Award 

recip ients; the program celebrates sus tain able architecture 

and ecological design. This year’s list honours Holst 

Architecture’s Bud Clark Commons in Portland, Oregon; 

Mithun’s Sustainability Treehouse in West Virginia; 

and Snow Kreilich Architects’ U.S. Port of Land Entry in 

Minnesota. The committee also selected a Top Ten Plus 

Project for the year, awarded to a former Top Ten lister 

that now has quantifiable data to prove the design’s 

impact. The Iowa Utilities Board / Office of the Consumer 

Advocate Office Building, by BNIM, made the original 

list in 2012. Leading by example, the utilities regulator’s 

headquarters consumes power at a rate of 81.5 per cent 

below the national average, with a roof-mounted photo - 

voltaic installation that provides 25 per cent of the 

building’s energy needs. More details are online at aia.org. 

In June, Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Centre 

for Architecture, received the Golden Lion for Lifetime 

Achievement at the Venice Architecture Biennale’s 

Fun damentals opening. She was selected by the bien nale’s 

board and 2014 curator Rem Koolhaas, of OMA. Lambert 

is renowned for her role as director of planning for the 1958 

Seagram Building in New York, which she commissioned 

Mies van der Rohe to design. 

This year’s Pulitzer Prize for journalistic criticism went 

to architectural writer Inga Saffron, whose engaging 

column, Changing Skyline, has been a weekly fixture in 

the Philadelphia Inquirer for the past 15 years. 

Patrizia Moroso, art director of Moroso, has received a 

high honour: Italian president Giorgio Napolitano has 

appointed her as a Cavaliere del Lavoro. The designation 

recognizes the visionary collaborator, known for transforming 

her family’s furniture brand into a leading name, 

for her ongoing contribution to local industry. 

The winners of the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt National 

Design Awards have been selected by a diverse jury, 

which included architect Tom Kundig and fashion 

designer Anna Sui. Brooks + Scarpa Architects, of 

Los Angeles, took the architecture design title; while 

New York’s Roman and Williams Buildings and Interiors 

won for interior design; LUNAR was named for product 

design; and Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture 

of San Fran cisco was recognized as well. E-commerce 

giant Etsy took the corporate and institutional achievement 

category; and a lifetime achievement award 

went to Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar, founders of 

the brand design firm Cher mayeff & Geismar & Haviv. 

The recip ients will be honoured at a gala in New York 

in October. See the complete list at cooperhewitt. org. 

The Designs of the Year Awards in seven cate gor ies have 

been chosen by the Design Museum, London. Curator 

Gemma Curtin describes the program as “a condensed 

and vivid selection of the last 12 months in design,” 

and an insight into how the various disciplines can benefit 

individuals and society. The awards are given in the 

categories of architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, 

graphics, product and transport; the winners for each will 

now compete for the overall prize. These include the 

Pro Chair Family, from Konstantin Grcic; James Bridle’s 

Drone Shadows installation; and the Peek smart phone– 

based eye exam kit, developed by Andrew Bastawrous, 

Stewart Jordan, Mario Giardini and Ian Livingstone. 

An exhibition at the museum presents the honourees until 

August 25. Full details at designmuseum.org. 

The inaugural Isamu Noguchi Award for Kindred Spirits 

in Innovation, Global Consciousness and Japanese/ 

American Exchange was presented to architect Norman 

Foster and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto during the 

Noguchi Museum’s spring benefit in New York. The 

two were chosen for their work based on principles that 

inspired the museum’s founder, a prominent Japanese- 

American artist and landscape architect. 

Movers and shakers 

The Canadian Centre for Architecture has appointed 

Giovanna Borasi as chief curator. She has been with the 

organization since 2005, when she joined as curator of 

contemporary architecture. In her new role, she plans to 

make better use of the institution’s resources by unifying 

research, acquisitions, exhibitions and publications. 

Ilias Papageorgiou has been promoted to partner with 

New York design office SO-IL. A graduate of Aristotle 

University in Greece and the master’s program at Harvard’s 

School of Architecture, he has worked at the firm since 

its inception in 2008, and has led such projects as the 

Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California, Davis. 

As part of the 2014–15 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts 

Initiative, Pritzker Prize Laureate Peter Zumthor has 

selected Gloria Cabral, partner in Paraguayan firm 

Gabinete de Arquitectura, as his protege. The program 

pairs young talent with leading artists in seven disciplines, 

including architecture, for a year-long collaboration. 

A complete list is online at rolexmentorprotege.com. 

On the boards 

Herzog & de Meuron has been announced as the architects 

for the new Vancouver Art Gallery. With such past 

projects as the Tate Modern in London and the De Young 

Museum in San Francisco, the Swiss firm seems a 

natural fit. It was chosen for its demonstration of “a deep 

commitment to and respect for the rich history and unique 

spirit of the gallery, our community, and our surrounding 

natural and urban environment,” says gallery director 

Kathleen Bartels. This is the firm’s first Canadian project. 

In memoriam 

Pritzker Prize Laureate Hans Hollein has died at the age 

of 80. After studying at the Illinois Institute of Technology 

in Chicago, the architect returned to his hometown of 

Vienna, where he gained international recognition for his 

small-scale work, such as the Retti candle shop. His 

larger projects include the Museum für Moderne Kunst in 

Frank furt, Germany. He also worked as a journalist and 

an educator, and was known for products such as his tea 

and coffee service for Alessi. 

Italian graphic designer Massimo Vignelli has passed 

away at 83. Renowned for his New York subway graphics, 

he launched design firm Unimark International’s New 

York branch in 1965. After resigning, he founded Vignelli 

Associates in 1971, with his wife, Lella; their clients 

included Knoll and American Airlines. Following years 

of sharing his knowledge through books and teaching, he 

donated his archives to the Rochester Institute of 

Technology in 2008. 


trailer 

Capture the Light 

Phillip K. Smith III’s illuminating views of Coachella 

For the first time since the Coachella Valley Music 

and Arts Festival’s inception in 1999, this year’s 

event poster announced visual artists alongside 

long-celebrated bands and DJs. 

Installed on the polo field that serves as the 

main stage, Reflection Field justified the prominent 

billing. The commission, by local artist Phillip K. 

Smith III, comprised five mirror-clad steel frames 

reaching over five metres into the sky. LEDs hidden 

inside the volumes illuminated the mirrored shells, 

with the tiny lights projecting gradients and 

sequences of colour according to programming 

created by Smith. 

Besides rivalling the main stage, and per form ers 

ranging from rockers Graveyard to vocalist Lorde, 

the totems proved as thought provoking as any 

song. By day, they acted as screens, virtually multiplying 

hundreds of thousands of ticket holders; 

come nightfall, the glowing beacons served as a 

landmark. Throughout the event concertgoers 

flocked to the volumes with phones outstretched; 

yet after snapping selfies, they quietly beheld the 

reflected sea of activity and the immense desert 

enveloping it. 

The monoliths inspired internal reflection as well, 

perhaps most palpably at sunrise and sunset, when 

the washes of LED light merged with images of the 

crowd and the natural spectacle taking place over- 

head. While this restrained introspection recalls 

James Turrell, Robert Irwin and other modern 

masters of perception, it also evokes much older 

precedents, such as The Arnolfini Portrait (in which 

medieval painter Jan van Eyck inserted himself 

in the reflection of his subjects’ convex mirror), 

suggesting that, regardless of time or medium, art 

strives to explain our place in a wider world. 

David Sokol writes about architecture and design 

from his New York base. As an American studies 

major at Yale, he spent a year obsessing over landscape 

portrayals on glass in 19th‐century clocks. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROYALE PROJECTS: 

CONTEMPorarY ART 


an everyday masterpiece 

the beauty of art; the quality of caesarstone 

new 5131 calacatta nuvo 

caesarstone.ca

BMW i 

The Ultimate 

Driving Experience. ® 

WE DIDN’T PREDICT THE FUTURE, 

WE BUILT IT. 

The view from the future is inspiring, as observed from the new BMW i3 and i8. These groundbreaking examples of modern urban 

mobility are engineered to deliver sustainability without compromising luxury, design, or performance. Both cars are powered by the 

innovative BMW eDrive technology, channelling the electric battery’s full, uninterrupted torque from a standstill. They utilize carbon fibre 

and aluminum to reduce their overall weight and increase aerodynamic efficiencies. The i8 is a pure sports car with the efficiency of a 

compact car. The i3 is the epitome of sustainability, while fully delivering the agile performance you expect from BMW. Wondering what 

the future may hold is nowhere near as exciting as experiencing it for yourself today. To learn more, visit BMW-i.ca 

INTRODUCING THE ALL-ELECTRIC BMW i3 AND ALL-NEW i8. 

DRIVING INNOVATION. 

©2014 BMW Canada Inc. “BMW”, the BMW logo, BMW model designations and all other BMW related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and/or trademarks of BMW AG, used under licence.

AZURE_2014_07_08.pdf

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?