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 January/February 2025 Contents

A new house in Vancouver by Patkau

Architects is animated by an origami-
like wood facade. Photos here and on
cover by James Dow

_52
The
Houses
Issue

Features
052 058 064 070 076
Out of the Ordinary Vibrant Points of View Citizen/Developer/ 3XN Takes (a Corner Hacking the System
Working within Vancouver’s In Valparaíso, Chile, Designer of) Toronto How SO – IL plays with real
zoning constraints, Patkau Ignacio Correa adapts Janna Levitt and Dean The Danish firm’s trio of estate math — and nets
Architects creates a tiered and expands a house Goodman’s Toronto multi- buildings bring dynamic imaginative solutions.
beauty of a home. on a hill to striking effect. plex serves as an inspiring residential and commercial By Eric Mutrie
By Rosemary Poole By Elizabeth Pagliacolo case study for an urban space to the waterfront.
densification tool kit. By John Lorinc
By Stefan Novakovic
Contents January/February 2025

_38
First + Foremost
Grand
023

025
Cosmic Couture
The astronaut wears Prada
Site Visit
A Parisian pasta restaurant revives the
Canyon
romantic allure of art nouveau design
028 Profile
Hannes Peer charts the influences behind
his 1970s-tinged collection for Minotti
030 Now and Then
Knoll revisits the Morrison Hannah chair
032 Show Report: Feria Hábitat
A trip to Spain reveals how furniture design-
ers are capturing the spirit of Valencia
035 Show Report: Cersaie
From checkerboard floors to burlwood-look
feature walls, Bologna’s big surfacing fair
explores the enduring appeal of retro styles
038 Groundbreaker
MAD Architects designs a sculptural Denver
condo tower that includes an unexpected
amenity: a built-in hiking trail
042 Spotlight: Bedroom
A Montreal dorm, a maximalist boudoir and
a design hotel where every room’s different.
Plus: the bedroom furnishings of our dreams
088 Media Shelf
Making space on the bookshelf for some of
the industry’s biggest names — and many
long-overlooked talents

_28 Spec Sheets

082 Workspace

Hannes
Everything the modern HQ needs —
from lobby chairs to boardroom tables
086 Acoustic Solutions
“Can you hear me now?”

Peer’s
PHOTO BY IWAN BAAN (GRAND CANYON)

Plus

Soft Side 090 Arthurian Legend

Studying up on Arthur Erickson — and
yes, there will be a test

014 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

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Ph: T. Pagani

italian design story

Edo sofa
design Claesson Koivisto Rune
via Pizzo Scalino 1 Giussano (MB) Italy







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JOGP!BSGMFYDPN DzineElements Tel: +1(917) 594 5550
 From the Editor
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Well

There’s always one project that you just have to get. As an A&D magazine editor,
I have been guilty of craving a fantastic home that I know is just about complete,
just about to be photographed. This time around, that holy grail was Ulster House,
designed by LGA Architectural Partners. I had been following the project’s trajectory
ever since I learned about ReHousing, a research initiative that attempts to provide
the fledgling citizen-builder with tools to expand on existing houses and urban
lots in Toronto. Janna Levitt (one of ReHousing’s founders) and Dean Goodman,
partners in work and life, were using their own architectural undertaking as a
paragon — a compelling case study for a tool kit that has major ambitions to densify
our single-family neighbourhoods.
What they’ve created is not just a prototype — it’s a warm, lovely and inspiring
home (“Citizen/Developer/Designer,” page 64). It speaks of both the big concept
and the material decisions that go into crafting a considered living space. I am so
happy to show it in our 2025 Houses Issue alongside other works that similarly
build on major ideas. Also in Toronto, we spend some time in East Bayfront, where
Denmark’s 3XN has created a trio — two striking mid-rise residential projects and
a tall timber office building — that is defining a new waterfront district (“3XN Takes
(a Corner of) Toronto,” page 70). Then there’s our cover star, by Vancouver’s
Patkau Architects: a house that dreams big, letting in the city but filtering out the
noise (“Out of the Ordinary,” page 52).
Rounding out our Jan/Feb lineup is a profile of New York’s SO – IL (page 76),
whose co-founders provide a master class in working within the confines — the
spreadsheets and algorithms — that govern real estate development while also
bringing into being multi-unit structures that introduce new and exciting dynamics
into everyday living. And we spend some time inside MAD’s eye-popping condo
mid-rise in Denver (page 38), with its canyon-like cascade of outdoor spaces.
We’re super proud of this issue, which also highlights the best from the furniture
fair Feria Hàbitat and the tile extravaganza Cersaie — and puts the design of bed-
rooms in the Spotlight. It doesn’t get cozier than that.

Elizabeth Pagliacolo, Editor

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 First +
Foremost
People, projects and products
you need to know about now

Cosmic
Couture
Outer space may once have been the exclusive domain of
professional astronauts, but in recent years, interstellar tourism
company Axiom Space has opened up the cosmos to any
run-of-the-mill business tycoon seeking an otherworldly vista.
(Tickets for its private 2022 trip to the International Space
Station reportedly ran a cool US$55 million.) But along with
catering to this luxury clientele, Axiom is working to invest in
scientific exploration and infrastructure initiatives, too.
One of its latest ventures is developing spacesuits for NASA’s
upcoming Artemis III mission, set to be both the first lunar land-
ing since 1972 and the first time that a woman and person of
colour will walk on the moon. Unveiled this past fall, the Axiom
Extravehicular Mobility Unit incorporates design input from an
unexpected collaborator: Prada. Leveraging its expertise with
technical fabrics, the fashion house engineered the suits
with a focus on flexibility and range of motion; for instance, the
gloves are fine-tuned to enable the easier operation of special-
PHOTO COURTESY OF AXIOM SPACE

ized tools. And while the ensembles will be worn by highly

trained crewmembers, Axiom Space’s business model means
this probably isn’t the last we’ve heard of galactic tailoring. As
orbital travel picks up, we’re entering a new chapter of celestial
design. Perhaps space isn’t the final frontier after all — maybe
it’s just another runway. _ERIC MUTRIE

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 023

 _Adela _Paris, France _Jessica Mille Architecte Site Visit

Olive 1. The Brief

Heading out for an Italian dinner in Paris might seem counterintuitive. Then again, you can’t eat escar-
got every night. And at Adela, which opened in the City of Light in July, fresh pasta is presented with

Jardin
distinctly French flair. Credit for the restaurant’s chic environment goes to local architect Jessica Mille,
who filled the space with art nouveau references, in part to play up the link between Adela’s fusion of
two different cultural identities. “Since the early 20th century, art nouveau has been synonymous
with French brasseries, which often sought to distinguish themselves with stylish craft elements,” she
A PARISIAN PASTA RESTAURANT says. “But I also see it in some ways as a resurrection of the Baroque movement, which has Italian
FILLS A GOLDEN DINING ROOM roots.” Adela’s owners, a couple in their twenties, sought out Mille — a fixture in the Paris hospitality
WITH ORNATE FLOURISHES scene — specifically for her ability to reinterpret history through a contemporary lens. In other words,
STORY _Eric Mutrie Adela may be a thoughtful tribute to the past, but there are plenty of fun updates in the mix, too. “Our
PHOTOS _Isabela Mayer specialty is using colours and materials to bring a lively touch to classic codes,” Mille explains.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 025

Site Visit _Adela _Paris, France _Jessica Mille Architecte

2. The Setting
In some ways, Mille’s approach to Adela’s design is also a reflection of the
restaurant’s location in the Grands Boulevards area of Paris. “It’s known for its
bohemian atmosphere, having attracted writers, artists and intellectuals over
the decades, and is now filled with art galleries, theatres and music venues,”
she says. “I wanted to capture that artistry.” She felt especially inspired by 14
rue d’Abbeville, a nearby building that makes a bold break from the austerity
of the neighbouring Haussmann-style architecture with floral stoneware adorn-
ments. While the influence of the 1901 landmark can best be seen inside Adela,
Mille did make some updates to the restaurant’s facade, retrofitting the ground
floor of its building (which previously housed an Asian bistro) with walnut-
framed sliding doors embellished with curvy woodwork.

4. The Details
Continuing the project’s revivalist spirit,
Mille enlisted a team of artisans with time-
honoured skills. The ground floor’s botanical
fresco (which continues onto one of the
3. The Design dining room’s columns) is the work of Victor
Adela’s kitchen is spread across three floors: Pasta Brun, a graduate of the Royal Academy of
dough is made in the basement, then cut into shape by Fine Arts of Brussels. “He painted it over two
chefs on the ground floor before finally being cooked weeks, lying on scaffolding,” recalls Mille.
upstairs. (A dumb waiter facilitates delivery between the “I gave him simple directions: I wanted floral
various levels.) Throughout the two-storey dining area, patterns, pop colours, and a contrasting
winding lines echo this sense of flow. Knowing that border, which is typical of the art nouveau
sinuous geometry is a hallmark of art nouveau design, movement, and is called the whiplash line.”
Mille set out to evoke images of unfurled calligraphy. Studio Vitrail Bianconi, a local stained-glass
“The first letter of Adela, a capital A, was the starting specialist, handled the booth dividers. “I
point,” she says. “But pasta shapes and ribbon also immediately loved their approach, combining
fed into the design process.” a great mastery of traditional knowledge
with modernity,” Mille says. “I gave them
maximum freedom.”

5. The Scene
Maintaining Mille’s balance between traditional brasserie style and modern edge,
orange travertine tiles amp up cabochon flooring, while velvet cushions on the
Thonet dining chairs coordinate with a wavelike feature wall. Another eclectic
pairing awaits upstairs, where a mirrored ceiling reflects animal-print carpeting. A fun
flirtation between various places, styles and time periods, Adela understands that
pasta may start off rigid and dry, but it’s meant to be served loose and springy. (Mille’s
go-to? Triangoli alla Norma, a Sicilian dish with eggplant and ricotta.)

026 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 Profile

The ’70s as Starting Point

Peer’s conceptual references span the world of architecture and
design — he cites Gae Aulenti, Nanda Vigo, Vladimir Kagan and
Angelo Mangiarotti as inspirations — as well as art and fashion.
He feels an affinity for Isamu Noguchi, Piet Mondrian and Yves
Saint Laurent. The latter introduced Mondrian’s colour blocking
to cocktail dresses in the 1970s — and that special trio of YSL,
Mondrian and the utopian ambitions of that particular decade has
special resonance for Peer. The first suite in his collection for
Minotti was the expansive Yves seating series, which features a
seam detail that recalls haute couture tailoring. “Then we spun it
even further,” Peer says. “Wherever the vertical stitching would
almost reach the floor, it would meet a wonderful double torus,
or doppio toro in Italian.”
Featuring conventional sofas, open-end units, chaises longues
and lounge sofas with curvaceous voids where a round ottoman
or circular side table could be comfortably nested, the Yves
system introduces an organic language to Minotti. “Softness is
not immediately translatable in perfection. And Minotti is famous
for this incredible perfection. For them, it was unprecedented,”
Peer explains. “They were used to a certain classical and quote-
unquote masculine shape, which I absolutely adore. But I said,
‘Let’s play with it.’ ” That play resulted in 300 catalogue pages of
variations in which the sofa landscape takes shape.

A Meeting of
the Minds
SINCE STARTING AT MINOTTI AS A COVERT
AGENT, HANNES PEER HAS EMERGED AS
THE COMPANY’S LEADING CREATIVE FORCE
STORY _Elizabeth Pagliacolo

After his initial meeting with Minotti, Hannes Peer did not hear back from the Italian furniture
manufacturer for two years. But he wasn’t being ghosted. “I only understood afterwards that their
selection process takes that long — to let someone inside the magic circle.” The South Tyrol–born
architect, who had built a reputation for opulent interior projects and for custom furniture and
lighting that walked the line between art and design, would benefit from his patience. At the 2024
Salone del Mobile, he introduced a 22-piece collection with the brand.
The Yves seating system
For Minotti, the launch also represented a historical departure. For a quarter century, until his
includes a variety of
death in 2023, Rodolfo Dordoni had helmed the brand’s art direction. While Dordoni had worked “wave” configurations
with outside talents, including Nendo and GamFratesi, Hannes Peer was completely new to the with rounded cutouts for
slotting in a coordinating
table — and he turned out to be the most prolific of the roster that contributed to the 2024 novel-
ottoman or side table.
ties. He kicked off the partnership with an NDA that would keep his collaboration secret: Monday was
“Minotti Day” for Peer, who would disappear from his busy studio to workshop ideas with the family-
owned company. “We would always have our sketchbooks right next to us,” he recalls. “There is
a flow of ideas; you grasp the flow and put it on paper. Roberto Minotti is such a good sketcher —
I’m not bad myself — and we were sketching non-stop, during breakfast, lunch, dinner.”

028 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 The Nico table and Janis
screen both explore
interlocking jigsaw-like
forms. Below, the Emmi
armchair rests on a trio
of totemic legs.

Architecture unto Itself

After the Yves sofa, the manufacturer threw Peer a curveball. “They were longing for take the biggest leap to move towards me. And I had to make the biggest effort to
a design that would be a stand-alone piece, which is very un-Minotti. They were move towards Minotti. It’s very different from the brand’s original DNA, but it is also
always about cohesiveness and almost a ‘total look.’ But they were asking me for so, so, so Minotti.” It required 15 prototypes to perfect its dual nature of daring
a design that would be cohesive within the Minotti world, but at the same time sculpture and tailored furnishing. “I like to flip it upside down to show the under-
could be a very strong editorial piece that could adorn the most beautiful magazines structure and how sophisticated it actually is to make it seem so effortless.”
in the world and stand by itself.” Peer, who had studied at the Politecnico di Milano
and worked for Rem Koolhaas, set out to envision something distinctly architectural.
“For me, it all comes from architecture and goes back to architecture. You can consider
my furniture micro-architectures. They always relate to the surrounding context.”
First in this next series is the Nico table, with its attention-grabbing base made
of two interlocking marble elements shaped like an S and an L. (That motif
reappears, in a bigger and bolder way, in the Janis screen.) “With such
relatively simple forms, I was able to create such a sculptural piece. It’s
minimalist on one side, but it’s very sculptural on the other.”

A Shared Connection
Among the collection’s other pieces, the Emmi armchair and the Drake coffee
PORTRAIT COURTESY OF MINOTTI

table achieve a delicate Noguchi-esque balance. Emmi’s seat and Drake’s top
feel as if they’re floating on their frames, evoking the Sistine Chapel’s almost-
touching fingers, to borrow an art-world metaphor that Peer loves. (“Michelangelo
literally invented abstract art when he decided to not finish the Pietà.”)
Emmi would turn out to be his favourite piece, and it epitomizes a working
relationship three years in the forging. “With Emmi, I truly feel that Minotti had to

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 029

Now and Then

1973
Sleeping on the job
is generally frowned
upon. But that didn’t
stop Hannah and Morrison
from bolting two pillows to
a metal frame while devel-
oping their initial concept.
“We were trying to make a
task chair with as few parts
as possible,” Hannah says.
“The pillows gave this idea of
comfort — a nice, soft contrast
to hard aluminum.” As the shape
of the backrest and seat cushion
evolved, the designers held
unofficial focus groups in their
studio on Howard Street. “We realized that people
needed somewhere for their sitz bones to go,” Hannah
explains — hence the placement of the large buttons that hold
the cushions in place. Mind you, most people just see this
ergonomic detail as part of the chair’s charming personality.
The product’s advertising slogan summed all this up per-
fectly: “Easy to manufacture, easy to reupholster, easy to
live with, and easy to love.”

2024
When it came time for a 21st-century tune-up, Knoll’s
engineers worked with Hannah to achieve a wider range of
tilt, introduce a more comfortable foam, and hone a few of
the design’s angles. At a time when hybrid workers are still
seeking WFH furniture that won’t clash with their decor, the
playful chair feels more relevant than ever. “It isn’t intrusive,”
All Work — and
Hannah says. Still, he believes that there’s room for the
Morrison Hannah chair in corporate life, too — even for
the design’s boldest configurations featuring a blue, red or
yellow frame and matching cushions.
All Play, Too
“Lovely, inviting environments BACK IN THE OFFICE SOME 50 YEARS AFTER ITS DEBUT,
are good. So I hope the world KNOLL’S REISSUED TASK CHAIR IS AS JOYFUL AS EVER
says, ‘Let’s have some STORY _Eric Mutrie
fun. Let’s buy it in
12 different colours
When designers Bruce Hannah and Andrew Morrison unveiled their Morrison Hannah chair
for the office
(originally known as the 2300 Series) back in 1973, Knoll held a splashy launch event at
and smile.’ ”
NYC’s then–newly completed World Trade Center. Among those in attendance was Rowena
Reed Kostellow, who had been one of Hannah and Morrison’s favourite teachers at the Pratt
Institute. “She was wearing a dramatic cloak that day, so I remember her swirling around
to evaluate the design, and then singing our praises to the press,” recalls Hannah. But five
minutes later, he felt Kostellow tug at his arm. “She told me, ‘Bruce, you know, the back curve
PHOTOS COURTESY OF KNOLL

is lovely. But the front curve still needs a little work.’ And 50 years later, I finally got the chance
to make some adjustments.” This past fall, Knoll reissued the Morrison Hannah chair with a
few modest updates. In some ways, the relaunch is bittersweet: Morrison passed away in
2021, and Hannah feels his absence keenly. “But it’s also quite a gift to have this happen,” he
says. “I’m 83 now and it’s like, come on — this just gets better.”

030 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

Discover a world where elegance meets craftsmanship at the House of

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Best in Show FERIA HÁBITAT

Noha by Viccarbe
As designers Ludovica Serafini and Roberto
Palomba put it, “Noha is a simple gesture: a pillow
Room by the Sea
folded in the act of providing a comfortable seat.”
STANDOUTS AT SPAIN’S TOP FURNITURE SHOW
Plush yet nevertheless professional, the chairs are
CAPTURED A SERENE MEDITERRANEAN SPIRIT
offered in three configurations — regular, lounge
BY _Stefan Novakovic
and executive — with a variety of armrest and base
options, making them as suitable for C-suites as
This past September, the vibrant coastal city of Valencia — long a hotbed of Iberian
they are for hotel lobbies.
design — welcomed more than 600 brands for the latest edition of Feria Hábitat. Placing
Spain’s historic yet forward-looking design culture in the global spotlight, the four-day
fair reflected its relaxed seaside setting while still placing emphasis on environmental stew-
ardship — a prescient choice, as just a few weeks later, a torrential deluge brought over
a year’s worth of rainfall to the region in a single devastating day. (The worst of the flooding
occurred just south of Valencia.) The calm, sustainable future that Feria Hábitat advocated
for can’t come soon enough.

Milos collection by Vondom

Inspired by seaside rocks
worn smooth by centuries of
lapping waves, Jean-Marie
Massaud’s Milos collection
embodies coastal style with
an iroko wood frame. A modular
sofa anchors the series, its
plush seats — offered in a
range of new textured fabrics
that debuted at Feria Hábitat
— inviting hours of relaxation.
The same gentle contours
extend to a sun lounger and
a daybed, as well as a lounge
chair, coffee tables, and a
series of planters.

Belt and Loop by Estiluz

Why hide wiring if it can look this
good? In lieu of making electrical
cables disappear, designer
Gerardo Mari integrates both
the power cord and the glowing
glass sphere of Loop (right)
into a sinuous metal curve that
evokes a pearl oyster. Meanwhile,
Ilmiodesign’s Belt (shown above
in floor lamp form, but also available
Cadenza by Expormim
as pendants) combines three simple
Spaniard David López Quincoces may have debuted his new collection at Milan’s
pieces: a cable or stem, plus opaque
Salone del Mobile, but the seating really stole the show at its homecoming by em-
and translucent lampshades. Each one
bodying the indoor–outdoor spirit of Valencian living. Offered as a sofa, loveseat and
can be reconfigured as needs change,
armchair, Cadenza is distinguished by a delicate yet sturdy — and low-carbon — rounded
their shades easily reversed or perhaps
rattan lattice frame available in a range of finishes and complemented by simple,
omitted altogether.
elegant upholstery.

032 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 Modern styling, comfort and an unparalleled sense of relaxation.
The NEOREST NX2 intelligent toilet’s sophisticated elliptical silhouette
is inspired by the simple, organic beauty of an earthen vase.

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 CERSAIE Best in Show

Visitors returning to Bologna for Cersaie this past September

may have noticed that the city looked different than in previous
years. With many of the streets closed for construction, the
transportation network was riddled with gridlock, bursting at
the seams with over 95,000 attendees to the annual tile fair. The
temporary traffic will be well worth the payoff: A major project is
underway to build two new tram lines, and once they are
completed in 2026, one of them will allow for easy access to
the airport. In fact, the city is currently leading the transition
to zero-emissions public transportation in Europe with the
largest fleet of electric buses in Italy, and it plans to introduce

Bologna Under electric trolleys down the line.

When you consider that the region of Emilia-Romagna is home
to the country’s thriving ceramics industry, a world leader in

Construction
sustainability, it all starts to make sense. Though it was founded
by the Etruscans in 534 BCE, Bologna isn’t resting on its laurels —
and neither is the tile industry, which dates back to Roman times.
The Italian ceramics association, Confindustria Ceramica, con-
AT CERSAIE 2024, BRANDS PUT CONTEMPORARY sistently pushes manufacturers to reduce whole-life carbon while
SPINS ON CLASSIC DESIGNS advocating for policy changes to implement higher sustainabil-
STORY _Sydney Shilling ity standards across the larger flooring sector.
And when it comes to design? Tile companies also continue
to reinvent themselves. But while slabs have grown increasingly
thin and digital printing even more realistic, ultra-trendy styles
were fewer and further between this year. Instead, many manuf-
acturers opted to modernize timeless classics like graphic
checkerboard patterns and intricate wood inlays. After all, trends
may come and go, so to take advantage of the unparalleled
durability of ceramics (and thwart the endless cycle of wasteful
renovations), they need to be designed with longevity in mind.

The Color collection (shown here

in Mud) by Ceramica Fioranese
and Alessandro Pasinelli Studio
plays with geometry and glossy-
matte contrast.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 035

Best In Show CERSAIE

FEELING THE BLUES

Warm tones have had their time in the sun.
Shifting the trend, many of this year’s textural
tile launches embraced cooler hues.

1 Alabastri by Casalgrande Padana

Several manufacturers moved beyond realism to
bring new life to stone-look slabs. This take updates
sought-after alabaster in an ethereal powder blue
hue that complements its dramatic veining.

2 Poetry Net by ABK

Modelled after fabric fibres like hemp and cotton,
this collection by Paola Navone recalls a pair of rain-
soaked jeans when rendered in blue. The pattern
varies in saturation across each 60-by-120-centi-
metre tile to create captivating shading effects.

3 Bioterre by Del Conca

Shown here in Stratum Artico, the Bioterre col-
lection references rammed earth construction.
Horizontal striations in cool pastel tones mimic the
CHECKMATE layers of raw clay utilized in the Pisé technique.

From subtle stone-look effects to bolder

black-and-white motifs, checkerboard pat-
terns were (literally) all over the show floor.
1

1 Dandy by 41zero42
With a palette of black, white and green in dis-
2
tressed marble-inspired finishes, 41zero42 sought
to evoke the time-worn character of the exclusive
Almack’s social clubs in London. A variety of geo-
metric patterns enables endless combinations.

2 Invictus Cross by Ceramica Sant’Agostino

Taking the travertine trend in a new direction, this
collection (shown here in Mix Warm) alternates
the tones of the stone-look surface to create an
understated grid pattern.

3 Kimono by Decoratori Bassanesi

Designer Federica Biasi conceived Kimono to
highlight the construction of traditional Japanese
garments, mirroring the proportions and textures
of obi belts. The collection (featured here with
contrasting grout) revives colours and techniques
from Decoratori Bassanesi’s archives, including
double firing and shiny enamel glazes.

036 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 1

1
PORCELAIN PARQUET 2

An alternative to the planks that have

dominated in the past, these collections
2
offered decorative riffs on the wood-
3 look style.

1 V Stone by Versace
Palazzo Versace, the brand’s Milan design
atelier, served as the starting point for this
porcelain collection, which balances luxurious
stone with the warmth of wood. The four
patterns — Frame, Cross, Greca Border and
Relief — feel at once modern and classic.

2 Ton by Sodai
Taking cues from ballrooms and gentlemen’s
clubs, Sodai based this collection on inlaid
oak flooring. The geometric pattern, which
combines three different shades to create a
3D illusion, pairs perfectly with the retro, burl-
wood-inspired panels from the same series.

3 Tabula by Gardenia Orchidea

With all the decorative charm of antique wood-
working, Tabula reflects a bygone era. Intricate
variations in grain add to the realistic feel,
3
while the P.TECH finish allows for ease of
cleaning and slip resistance, for use in com-
mercial and public spaces.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 037

Groundbreaker _One River North _Denver, Colorado

Wild
at Heart
A NEW RESIDENTIAL TOWER IN
DENVER HAS AN UNLIKELY MUSE
THAT’S PERFECTLY OF ITS PLACE
STORY _Kathryn O’Shea-Evans
PHOTOS _Iwan Baan

038 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

_MAD Architects with Davis Partnership Architects

In Denver, Colorado, the RiNo neighbourhood — named

for the River North Art District, which sits along
the South Platte River, and not for the lumbering mam-
mal — has always leaned into the industrial, even in
recent years, as it evolved into a burgeoning creative
hub. Its former factories still basically look like ware-
houses, though many now have buzzing cafés, shops
and restaurants tucked within. But a new 16-storey
residential building, One River North, has brought
something unexpected to the area’s skyline: nature.
The inspiration suits Colorado’s wider landscape,
and was always the vision for developer Kevin
Ratner. From the start, he longed to commission MAD
Architects — founded by Ma Yansong — to design
the urban parcel. (Davis Partnership Architects also
contributed as the project’s executive and land-
scape architect.) “I’ve been a fan of MAD’s work for
a long time,” says Ratner. His company, The MAX
Collaborative, is named after his grandfather, Max
Ratner, who helmed a previous real estate developer,
Forest City, in the 1920s. Among its many projects: the
conversion of Denver’s former Stapleton International
Airport into a new urbanist neighbourhood (now
known as Central Park) in the late 1990s and early
aughts. One River North builds on that legacy. “What
really attracted me to MAD is the organic nature of
what Ma does,” Ratner says.
Wilderness-as-muse is a bit of an architectural
calling card for Yansong, whose global firm designed
this project from its L.A. office. “We always talk about
nature and how architecture can create connections
to it,” he says. His favourite element of the RiNo build-
ing is the northwest facade, where MAD designed
1,207 square metres of terraces meant to echo a slot
canyon after decades of erosion. But unlike some
of Yansong’s other projects that have more organic
shapes throughout (such as the Harbin Opera House,
which curls in on itself like a snake in repose), One
River North hews closer to a traditional tower in many
respects. “We have columns, we have a curtain wall…
It’s a very functional organization,” he says. “Then we
carve this organic negative space out. Of course, I
say the canyon is special, but it’s special because we
kept the rest of the building very rational. We need
both. It’s this dialogue in two different languages.”

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 039

Groundbreaker _One River North _Denver, Colorado _MAD Architects with Davis Partnership Architects

BLAZING A TRAIL
One River North’s vertical landscape
(by Davis Partnership Architects) draws
from Colorado’s various biomes. Here
are the environments that inspired each
level of the building’s canyon, plus a few
plants you can expect to find in each.

FLOOR 1

The Foothills
A semi-arid grassland
with plantings typical of
the Denver metro area

ľǯŁ

The Trail
A semi-arid shrubland
area defined by native
grasses, currant and
To create the canyon’s exterior, MAD considered materials like glass fibre reinforced concrete sandcherry — plus a
but eventually landed on plaster (applied here atop a substrate of rebar and mesh). “It’s more often cascading water feature
used in theme parks,” explains Jon Kontuly, the firm’s project director. The contractor, KHS&S,
took the design model and tessellated it into a series of blocks each measuring roughly two cubic
ĹĸǯĹľ
metres, allowing the pieces to be easily moved on site by just a pair of workers. The blocks were
then fastened to the structural slab and joined together like the squares of a massive quilt.
The Canyon
A pinyon–juniper wood-
“Everything is basically automated, and that’s how we’re able to get a very good fidelity between
land zone filled with
our design and the finished product,” Kontuly says. The outcome allows people to feel enveloped in
creeping mahonia, sumac
the space. “With other material options, you’d have a lot more joints. We really wanted people to
and leadplant
be transported to nature.”
While the building’s 187 rental units are set up like standard apartments, a lucky few boast
spectacular sightlines through the organic shape of the canyon wall and to the mountains beyond.
ROOFTOP
Wellness options also abound on the premises, including a 650-square-metre rooftop with a pool,
spa and garden. In one of the retail spaces on the ground floor, a health club, Beem, will offer light
The Alpine Meadow
A subalpine forest region
therapy treatments and an infrared sauna.
featuring clumping
“People know this is architecture — this is not a fake natural space,” Yansong says. “But the
ILLUSTRATIONS BY TORI RAPP

groups of pine trees,

spiritual quality of that space can still remind people in general that they’re part of nature.
sedum groundcover
The human body is a part of nature.” And now, flora and fauna have moved in — no lease required.
and perennial flowers
“I was there the other day, and it was very exciting because the plants are actually growing in,
and I saw that there were ladybugs and praying mantis,” says Kontuly. “With the plants and the
insects and everything, it becomes alive.”

040 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 Designs to match your style.
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Spotlight

Bedroom
_Interno Marche Hotel _Beds and Nightstands _Clothes Storage EDITOR _Kendra Jackson

Modern
Amenities
IN MONTREAL, LE WITHIN STUDENT
DORMS BY SID LEE ARCHITECTURE MAKE
THE MOST OF MODULARITY
STORY _Sophie Sobol
PHOTOS _Alex Lesage
OPPOSITE: It should
come as no surprise that
Le Within boasts such
a clear colour story —
coming as it does from
an architecture firm with
strong ties to graphic
design — or that all the
signage and brand identity
were also expertly realized
by the team at Sid Lee.

BELOW: Behind the

historic facade of the
Shaughnessy Village
building, Le Within offers
students an all-inclusive
and connected way of life.

When they first enter their dormitory bedrooms, fledg- bagels. “Le Within reflects the idea of a microcosm
ling university students often have low expectations. mirroring its surroundings, inviting students to find
While it may be their first taste of freedom — a new inspiration, comfort, and a sense of belonging within
home away from home — too many tales of cramped, the residence. It is an encounter with the city
cell-like spaces and roommate horror stories tend within its own walls,” says Marie-Elaine Benoit, execu-
to quell any confidence that their experience will be tive design director at Sid Lee.
different. Enter Le Within. Led by Sid Lee Architecture But more than anything, Le Within champions
and Canora Real Estate Agency, the student-housing modularity. Two room types are available (private lofts
project in Montreal reimagines a common reality: and three- or four-bedroom co-living apartments), and
adaptable interiors that support everyday needs while both offer versatile storage and surfaces optimized
inspiring personal and academic growth. for functionality. The kitchen counter can be used for
Located in a historic Shaughnessy Village building, meal prep, and when it’s time to study, it doubles as
the student lofts are defined by four design pillars: a workstation. Generous cubbies built into the single
ABOVE AND TOP RIGHT: Far from the cramped and
uninspiring dorms of the past, the student lofts are duality, immersion, urbanity and modularity. The scheme beds’ planked oak laminate frames and open shelving
considered and adaptable to support a variety of explores contrast through rich colours and textured throughout help keep things organized and within
individual needs. Custom furnishings — like the beds, materials, while frame-within-a-frame interior composi- arm’s reach. “Le Within addresses evolving student
desks and kitchen cabinets — are sleek and durable,
while matte black Ginestra 300 pendants from Astro tions and the repetition of certain elements create needs by focusing on well-being, community and
add graphic punctuation. a visual connection between the various functions adaptability, and fosters social connectivity through
of the residence. To link the 1926 building’s heri- versatile communal spaces,” explains Jean Pelland,
tage roots to its modern-day urban sensibility, Sid architect and principal partner at Sid Lee Architecture.
Lee Architecture devised a considered palette that Student housing projects like Le Within are refresh-
includes bold red (a nod to the brick-clad homes typi- ing, and they signal that it is finally time to abandon
cal of the Milton-Parc neighbourhood) and deep green the old, unyielding dorm model for something more
(the nearby verdant Mont Royal) — even hits of salmon modern — and to dispel those prison cell comparisons
and cream point to the toppings of the city’s famous once and for all.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 043

Spotlight _Bedroom

LEFT: Exemplifying
Masquespacio’s signature
blend of maximalism and
whimsy, the upper-level
bedroom combines vivid
tones of lime green and
acid yellow with robust
geometric forms.

BELOW: While open to the

internal courtyard below,
the bedroom maintains a
sense of privacy through
the large-scale volumes
that conceal a custom bed
and meditation area.

The home is also a case study of geometric shapes, additional convention-busting furniture and eclectic

Personal variegated textures and colour-washed surfaces.

For their ground-floor office spaces, the two splashed
each room with a bold hue to create definition, demol-
objects from Mas Creations. A triangle cut-out in the
wall serves as the entrance to the closet. There are no
partitions to divide the sleeping quarters from the rest

Space ished portions of existing plaster on the walls to reveal

the brickwork and layered curtains of different colours
to build dimension and warmth. Sculptural furniture and
ceramics from the firm’s own Mas Creations collec-
of the upper-level living space; instead, they’re linked by
a long corridor that also contains the bathroom, an all-
yellow, mosaic-clad space. Despite the small footprint,
the designers managed to incorporate another geomet-
THE DUO BEHIND MASQUESPACIO tions further establish a sense of modernity, contrast- ric element to maintain a connection to the rest of the
STUDIO MAKES AN EXUBERANT ing with the original decorative flooring. home: a vanity in the shape of an inverted triangle.
BEDROOM FOR THEIR OWN HOME Nowhere is that more evident than upstairs, in the
STORY _Jaclyn Tersigni PHOTOS _Luís Beltrán couple’s bedroom. Partially overlooking a double-height
interior courtyard, the sleeping space is defined
by two massive forms: a cylindrical magenta screen
and a neon-green sphere. The screen wraps around
Experiential, thoroughly modern hospitality spaces a built-in bench and, along with Mas Creations’ whimsi-
are a trademark of Spanish design firm Masquespacio. cal table and chairs, constitutes the couple’s medita-
But when founders Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and tion area. To the right of this, the sphere — actually a
Christophe Penasse set out to purchase a property for 3D-fabricated dome made from foam and covered with
their hybrid home–office, they eschewed contemporary microcement — encases the acid-yellow bed, concealing
quarters in Valencia’s city centre in favour of the historic it from the courtyard to create a sense of disconnection.
houses found in the surrounding countryside, eventually The playful effect of the oversized fluorescent volumes
settling on a 1920s farmhouse turned villa with original is softened by microcement floors and contrasted by
features that hadn’t been erased by past renovations. the industrial character of the exposed beams, duct-
While Hernández Palacios and Penasse were work and brick walls, all painted a shade of lilac that’s
committed to maintaining the essence of the home’s an extension of the lower courtyard.
character — glimpses of which can be seen in the The bedroom also contains a sitting area with a
original brick walls, modernist hydraulic tile floors, and television tucked behind floor-to-ceiling curtains, and
latticework — the end result is a maximalist reimagining.
“The design of the house is a clear representation of
our evolution as designers,” Penasse says. “That’s why
RIGHT: Furniture pieces from Mas Creations, the product
you find some deco, some futuristic elements, some arm of Masquespacio, include a triangular chair and a
New Memphis, but also graphical forms.” terracotta and ceramic ringed table base.

044 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

Lacus vicostone.ca
VICTORIA VANCOUVER CALGARY EDMONTON WINNIPEG TORONTO MONTREAL OTTAWA NEW COLLECTIONS
Spotlight

Beauty There are well-designed hotels, and then there is

Interno Marche in Tolentino, Italy. Taking up residency
in the fully renovated Villa Gabrielli — home to the fac-
to bring Moschini’s dream to life. Now featuring 25
rooms dedicated to 25 iconic Italian and international
designers — chosen by Moschini — along with five

Sleep
tories of leather goods fashion label Nazareno Gabrielli long-stay suites that reference as many movements
for six decades before becoming the headquarters of (arts and crafts, Vienna Secession, radical, pop and
Poltrona Frau — the recently opened hospitality venue modernism), Interno Marche is appointed with 400
(ANASTASSIADES, ALBINI AND CERRI); SERENA ELLER (DE LUCCHI)

is the vision of Franco Moschini and pays homage to monumental furniture pieces, lighting fixtures and
IN TOLENTINO, ITALY, ORA STUDIO 60 years of design history. artworks by industry darlings like Gio Ponti, Nendo,
PHOTOS BY COSÈ MANUEL ROSSI + GERMAN BOURGEAT

LEADS THE TRANSFORMATION OF A A heartfelt patron of Italian design and past owner Vico Magistretti and Achille Castiglioni. Before offi-
HISTORIC VILLA INTO A GRANDE of Poltrona Frau (who also lived in the villa at one time), cially opening to the public, the hotel hosted a few
DAME OF DESIGN Moschini called on Claudio Tombolini and Cristiana special events to give locals a sneak peek of the
STORY _Kendra Jackson Antonini of ORA Studio (which they co-founded with revitalization. “Seeing older people who used to work
Michele Bonfigli and Federico Pisani) to lead the in the building crying and moved to see the old beauty
interior overhaul of the entire 3,600-square-metre brought back to life was very touching for us,” says
century-old art nouveau building, including the lobby, Tombolini, who led some tour groups with Antonini.
restaurant, spa and guest rooms; the local firm “We were happy and proud to see that different gen-
orchestrated a team of more than 2,000 professionals erations sincerely like the project.”
that were involved over three years of construction Here, we look at four of our favourite rooms.

046 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 _Bedroom

← ANASTASSIADES, ← ALBINI, ROOM G 01

ROOM 202 Celebrating the Italian neo-rationalist
When bringing the Liberty-era villa architect Franco Albini, this room features a
(the Italian version of art nou- serpentine red metal tube detail that directly
veau) into its modern incarnation, nods to the handrails he designed for Milan’s
a number of original frescoes metro stations during the 1960s. The shocks
were revealed, including in the of red in the tube (which wraps around
room dedicated to Cyprus-born a Glo-Ball wall sconce from Flos) and the
lighting design maestro Michael Duomo signage are set off by a sophisti-
Anastassiades. Now painstakingly cated palette of blue and grey; elsewhere,
resurrected, the ornate mural white metal tubing frames walls, doorways
makes for a stunning contrast to and a built-in desk. Albini’s minimalist yet
the deep blue–painted metal sheet playful Cicognino table for Cassina sits
that backs the bed — a unique bedside, and his Tre Pezzi wingback (also
finish that effects a “mixture of Cassina) in poppy red upholstery greets
material surface and light reflec- guests at the door (not shown).
tion,” notes Tombolini — and the
sleek Kerakoll resin floor. Delicate ← DE LUCCHI, ROOM 104
pendants from the IC Lights col- A pivotal player in multiple radical design
lection by Anastassiades for Flos movements (and a personal friend of
are suspended above the bed, Moschini), Michele De Lucchi is known for
while his sinuous bent beechwood his clean, simple lines, affinity for natural
N. 200 lounge chair for Gebrüder wood and responsible waste-free approach.
Thonet Vienna and matte-finished This shines through in his namesake room,
Verde Guatemala marble Love Me, which features an abstract layout of wood
Love Me Not table for Salvatori strips on the plaster walls and ceiling and a
create a cozy corner. The custom pervading sense of warmth. Responsible for
artwork is by graphic designer the refurbishment of the nearby Politeama
Emilio Antinori and was inspired Theatre (built in 1926), De Lucchi founded
by other lighting series by the the experimental studio Produzione Privata
London-based Anastassiades. in 1990, for which he developed the
Benedetto table (shown) with Davide Angeli;
his iconic Tolomeo floor lamp from Artemide
stands in the corner behind an archival
Gebrüder Thonet Vienna theatre chair.

← CERRI, ROOM 106

Visually arresting, precise and rational,
the scaffolding-like structure in the room
devoted to architect and graphic designer
Pierluigi Cerri was inspired by the vision-
ary’s rigorous approach; ORA Studio also
celebrates industrial metal as a functional
element with this architectural installation.
The chevron floor found here and in other
rooms adds a layer of age-appropriate
warmth to the historic building, while the
two-tone grey walls and Cerri-designed
furniture — namely, his brutalist Ouverture
sofa at the foot of the bed and (now dis-
continued) Lola armchair at the desk, both
from Poltrona Frau — are contemporary
counterpoints. Elsewhere in the room, mir-
rors, textured glass and a restrained use of
colour (primarily red) effectively showcase
the evergreen appeal of the polymath’s
creative output.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 047

Spotlight

BRERA
Expressing contemporary elegance through a strong horizontal
design, the Brera bed, by architect Jean-Marie Massaud for Poliform,
makes for a serene destination within the domestic landscape. A
tailored leather-clad base supports the upholstered bed frame and
expansive headboard, both of which are available in a variety of
tactile fabrics and rich leathers. The bed (and two new coordinating
bedside tables) is a nighttime complement to an existing sofa system
collection with impressive architectural undertones.

LULL
Tapping into the free-spirited attitude of 1970s surf
culture, Australia’s Ellison Studios describes its
Sweet IRO
Copenhagen-based GamFratesi references

Dreams
Lull bed for Design Within Reach as “the moment both Swiss Alpine chalets and intricate

of calm between swells.” With a low-slung profile Japanese joinery techniques with its Iro

and plush cloud-like frame, the fully upholstered bed for Porro: Four hefty ash-wood poles

bed feels both contemporary and nostalgic, play- are fastened together with finely crafted

ing with texture right down to its fabric-covered FOUR SUPER-COMFORTABLE corner joints, creating a substantial frame

disc-shaped feet. A range of upholstery options is UPHOLSTERED BEDS THAT for the two large upholstered headboard

available, including Sandon, Ellison’s own sustain- ENCOURAGE AN EARLY NIGHT cushions (in multiple fabric, eco-leather or

able velvet-like material made from recycled plastic BY _Kendra Jackson leather options); four columnar feet lift

bottles (shown here in Burnt Butter). the platform off the ground, adding a sense
of overall lightness. The turned-wood
structural elements can be tinted one of
five nature-inspired colours.

HYPNA
Conceived by Nada Nasrallah and Christian Horner of Vienna-based Soda
Designers, the Hypna bed from Ligne Roset is backed by a movable para-
vent (or screen) that can be opened to make space for a bedside table
or closed to create a more intimate sleeping environment. Vertical metal
tubes wrapped in the same fabric as the headboard accommodate the
movement of the screen and accentuate the detail in a formal way. Single
wing (left or right) versions are also available, as is one without any wings.

048 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 _Bedroom

CUBA LIBRE
FERN MINI
The latest piece to be added to French
Part of the larger Fern family of hand-built sustainable steel lockers,
designer Daniel Rode’s Cuba Libre series of
Fern Mini from British manufacturer Bisley introduces a decidedly
tables for Roche Bobois, this nightstand has
industrial edge to modern interiors. The flat-panel door (which can
a simple yet sophisticated expression. Three
be right- or left-opening) is detailed with a sleek handle and charming
slender and curved legs support the circular
ventilation holes; inside, a fixed shelf creates two compartments for
back-lacquered glass tabletop, which con-
storage. A total of 37 colourways are available, ranging from subdued
tains a petite storage space accessed by a
and earthy to bold and vibrant.
left-opening door. It’s offered in 18 matte or
high-gloss lacquered finishes.

Bunk
Mates EASY EDGE ALL WOOD
With an all-wood construction, tambour
panel detailing and curved lines, the Easy
STYLISH NIGHTSTANDS WITH Edge nightstand from Sundays has a
FANTASTIC BEDSIDE MANNER distinctly West Coast modern appeal. Two
BY _Kendra Jackson spacious soft-close drawers and a gener-
ous surface provide ample storage, while
a clear matte-lacquer finish protects it
from dings and dents. The striking table is
a recent addition to the Easy Edge collec-
tion, which also includes nightstands with
COSENTINO × MODULAR metal legs and drawer pulls.
CAPSULE COLLECTION
At once launching Cosentino’s
new Silestone Le Chic Bohème
collection and celebrating the
40th anniversary of Modular’s
iconic Modupoint lighting
series, this hospitality-aimed
capsule collection of side
tables (and coffee tables) was
designed by interior architect
Justine Kegels. Showcasing
FONTE the Blanc Elysée and Château
A versatile table collection by Molteni&C creative director Brown full-body colourways
Vincent Van Duysen, Fonte marries exceptional craftsman- from the Silestone collec-
ship with an approachable yet sophisticated style. Made tion, the sculptural tables are
with a solid oak frame (in coffee or black), the nightstand integrated with an updated
features a practical drawer and a raised burnished-alumi- panel-mount Modupoint lamp,
num surface ring to neatly corral items. Material options an enhancement to the series.
for the tabletop include multiple glossy or matte marbles,
wood or black back-painted glass (shown).
Spotlight _Bedroom

Clothes
Quarters
OPEN OR CLOSED, THESE STORAGE
SOLUTIONS KEEP GARMENTS
ORGANIZED AT HOME OR IN A HOTEL
BY _Kendra Jackson

1 CANVAS 2 CROMA WARDROBE 3 REFORM WARDROBE AND STORAGE

In the extensive furniture series Canvas, by industrial Colourful, shapely and infused with personality, the Danish design brand Reform moves from the kitchen
designer Christian Haas for Schönbuch, every detail Croma collection of hospitality storage pieces was to the bedroom with its introduction of wardrobes
allows for complete customization. The storage units developed by multidisciplinary design firm Lagranja and storage solutions. A modular system, the new
(in varying heights, widths and depths) can be fronted for Valencia-based Systemtronic. Included within the line includes elements to configure walk-in or full-wall
by doors, hinged flaps or drawers, which in turn can series is the Croma wardrobe, an open-rail structure closets, freestanding or built-in wardrobes and cabinets
be paired with one of seven types of grips; internally, able to accommodate up to 15 articles of clothing, with in the bedroom (and other rooms in the home) with the
fixed shelves, middle walls and drawers can be con- two lower shelves for bags, shoes, suitcases and other same designer fronts as the kitchen systems (Column
figured to suit personal storage needs. Each unit can items. Made from sustainable aluminum and solid ash, by Inga Sempé is shown). Interiors can be fitted with a
be set on a plinth or legs or be wall-mounted and is the wardrobe — along with the valet stand, coat rack, nearly endless combination of drawers, shelves, orga-
available in the brand’s full range of rich and saturated mirrors, side tables, shelving trolleys and benches — nizers and dividers; a vast range of colourways, finishes
colourways, in matte, glossy or mirrored finishes. can be lacquered in six nature-inspired colourways. and hardware accessories is offered.

050 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

052 _ _JAN/FEB 2025
ON THE WEST SIDE
OF VANCOUVER,
AN URBAN HOUSE BY
PATKAU ARCHITECTS
IS SHAPED BY
ZONING CONSTRAINTS,
GEOGRAPHY — AND
AN ORIGAMI-LIKE
FACADE IN ALASKAN
YELLOW CEDAR
Story by Rosemary Poole
Photography by
James Dow / Patkau Architects
Where
does a house
begin?
Does it originate from the ground? Its outlook to open water?
Does it emerge from materials? The dialogue between wood,
steel and concrete? The genesis of this particular house — a
gracefully staggered three-level structure in Vancouver’s West
Point Grey neighbourhood — can be traced to a drawing. Not
a blue-sky dream of all that was possible, but rather a three-
dimensional diagram that modelled what it could not be based
on the limitations set by the city’s zoning bylaws and the land
itself: a modest 15-by-34-metre lot that is typical of the setting. PREVIOUS SPREAD: The front ABOVE: The homeowner’s
“Not only do you have a limit on area,” says architect John Patkau of Patkau yard meadow, designed enviable art collection
by Patkau Architects in includes Plague Mask 3
Architects, who led the project with principal Greg Boothroyd, “you have a
collaboration with Bearmark, (fever dream) by BC-based
limit on the profile of the house, you have limit on the height, and each one is planted with a mix Indigenous Canadian
puts a constraint on the project — and they often work against each other.” of hebe, catmint, “Firefly” artist Brian Jungen.
heather and Mexican
Adds Boothroyd, “The bylaws basically try to make houses that are like a wed-
feathergrass, as well as BELOW: A tiered elevation
ding-cake shape, where the floors get smaller as they go up. We think it came a trio of Scots pines. comes into full view at the
from some kind of postmodern ideas of what houses should look like in the back of the house, where
operable shutters slide
eighties, and there are many obscurities within it.”
away on a track to provide
Resting inside the bounds of convention, even fitting into a streetscape, is an the primary bedroom with
unusual condition for Patkau Architects. To look through the firm’s portfolio a majestic vista.

054 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / VANCOUVER

across a distinguished 47-year history is to tumble headlong the facade transitions, ceding the stage to super-scaled openings. On the top
down a rabbit hole of complex ideas, experimentation and, floor, a pair of dramatic folding shutters wing out from the primary bedroom,
above all else, singularity of form. The founding principals, John like a bird preparing to take flight. Required by zoning to be movable, they
and Patricia Patkau, have long been considered artist-architects, operate similarly to a bi-fold closet door on a mechanized track: “The same
their buildings likened to mixed-media sculptures informed principle on a much grander scale,” says Boothroyd.
by exhaustive research into what the materials are capable The slope of the site allowed the garage to be tucked into the lower level,
of achieving. Those materials may carry over from project to freeing up the main floor to operate as a single, continuous space contain-
project, museum to museum, house to house, but the form, ing the living and dining areas and kitchen. Outside the wall of sliding glass
the what, the how are different every time. Puzzling through it doors, a capacious outdoor zone was created by cleverly combining the allow-
all to create something original is always an education, and an able space for a deck and a roof terrace. Beyond the property sits a quiet park
exercise in patience and time. “A three-year process would be that is used mostly by the immediate neighbours who are wise to its existence.
quick for us,” says Patkau. This house took five. From the vantage point of the house, the park takes on the appearance of a
Working within their model, the architects embarked on a grassy field rolling gently down and away in the direction of Locarno Beach,
process of inquiry and looked for opportunities in the bylaws the flat grey water of English Bay more visible in wintertime, when the mature
for innovation. Their boldest response comes in the form of alder tree at the edge of the yard has lost its leaves.
an elaborate wood facade that was added onto the house to On each of the house’s three levels, the open spaces are dis-
give it character in three dimensions. The zoning rules allow rupted by cabinet-like volumes containing private zones, such
for projections into the yard if such moves protect the house’s as bathing or dressing areas. Their wood panelling demarcates
glazed south-facing elevation from the sun. The architects took them from the pure white wallboard used to provide a clean
that idea one step further: They used the facade to filter sunlight, TOP: The interiors backdrop for the homeowner’s art collection. Most of the inte-
yes, but also to carefully edit out the surroundings to create throughout feature rior walls are reinforced with plywood to ease installation, most
porcelain tile
privacy and focus the view. Suspended from thermal isolation notably in the lower-level gallery space, which sees a steady rota-
flooring from Dekton
clips in some places and a thin steel framework in others, by Cosentino and tion of contemporary and historic works, many from BC artists,
slatted panels crafted from Alaskan yellow cedar envelop the acoustic ceilings including Stan Douglas, Ian Wallace and Brian Jungen.
crafted with quarter-
house, folding and weaving their way down to create awnings Simplicity of form is, of course, the most difficult to achieve.
sawn white oak–
and sunscreens, like a piece of origami. At the back of the home, veneered slats. The stairs that rise from the main floor to the upper level

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 055

 The Patkaus have
long been considered
artist-architects, their
buildings likened to
mixed-media sculptures.

A floating Dekton-
clad stair, minimal
millwork and a framed
view of the outdoors
compose a warm kitchen
setting further
enhanced by Patkau
Studio’s Minima lamps
and Joey stools.

056 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / VANCOUVER

1 3 4 6

2 5 7

8 9 10

1. Study 6. Primary bedroom

2. Kitchen 7. Terrace

3. Dressing room 8. Garage

4. Bathroom 9. Laundry

5. Living room 10. Secondary bedroom

ABOVE: In the BELOW: The primary

second-floor study, bedroom is furnished seem to ascend weightlessly, each tread encased in Dekton porcelain tile
the origami-like with a custom-designed with mitred edges to give the appearance of a monolithic block. The same
facade’s screens of bed and floating material is used for the flooring throughout the entire footprint of the house.
Alaskan yellow cedar side tables. Knoll’s
strategically filter Womb chair, in red, Overhead, ribbons of slatted quarter-sawn white oak veneer traverse the
the street-side view. completes the scene. ceilings in a similar fashion. Backed with a sound-absorbing layer, they lend
an abiding sense of quiet more common to a remote rural setting. “The ceiling
represented our best opportunity to give the house a warm acoustic feel, as
opposed to [the] hard, reflective one” typical of modern art
galleries, says Patkau.
As we close our conversation, the architects debate how
many houses they’ve built in their tenure — more than 20, they
concur. Each one represents a complete vision for living in its
particular context, with no detail overlooked: Building begets
interiors begets landscape and, with increasing focus, furniture
and accessories. Notice the sculptural Seussian lamps that dot
the stairways, office and bathroom. All are from the Minima
series by Patkau Studio, a burgeoning division that operates
out of the workshop attached to the firm’s offices. The lights
are curious things, made from a stretchy paper pulp composite
developed to achieve the minimum surface that can enclose
the volume between the various components. “We’re trying
to create objects that are driven by the same sensibility as the
architectural elements, but they always have their autonomy.
They are a design investigation on their own,” says Patkau.
Where does a house begin? A more fitting question might be,
where does it end?

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 057

IGNACIO CORREA RENOVATES AND ADDS TO A
RUSTIC PAVILION ON A HILLY SITE IN VALPARAÍSO,
CHILE, TO CREATE A COMPLETE HOME THAT HUGS
THE LANDSCAPE AND CELEBRATES THE VISTA

Story by Elizabeth Pagliacolo

Photography by Nicolás Saieh
JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 059
Designing a home from scratch has its
challenges, but adapting an existing
building on a tricky site is another
matter altogether. For architect
Ignacio Correa, the assignment came
with a special dollop of pressure:
the reno-expansion was for his sister.
With the House in Three Heights, in the coastal town of Zapallar, Valparaíso, he’s
delivered her a getaway from the bustle of Santiago that remains true to the original’s
architectural language — and to the terrain’s rugged charm. And by connecting old
and new with a glassed-in bridge, Correa has also captured bolder views to the bay.

RIGHT: The original

triangular pavilion,
a former atelier of
the architect Horacio
Smith, sits at the
top of a sloped site.
A glassed-in bridge
connects it to the
new bedroom volume
that steps down into
the terrain.

060 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / VALPARAÍSO

RIGHT: At the end

of the bridge, a
floor-to-ceiling window
provides a view of
the bay. Inside, the
staircase connects to
the primary bedroom.

BELOW: The original

volume was gently
updated. It contains
the kitchen, living
and dining areas.
Beyond the curtain,
the bridge unfolds.

1. Bridge

2. Primary bedroom

3. Kids’ bedroom

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 061

 Set atop a hill, the original building is a trian- mid-air but secured in place by a V-shaped steel
RIGHT: Secured by a
gular one-storey volume. Its architect, Horacio column, the bridge creates both separation and V-shaped steel column,
Smith, had used it more as an atelier than a home connection; it links the original house, which the bridge seems
to float. Correa was
but had equipped it with a kitchen and bath. was minimally updated, to the new, double-tier
adamant that the
Before erecting additions to this rustic house, bedroom volume, which features weathered wood structure be light
Correa began by reimagining the approach to cladding and sits on a concrete foundation. But it on the land. The
home’s wood cladding,
the fuller landscape: Changing the access to the also achieves a distance between the two that was
meanwhile, blends into
site was among the most important aspects of important for Correa, who was adamant that the the forested setting.
the project. Previously, one would walk up a set home be light on the land while spanning across
of stairs to get to the top of the hill, reaching it. “We wanted to preserve the hill and to have you
the Smith-designed structure straight-on. Now, understand what this place was like before there
passage to the entire house, old and new, begins was architecture.”
at the hilltop, behind the home. The perspective Once inside the bridge, you descend a staircase
of the bay that this vantage point affords is the into the new side, which steps down into the
anchoring motif. “We wanted to construct this landscape. At the joint where bridge meets addi-
photography,” says Correa, “and to measure tion, a fully glazed end frames a stunning vista.
this view with both volumes.” “At this point,” he says, “you understand the bay,
A composition in three materials — wood, steel the original volume and the new house.” From
and concrete — the multi-part home unfolds there, you can step further down to the lowest
as a sequence of spaces. Seemingly floating in level (where the kids’ bedrooms are).

062 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / VALPARAÍSO

FROM THE BRIDGE, YOU “We wanted our volume to be more solid,” says
Correa, who still drew from the original’s palette
UNDERSTAND THE BAY, and generous expanses of glass. This sense
of solidity comes through in the upper bedroom.
THE ORIGINAL VOLUME Whereas many an architect would seek to dissolve

AND THE NEW HOUSE. the distinction between indoors and out and
conjure a sense of weightlessness, Correa inserted
warm architectural details that anchor the resi-
dents in the architecture. The ceiling height is low
to create a cozy ambience, and a deep oiled-pine-
wood border wraps the floor-to-ceiling openings.
“The first house was a glass house, but I wanted
the windows of the new volume to have some
elements that don’t expose you so literally to the
landscape. You feel that you’re in the house and
looking at the landscape. You feel this construc-
tion, and you understand you’re in a constructed
LEFT: The primary place.” In this way, the architecture envelops you.
bedroom’s wall of So far, the client is pleased. Correa’s sister and
glass is anchored
by a wide oiled- her kids stay in the home as often as they can.
pinewood border that, “Zapallar is very close to Santiago, so it’s very easy
as Correa says, to go there on the weekends,” says Correa. “They
makes you understand
that “you’re in a have many friends in the area, so I think it was a
constructed place.” really good idea for her to get this place.”

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 063

 The two-volume Ulster House
comprises a multi-unit building
and a compact laneway suite.
Architects Janna Levitt and Dean
Goodman have combined the main
floor of the larger building and
the laneway house into a single
indoor–outdoor residence.

064 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

In Toronto’s Harbord Village, Janna Levitt and the
ReHousing project are charting an elegant — if
sometimes perilous — course for a sensitive new
model of urban densification

ONCE IN A WHILE, A HOUSE BREAKS THE MOULD. On downtown

Toronto’s residential streets, tight rows of century-old dwellings are
STORY BY occasionally interrupted by something newer, taller, bigger. But that’s
STEFAN NOVAKOVIC usually another single-family home, its footprint seemingly swelling
in proportion to the levels of wealth necessary to enter a prohibitive

PHOTOGRAPHY BY market. As the houses get larger and young families are increasingly
priced out of the urban core altogether, their communities are con-
DOUBLESPACE tracting. Many of the city’s neighbourhoods — and the majority of
Toronto’s forbiddingly zoned land area — quietly face the problem of
declining population.
At first glance, the building on the northeast corner of Ulster and
Lippincott Streets in Harbord Village might appear to fit the pattern.
Handsomely clad in an array of clay tiles, the three-storey form —
contoured and articulated to preserve the site’s majestic Blue Spruce
and to meet the rhythm of the angular roofscape — is at once under-
stated and eye-catching. Rising a storey above its older neighbours, the

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 065

 308-square-metre structure embodies the clean lines and simple geom- Together with University of Toronto professor Michael Piper (who runs
etry that make for a decidedly contemporary presence, yet with a scale the school’s Tuf Lab) and housing researcher Samantha Eby, Levitt is
and materiality that speaks to its intimate residential context. A pair of a co-founder of ReHousing. Supported by the Neptis Foundation, the
urbane entrances, one on either street, hint at an infusion of density. non-profit offers a comprehensive design and construction catalogue
The real surprise is inside. The building was designed by Janna Levitt of potential renovations, additions and redevelopments for the 13 most
and Dean Goodman, partners in life and work; their firm, LGA Architectural common housing types across the single-family “yellow belt” zoning
Partners, is acclaimed for its sensitive modernist ethos, its dedication to boundaries that span most of the City of Toronto and its immediate sub-
sustainable architecture and its civic leadership. They have organized the urbs. Ulster House, then, represents an incremental step toward weaving
building into four spacious apartments, including a small laneway suite. much-needed housing deep into the fibre of the urban fabric. It might
Two dual-level units (with bedrooms and living areas on separate tiers) boast a site-specific architectural élan, but its key ideas are designed to
occupy the upper floors, where they have access to ample natural light be replicated. For instance, the main volume’s ground floor and the
and recessed terraces. A definite step up from a typical Toronto basement laneway house can be reconfigured as stand-alone one-bedroom suites
suite, the building’s lowest level features a reasonably light-filled and without making changes to the building envelope — resulting in a total
airy one-bedroom apartment. of five units.
The most unusual home is in the middle: Levitt and Goodman’s own On a systemic level, ReHousing is aimed at diversifying a city defined
abode encompasses both the ground floor and the laneway house, the two by stark “tall and sprawl” dichotomies of density and a development
zones linked by a trellis-covered walkway and patio. “We were very careful industry dominated by economies of scale. And it does so by “empower-
to design the two to enhance the feeling of being removed, intimate and ing citizen developers in converting single-family homes into multi-unit
in nature (with the laneway house) and open, more buttoned-down and housing” — a pattern that, while often overlooked, actually shaped much
urban (in the street floor), and we programmed the courtyard to be the of our urban history, as Levitt explains. “You’d carve up apartments
joint,” says Levitt. In the main volume, the showpiece kitchen features a out of houses, maybe you’d rent them out to family or relatives, and you’d
stainless steel–encased cooking alcove and a long dining table set against make a multi-family home out of a single-family home,” she says. “This
the generous glazing that faces a vibrant garden landscape (around the is where the idea of the ‘citizen developer’ came from: It’s a bottom-up
spruce) by Lorraine Johnson. Throughout, the handsomely crafted interi- response to creating more housing.”
ors are warm and inviting, an effect amplified by the pleasantly tactile oak ReHousing arrives at a moment when the increasing severity of the
veneer finishes that wrap them. housing crisis has spurred a gradual — albeit halting — easing of the
The home’s separation of private and social zones means that to 20th century’s draconian zoning and code restrictions. Toronto is join-
get to the bedroom, situated in the skylit laneway unit, you need to step ing cities across North America allowing densification in single-family
outside — even into the brisk air of a November day. But Levitt and communities. This has resulted in new laneway house and garden suite
Goodman, who downsized from their previous home, embrace the regulations (in 2018 and 2022 respectively) and revisions to zoning and
outdoors year-round; Goodman built a sauna in the backyard, and the
duo makes the balance of hot and cold an intentional part of daily life.
“Walking to the laneway house late at night, under the canopy, offers a
different experience in every season, and the changes in weather and
temperature are part of that,” says Levitt.
“The sauna is the all-season anchor. Many
nights, we sit outside, after a long sauna
session, in housecoats and slippers, really
feeling warm in the cold — and feeling
great being able to be outside in a wild garden
in the middle of winter.”
It’s not for everybody. Yet the duo’s Ulster
House is both a unique home and a proof
of concept for something much bigger:

RIGHT: With the bedroom tucked

into the laneway suite, the main
floor of the multiplex serves as
a living and dining space that
promotes entertaining and doubles
as a casual home office. Light
fixtures are by A-N-D (above
kitchen counter) and Tom Dixon
(above dining table from Mjölk).

066 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / TORONTO

BELOW: Expansive windows (by Division 8) and a trellised

courtyard support Levitt and Goodman’s indoor–outdoor
lifestyle. “There’s tons of bees, moths and butterflies
that are constantly moving around the fir and pines. We
have also seen foxes and rabbits,” says Levitt.

ABOVE: Clad in clay tiles, the

multiplex building riffs on the
texture, materiality and visual
rhythm of Toronto’s residential
vernaculars while introducing a
distinctive new presence.

1. Laneway suite (bedroom)

2. Trellis-covered walkway
and courtyard
3. Kitchen and dining area

4. Two-level apartments

5. Basement suite

3
2
1

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 067

 planning that permit city-wide multiplex housing — as part of the
Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) program initi-
ated in 2023. But legality is one thing; making the leap from citizen to The idea of the citizen
citizen developer is another story.
As Tuf Lab’s Michael Piper puts it, ReHousing intends to bridge the developer came from
gap. “I remember I was looking to buy a home and create a unit for
my in-laws,” he says. “And as an architect, it’s pretty easy to look at a a bottom-up response to
building or a layout and think, ‘I know exactly what I want to do.’ But
most of us aren’t architects — and folks don’t necessarily know where creating more housing.
to start. So the idea with the ReHousing tool kit is that it’s almost like
having an architect in your pocket.” It starts with simple principles, says
Samantha Eby. “It’s about imparting our design skills, and our experi-
ence in thinking about things like phasing a project, to a wider public,”
she explains. “So if you’re installing a new kitchen, for example, it’s
worthwhile knowing that you shouldn’t place it along an exterior wall.
But if you really have to, then make sure that you insulate the pipes.”
The design catalogue applies to projects of a variety of sizes, from simple
renovations and small additions to lot splits and laneway suites.
As a new-build multiplex, Ulster House sits at the most ambitious
end of the scale. Having broken ground well before the EHON program
ostensibly paved the way for new multiplexes across Toronto, it faced
a bevy of hurdles. For starters, the laneway unit’s form reflects the City
of Toronto’s dogmatic commitment to maintaining an angular plane
in secondary suites. In lieu of a simple and efficient rectilinear box,
the second floor of the smaller volume is reduced in size, decreasing
floor area and increasing construction cost, in order to mitigate its

RE-HOUSING
Anchored by growing — and increasingly compre-
hensive — construction and design catalogues,
the ReHousing program gives property owners
a tool kit to plan and phase renovations and
additions that modestly increase density in
residential neighbourhoods.

ABOVE: While the angular form of

the laneway house is a response to
planning regulations, Levitt and
Goodman leveraged the constraints
to create a generous skylight and
a tranquil, sun-filled bedroom.

068 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / TORONTO

visual prominence. More fundamentally, the larger three-storey volume Bedford Park, a proposal to split a pair of neighbouring semi-detached
necessitated two exit stairs, reducing usable floor area in a project where homes into multiple suites was met with surprising resistance by plan-
spatial efficiency was paramount. While seemingly minor, such regula- ning staff. According to a 2024 staff report, the fact that the two properties
tory mandates complicate the logistical — and financial — feasibility of share a wall means they amount to a single apartment building, which is
multiplex development. not permitted under zoning rules. Taken together, such regulatory uncer-
These challenges were expected — and deftly resolved. But an unan- tainties invite a reconsideration of just how “legal” multiplexes really are.
ticipated and costly roadblock emerged once Ulster House was all but This bureaucratic resistance to change has deeper socio-economic
complete: It took months for Toronto Hydro to supply the number of roots. As North American governments divested from building and man-
breaker panels required and then hook them up to power (the home’s aging public housing in the late 20th century, an increasingly complex
HVAC is all-electric, in line with Levitt and Goodman’s desire for a zero- apparatus emerged to govern — and constrain — multi-family develop-
carbon operating project). Why the delay? The request was “non-stan- ment. Restrictive zoning, outdated building codes, empirically dubious
dard” and precipitated an indefinitely long process. And so, although the fire safety rules and other impediments added up to a recipe for languish-
municipality is actively encouraging the development of new multiplex ing housing supply and skyrocketing prices. Across Toronto and the
housing, there was a lack of policy cohesion at the public utility level. continent, it remains far easier to build a colossal single-family mansion
On top of the months of lost rent, the cost to Levitt and Goodman came than a multi-unit property of the same scale.
in at $75,000. “Why would the City encourage us to build all of this stuff On a cultural level, this state of affairs changed how we think about our
and not have it aligned with Hydro so they’re actually ready to roll it cities and our homes. “As soon as housing became an investment tool,
out?” asks Goodman. the ability to do an informal transformation of a single-family home into
As multiplexes are being built in modest numbers, a handful of similar a multi-unit dwelling became restrictive,” says Levitt. “With so much
developments have faced their own obstacles. On nearby Shaw Street, wealth and net worth now tied up in real estate, there’s been a flip from
for example, fellow citizen developer Nigel Churcher came up against “a neighbours offering to help you renovate your garage to them calling the
long list of minor variances” (according to the Globe and Mail), and each municipality to report that you’re working without a permit. One of
of his four units required its own gas, electricity and water connections, the reasons that’s happening is because so much of their own money is
along with a specialized ventilation system for the property. Even the City invested in the property — they’re afraid of incurring any kind of risk.”
of Toronto’s own definition of a multiplex remains dodgy; municipal In an era of real estate wealth, a prevalent trend sees multi-unit build-
guidelines allow for fourplexes in semi-detached buildings, yet in upscale ings across North American cities — many of which were originally built
as stately houses — converted back into luxury single-family homes.
While such transformations are generally accepted and even rewarded,
tenants and landlords undertaking the opposite project of informally
converting houses into multi-unit dwellings stand to face municipal
reprisal, and this in turn creates a grey market housing landscape that’s
BELOW: The Ulster House interiors juxtapose bright wood all but invisible to the public and political consciousness. In its own
with dramatic monochrome tile, making for a rigorously
small way, the ReHousing project is bringing such typologies and living
simple yet dynamic material palette.
arrangements into the civic spotlight — and into the language of civic
bureaucracy. “One of the really interesting things that I hope
can emerge from this whole conversation is if, for example, the
City could consider another amnesty (like it did 15 years ago),
and offer landlords the opportunity to come forward and work
together with them to safely and affordably convert illegal
rooming houses into multiplexes,” says Levitt. “ReHousing can
offer a tool kit to do so with a variety of options.”
Renovations, additions and new multiplexes can gradually
reintroduce necessary density into residential neighbourhoods,
whether for private profit or social good. “These typologies
are all basically ownership-agnostic,” Levitt says. Already,
ReHousing’s tool kit and Levitt and Goodman’s project have
elicited interest, including from private homeowners looking
for rental income and community land trusts searching for
affordable entry points into the property market. Given the
scale of the housing crisis, however, it’ll probably never add
up to enough on its own; even 5,000 Ulster Houses would only
deliver a maximum of 25,000 new homes. Yet these new build-
ings can change how we think about Toronto’s neighbourhoods,
their heritage and their future. There has always been another
city here. We just have to look carefully to see it.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 069

 WITH ITS EAST BAYFRONT
TRIO OF BUILDINGS, THE DANISH
FIRM EVOLVES THE SHAPE OF
RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL
DEVELOPMENT ON THE WATERFRONT

STORY BY
JOHN LORINC

PHOTOGRAPHY BY
RASMUS HJORTSHØJ

3XN
TAKES
(A CORNER OF)

TORONTO
PRETTY MUCH SINCE ITS INCEPTION, Waterfront Toronto (WT)
made its home on one of the upper floors of a 1990s po-mo tower
at the foot of Bay Street. Long and low-ceilinged, the unprepos-
sessing space was bisected by an enlargeable boardroom and had
all the charm of an accountant’s office. In January 2024, however,
the public agency — which has spent the past 24 years redevel-
oping Toronto’s brownfield waterfront on behalf of all three levels
of government — moved to a new headquarters: the T3 Bayside
building, situated on a strategic site in the midst of one of its first
large precincts to be built out, dubbed East Bayfront. Shorthand
for “Timber, Talent and Technology,” T3 is a 10-storey heavy
timber structure with double-volume spaces, open-concept
bays and an abundance of green features.

070 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

Aqualuna, a soon-to-
be-completed multi-
unit building on East
Bayfront, features
curvaceous balconies
and a canyon-like form.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 071

 T3 IS A GRID, AND YOU
CAN SEE IT FROM THE
EXTERIOR, AS WELL AS HOW
THESE SPACES LOOK AS
YOU ARE TRAVELLING UP.
THERE’S NO DOUBT THIS IS
A TIMBER BUILDING.

Christopher Glaisek, WT’s chief planning and design officer, says the staff were
immediately taken by the “biophilic” qualities of their new digs. “The warmth of the
wood is just undeniable,” he told me recently. “Everybody feels it. It humanizes the
space, in a way. It makes it feel more intimate, more personal. Everybody loves to
touch the columns.” Glaisek continues: “The quality of the light is actually enhanced
by bouncing off all this nice orangey-yellow wood.” Since the pandemic abated, WT
Waterfront Toronto’s offices are now located in the new staff come into the office three days a week.
T3 building (above), a tall mass timber structure with a T3, which cost about $100 million to build, brings about 24,000 square metres
zigzagging facade detail that makes the interior — including
of new workspace to what has evolved into a genuinely mixed-use area. Hines, the
the double-height tenant lounge (below) — fully visible.
property manager and master developer for Bayside, will erect a twin next door (also
by Eastern Construction). Founded in the 1950s, Hines is a real estate powerhouse,
with US$93 billion in assets under management spread across 31 countries. Its
T3-branded brick-and-beam-style buildings can be found in several major centres.
But this one is special. Hines selected 3XN, the Danish architectural studio,
to design it. The building is part of a trio, along with two striking residential
projects also conceived by 3XN (both by Hines’s residential developer partner,
Tridel). Together, they exemplify Waterfront Toronto’s latest ambitions, both in
terms of cutting-edge low-carbon architecture and ambitious urban design.
The mini-campus of sculptural mid-rise Scandinavian architecture surrounds an
intimate green space, all of it situated at a prime East Bayfront spot with front row
seats overlooking the Parliament Street slip, the Keating Channel and the newly
naturalized Lower Don River.

In the late 2010s, when Hines first selected 3XN to work on the Bayside
development in East Bayfront, the Copenhagen-based firm did not have a North
American presence; Toronto would be the first. Yet 3XN had already built a formidable
international reputation, with major office, residential and institutional projects in
cities like Berlin, London and Sydney. Founded in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1986, the firm
is known for its sculptural parametric designs, the environmental performance of its
projects, and close attention to ergonomic features and user experience.
When 3XN senior partner Audun Opdal and his team began considering the design
for the firm’s two residential buildings — Aquabella and Aqualuna, designed in 2015

072 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / TORONTO

In contrast to Aqualuna, Aquabella

features rectilinear massing.
The L-shaped structure houses 174
residential units, a daycare and
ground-floor retail.

and 2017 — they quickly encountered one of the preconditions of waterfront devel- behind it. In contrast to the geometrical elegance of Aquabella, Aqualuna’s exterior
opment in Toronto: Community amenities would have to be woven directly into the features undulating balconies and bands of coppery ceramic panels. Waterfront
fabric of this new neighbourhood. Toronto’s Glaisek points out that initially, wood cladding was considered for Aqualuna’s
Besides ground-floor retail, they also had to find a way to incorporate a 62-spot exterior, but Tridel was concerned about how it would age. “The ceramic panels are
daycare centre onto the inward-facing grade level of Aquabella — something that intended to evoke wood because they’re wood tones.”
isn’t especially common in Denmark. The articulated L-shaped structure is both ori- Both residential buildings, as well as another Tridel condo just to the west,
ented toward the lake, with stepped terraces and a bit of a Mediterranean vibe, and combine to create a wavy topography at the eastern end of the East Bayfront. The
also opens up onto a small park (a jewel of a space designed by SWA/Balsley with effect mirrors the work of another pioneering Danish firm, Bjarke Ingels Group, and
Scott Torrance Landscape Architect), which required 3XN’s team to consider the its King Toronto residences, which are still under construction on King Street West.
microclimates where young children and parents would gather. “We were quite inter- “Aquabella is very much this idea about terracing and stepping,” Glaisek says. “This
ested in bringing some of the learning from Copenhagen, but there was also this is an architectural form that we’re seeing more and more of...It creates all these
curiousness about these buildings in Toronto and how this kind of residential living amazing outdoor spaces for the residents, which hopefully animates the waterfront
can start to inform architecture.” too, because you can see people out on their terraces, enjoying the water.”
But as the 3XN team turned its attention to the second building, Aqualuna, Opdal They also serve, perhaps unintentionally, as a reminder of the very boxy and
noted on the master plan that the two residential complexes were to encircle another conspicuously corporate built form that has characterized much of the first tranche
building: an affordable housing project. “It didn’t receive any views or much sunlight of East Bayfront projects, including the Corus head office (by Toronto’s Diamond
at all because of its surrounding buildings,” he says. “They were all flat and it was Schmitt), the first of two George Brown College buildings (by Stantec and KPMB
tucked in.” (A much earlier version of WT’s precinct plan called for a school and com- Architects) and even the Aqualina condo (a fourth Tridel structure on the Bayside
munity centre on the block that Aqualuna now occupies.) site, by Miami-based Arquitectonica), which abuts Sherbourne Common. Opdal
The result, in part, is the remarkable configuration of the “valley” that distinguishes draws attention to another important, although subtle, point of comparison between
the skyline of Aqualuna (as Opdal describes it), which rises into a pair of peaks that Aqualuna and Toronto’s garden-variety condos, with their perfunctory balconies.
let views and sunlight in to the smaller affordable housing project that will be situated Besides the distinctive shape and spaciousness of Aqualuna’s balconies, 3XN relied

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 073

 Aquabella’s twin peaks and
stacked units allow for
terraces that step down
toward Lake Ontario.

on specially designed “thermal breaks” to minimize energy loss through the slab Based on that learning, she says, 3XN adapted its design for the IOC headquarters
floor — an endemic issue in newer Toronto high-rises that contributes greatly to poor by “supersizing” the landings on a similar broad central staircase. “You have to walk
energy performance. “When we started, there was little culture for actually dealing around [those landings] to go up the next flight of stairs,” Carruth explains. “They’re
with this in many of the residential buildings,” he says. “We spent time understanding not efficient stairs: They’re designed to be socially effective.”
how we can actually cast in insulation between the balconies and the internal slabs Observing the way people use a completed building, including through the use of
to make sure that there’s less thermal bridging between the two.” sensors, is an ideal approach to informing future designs, but this kind of research is
not always possible because so many projects are for private uses. When GXN does
In 2007, 3XN’s partners set up something of an internal think tank, which has have the opportunity, its researchers look at materiality, acoustics and “proxemics” —
since evolved into the independent consultancy GXN. Its interdisciplinary teams of the physical distance between people within a given space, which determines “not
engineers, architects, social scientists and more carry out both field and applied only where you feel comfortable or where you feel your space is being intruded upon,”
research on a wide range of design-related topics, among them innovative building Carruth explains, “but also how far away you are before you can recognize someone,
materials, circularity and behavioural design. The findings are then applied to 3XN’s or before you can communicate.”
projects — including those at East Bayfront. In the case of 3XN’s East Bayfront trio, Carruth points out that on a brownfield
Susan Carruth, a partner at GXN, tells the story of how “old-fashioned” field studies site, “architecture can be really helpful through what you might call ‘addressability,’ ”
informed the design of one of 3XN’s marquee buildings, the International Olympic citing the distinctiveness of the two condo projects. “You can describe what makes
Committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Prior to this commission, the it distinct and not just a generic block. You can bring something sensorial about it,
firm had designed a school with a broad circular staircase in the middle of the atrium, something memorable. You can talk about what’s happening at the ground floor, but
the idea being that students would congregate on the steps. “We’d hoped this was that will change over time. In that sense, architecture has a job to do, to communi-
connecting more than just floors, that it would be connecting people as well, as a cate something and to make itself memorable and addressable.”
social space,” she explains. When the school opened, Carruth’s researchers went The most obviously memorable feature of T3 specifically is that it is a fairly tall
back to see if their design intention had borne out. As it transpired, most of the timber building — at the time it was proposed, the 42-metre tall T3 was the highest
anticipated interaction was actually taking place on the staircase’s relatively small tall timber structure in Canada, but others have since surpassed it — with a distinc-
landings, which tended to get quite busy and crowded. tive stair-shaped opening that rises along the sides of its glass curtain wall. The entire

074 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / TORONTO

building has a certain transparency that showcases its cross-laminated timber beams
and posts at grade. As Opdal says, “It’s a grid, and you can see it from the exterior, as
well as how these kinds of spaces look when you’re travelling up. There’s no doubt
this is a timber building.” (Originally, 3XN’s design called for a few additional floors,
plus a podium for parking that could be converted into office space at some later
date. WT’s design review panel vetoed the above-grade parking, and the additional
cost of constructing below-grade parking meant removing the terraced upper levels.)
As happened with the staircase in the IOC headquarters, 3XN has applied its expe-
rience with T3 Bayside to other projects, Opdal says. “Interestingly enough, we just
completed another timber building here in Denmark. It’s a headquarters for two robot
companies. The learnings from T3 in Toronto, we brought with us back to Denmark.”

Glaisek points out that one of the noteworthy features of Aqualuna, which
is situated on the edge of the Parliament Street slip, is that it will both enjoy — and
enable, due to its distinctive shape — commanding views of what comes next for
Waterfront Toronto.
The 4.85-hectare precinct immediately to the east, known as Quayside, was
once intended to be the home base for Sidewalk Labs’ smart city experiment but
The 16-storey Aqualuna (above) houses 240 luxury condo has since been reimagined much more thoughtfully. It will include one of Canada’s
units, a large sixth-floor amenity terrace and a pool. The
trio of buildings — T3, Aqualuna and Aquabella — create an largest tall timber buildings, a 0.8-hectare forested green space, a rooftop urban
evocative ensemble in the East Bayfront district (below). farm and more than 800 affordable housing units, with Dream Unlimited and Great
Gulf Group as lead developers.
“I feel like there is this shift that happens in East Bayfront from somewhat more
‘safe’ design to more interesting designs as you move east,” Glaisek observes. “I’m
hoping that that’s going to take another leap forward when you go north and into
Quayside, with the promise of another whole evolution of architectural expression.”
But Paul Bedford, who chairs WT’s design review panel and wrote the waterfront
secondary plan in the early 2000s when he was the city’s chief planner, cautions that
much depends on the quality of the urban spaces that frame the increasingly daring
architecture created by firms like 3XN. From its inception, WT had a mandate to cre-
ate a public realm that would attract development, and that formula has been borne
out. He points to the new waterside esplanade that extends the entire length of the
East Bayfront as a vivid example of high-minded and inviting urban design. “The thing
that I think is most stunning, almost on the entire waterfront, is the promenade from
Sugar Beach all the way down,” he says. “When you look at the double row of trees
and walk that whole thing all the way down to Parliament Street, it’s pretty special.”
3XN’s two Tridel projects, which are pitched at the upper end of the condo market,
both benefit from and enhance this public space, which affords a view of the inner
harbour that simply didn’t exist until about 15 years ago. However, T3 and the other
new office and institutional buildings that line the northern edge of the East Bayfront
precinct, which is demarcated by a wide stretch of Queens Quay East, face a more
daunting task from an urban design perspective. As Bedford says, that roadway is
barren and windswept, and the long-planned light-rail transit (LRT) that will someday
traverse it remains unfunded. “We’ll know over time how Queens Quay evolves if we
ever get the LRT funded,” he says. That stretch “is better than it was, but it’s still kind
of a dog’s breakfast and doesn’t hang together as a unified street.”
While T3’s porous design does seek to address all four sides, including the build-
ing’s extensive frontage along Queens Quay, time will tell how its occupants will
engage with its immediate surroundings. As Susan Carruth observes of deindustrial-
ized precincts like East Bayfront, “These places were originally built not for people
but for machines, so bringing in a fine grain is a challenge. Probably more than any-
thing, it’s about turning it from a space into a place.”

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 075

 HACKING
How SOƞ–ƞIL is rewriting
NYC’s architectural source
THE
code to reframe multi-
family housing around the
human experience

BY ERIC
SYSTEM
MUTRIE

+ By this point in the digital age, we’re accustomed

to blaming “the algorithm” for the eerily prescient
ads served on social media, or the embarrassing movies
that streaming services automatically queue up based
on our past viewing history.
Brooklyn architecture firm SO – IL has a different
bone to pick with big data. In the eyes of founders
Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu, opaque number-crunching also dictates
what type of housing gets built, as spreadsheet-obsessed banks and
overly regulated planning departments favour safe investments that result
in a loop of bland, boxy sameness. Over the past few years, SO – IL has
IWAN BAAN, COURTESY OF SO – IL (450 WARREN)

been pushing back against this paint-by-numbers design while inventing

PHOTOS BY ANNA BAUER (PORTRAIT);

more creative (yet nevertheless lucrative) solutions. In the process, it is

imagining a different form of urban domesticity — one ruled less by tradi-
tional economic formulas and more by moments of genuine connection.

076 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 condo
a five-storey
At 450 WARREN, skipped
ooklyn, SO – IL
building in Br id or you’d
le-loaded corr
the dark, doub ho using
in multi-unit
typically find br idges
nding concrete
in favour of wi ur ard
ty
to a central co
that look out
esh netting.
through wire-m
IN NEW YORK CITY, ALL ROADS LEAD TO WALL STREET. “When we
started a studio here, we committed to being in a place where
markets build everything,” says Florian Idenburg, who co-founded SO – IL
alongside his life partner, Jing Liu, in 2008 after the two met while work-
ing at SANAA in Tokyo. Sure enough, SO – IL’s best-known NYC project to
date, the Amant arts campus in Brooklyn, exists at the perfect intersec-
tion of creativity and cash: The cluster of galleries and studio spaces was
funded by Lonti Ebers, a wealthy arts patron.
Unfortunately, convincing the real estate market to finance that same
level of architectural finesse is no easy sell. “Housing is kind of the corner-
stone of any good architecture practice, because it’s really the foundation
of our built environment,” says Liu. “So, from the beginning, we tried to do
multi-family housing. But we learned from our colleagues and peers in New
York that it is impossible.” The challenge, Idenburg explains, lies in a simple
fact: “Developers like Excel sheets, not plans.” Add building codes and
zoning restrictions into the mix and you end up with very limited outcomes.
“There is this super-tight algorithm that governs everything that people do
in New York City,” says Liu. “It’s no wonder that no architects do housing.”
Yet somehow, SO – IL has pulled it off, gradually reimagining select
corners of Brooklyn with new ideas about life in the city. In 2022, the
studio completed 450 Warren, an 18-unit condo building in Boerum Hill.
Three follow-up projects are underway: 144 Vanderbilt Avenue, 9 Chapel
Street and 450 Union Street — all (like 450 Warren) built by the boutique

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 077

 developer Tankhouse. “We try to prove that even within the realities of
the market, it might be possible to push back against some of the
mechanistic forces that go on to shape the way we live,” says Idenburg.
In that spirit, it might be easiest to define 450 Warren by contrast-
ing it with its neighbours. “There are two types of housing in Brooklyn:
brownstones and towers,” Idenburg continues. SO – IL and Tankhouse
envisioned a hybrid: A multi-unit infill that would move circulation from
internal hallways to the building exterior, giving each unit a pseudo–front
stoop. In place of balcony railings, this circulation is enclosed by mesh
netting. Unlike in other modern residential developments, there is no
physical doorman, and there are no luxury amenities, like dog spas. And,
rather than a flat, boxy shell, the building is a series of vertical, masonry-
clad volumes pushed and pulled into a tiered arrangement.
Look at it through a banker’s lens, and you might even see a row of
spreadsheet columns. That’s a coincidence — but there’s some truth to
the comparison, too. As Idenburg and Liu explain, if you want to bend the
algorithm to your will, you need to understand the underlying source
code. That way, you can plug in radical ideas while still getting the system
to return the desired financial value. In other words, even non-formulaic
architecture has its own formula.
Here is SO – IL’s:

A1 =SUM(2012+2016)

BUILD ON YOUR PAST SUCCESS

+ SO – IL’S ENTRY POINT into the NYC housing market was a 2012
proposal for a building on East 27th Street dubbed tiNY, which
would have packed 96 identical micro-units (each measuring 22 square
the overall goal was the same: compelling, affordable density.
In Las Americas Social Housing, which SO – IL completed in 2021,
the single-loaded corridor is again the main organizing element. The six-
metres) into a 17-storey tower. Idenburg and Liu designed it as part of a storey, 56-unit building is essentially a figure eight with two interior court-
New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development competi- yards to allow for cross breezes and foster a sense of community. “We
tion held during the Bloomberg administration, and they admit that its looked at ancient megaliths like the Beltany stone circle in Ireland, and
salient concept — solving affordability by making housing even smaller — how those circular structures became a place for gatherings,” says Liu.
was controversial. “There is something sacred about a courtyard — enveloping living around
Building on ideas initially explored in SO – IL’s 2010 concept for a empty space that’s undefined and that no one can claim for themselves.”
housing development in Greece, the proposal also served as a preview Viewed through a financial lens, the design still maximized the plot’s
of things to come, particularly in the way that it addressed the threshold buildable footprint and kept construction costs low. Local workers built
between indoor and outdoor space. “Lately, the more privatized interior the facade from 17-kilogram pleated concrete blocks laid into staggered
has been pushing out in its incessant desire to grow, and absorbing all this fins, avoiding the need for off-site fabrication and expensive construc-
formerly communal space,” Liu says. “This also manifests in how building tion equipment like cranes, all while keeping the project’s expenditure
envelopes get designed: They become just this thin line between the within Léon’s labour market.
city and inside.” SO – IL’s response, articulated in tiNY and in the projects
that have followed it, has been to reintroduce a sense of depth, and to
do away with dark inner hallways in favour of open circulation that feels
more akin to a typical residential street. Units in tiNY would have sat in
A 2012 proposal,
the building’s core, sandwiched between balconies on one end and a tiNY arranged
single open circulation corridor on the other.
PHOTOS BY IWAN BAAN, COURTESY OF SO – IL

units between
balconies (at th
The project caught the attention of Mexico’s Imuvi Development, a e
front) and an op
municipal agency that approached SO – IL in 2016 with an assignment. en
corridor (at the
In Léon, about a five-hour drive northwest of Mexico City, urban sprawl back) to allow fo
r
cross-ventilatio
has meant that utility and transportation networks must be expanded n.
ever outward. Now, Imuvi is exploring alternative models for bringing
people back to the core through affordable housing. All this to say, while
the context of Léon bore little resemblance to tiNY’s site in New York,

078 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / NEW YORK & LÉON

B2 =CONCAT(SEB+SAM) Now, when SO – IL proposes an outside-the-box

idea — like the pink facade at 144 Vanderbilt —
PARTNER WITH THE Mendez and Alison-Mayne don’t skip a beat.
“They appreciate the value of architecture,”
RIGHT DEVELOPER says Idenburg. “Most brokers will say that
the market won’t absorb something, but their
models only know what they already know,”

+ ONE ASPECT OF WORKING in Mexico

that SO – IL found particularly refreshing
was the number of trained architects employed
Liu continues. “We owe it to be investiga-
tive — what are the varieties? There are tight
constraints, but there is still looseness, too.”
in development and at the city level. “To really Mendez and Alison-Mayne also have a per-
innovate, experiment and deliver something dif- sonal investment in Fort Greene and Gowanus,
ferent, you need architectural thinking at every the neighbourhoods in which they are building.
scale,” says Liu. “Otherwise, it becomes about Both SO – IL and Tankhouse’s partners live
convincing someone who has no clue how this within a short walk of the developments that
works to value it.” they have partnered on (Mendez actually lives
Back in Brooklyn, they’ve found this same dis- in one of 450 Warren’s units), giving them
cernment in Tankhouse. The development com- deeper insight into the areas — and holding
pany is run by two partners who both come by them accountable for anything they introduce
their understanding of design honestly: Sebastian there. For instance, while Idenburg says it’s
Mendez, an architect who formerly worked at too early to say who will occupy the commer-
Foster + Partners, and Sam Alison-Mayne, the son cial units at 144 Vanderbilt, he promises that
of Morphosis founder Thom Mayne. Idenburg Tankhouse isn’t leasing them to a bank. “It’s
and Liu connected with the duo through previous much more important to get the right person
employees and the quartet immediately clicked. than to make an extra buck,” he says.

, LAS AMERICAS
In Léon, Mexico
its in a figure
arranged 56 un en C3 =IF(GFP>MIN, “FIT”)
n around two op
eight formatio wing
ain allo
courtyards, ag
for cross-ve ntilation while
g more social
RETHINK HOW SPACE GETS ALLOCATED
also encouragin s.
tween resident
interaction be d
ed the pleate
SO – IL design
’s 17-kilogram
concrete facade
blocks to be ea
installed by lo
sily carried an
cal workers.
d
+ TANKHOUSE AND SO – IL’S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT has been
finding ways to move beyond the default interpretation of zoning
bylaws, which limit how much of a lot can be used for actual built space.
“The requirements in New York City dictate that about 30 to 40 per cent
— depending on what district you’re building in — remains open space,”
says Liu. In New York City projects, this typically results in a forgotten
zone at the back of a building. But in SO – IL’s rethink at 450 Warren and
its successors (which follow the same logic as Las Americas Social
Housing in Léon, Mexico), the “unbuilt” portion instead becomes a series
of outdoor hubs surrounded by open circulation — in the case of 450
Warren, a central courtyard and two communal side yards. “The sellable,
buildable square footage is already maximized,” explains Liu. “It’s not like
we’re taking away from that square footage to make exterior corridors.
But they add value back to the development by becoming an important
space for the community.” In another clever use of outdoor space,
a small vestibule area in front of each unit creates room for strollers,
umbrellas, benches or shoes.
At least in theory, this should work — and there are no shortage of
precedents around the world to prove it. But put into practice in New
York, the idea broke the algorithm. Financial institutions evaluating
potential investments seek to minimize gross floor area (the amount of
area they have to build) and maximize net floor area (the amount of area
they can sell). Sure enough, when Alison-Mayne came back from the
bank, he had bad news: Tankhouse’s loan application was denied. “The

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 079

 software said the ratios were off — the project had too much exterior D4 =SUBSTITUTE(“DOG-SPA”, “COURTYARD”)
facade for the floor area. Based on the way that projects are financed
in NYC, it couldn’t exist,” explains Idenburg. With the bank unwilling to
ESTABLISH FRESH PRIORITIES
budge, Mendez instead sourced cash from his personal network, hoping
to develop a proven track record that can win the bank over when it
comes to future projects. “There are qualities that we think people value.
But now we need to prove it within the market,” Idenburg says. Sure
enough, 450 Warren sold out and turned a profit.
+ SO – IL BALANCES THE MORE EXPENSIVE ASPECTS of its designs
with two main cost-saving strategies. The first is to approach ameni-
ties from a different point of view. “There’s a tower around the corner from
At times, SO – IL’s inventive approach has also befuddled building our building that has a dog spa and a bike repair shop,” says Idenburg.
inspectors. “We read the code very, very carefully,” says Idenburg. “Another one has an Uber drop-off so that you never actually have to leave
“We know where there’s room for interpretation.” The safety netting the building — almost like you’re on a cruise ship. But it’s better if that life
that encloses the sinuous exterior walkways in 450 Warren is a case happens in the streets — at the bike shop or dog spa around the corner
in point. “We were able to forgo handrails just by using this airy netting. that is part of a larger community.” To Idenburg, a sense of connection is
The design made it past somebody’s desk, but when the inspector the best amenity he can offer. “What’s exciting to us is that you suddenly
came and we walked him through it, he was flabbergasted. He said, become aware of everybody else in your building, and you realize that
‘In some ways, I hate it, but I have to approve it.’ ” On the other hand, maybe someone upstairs has kids the same age as yours,” he says. Along
the project has been raised up as a positive example, too. “Some with its communal courtyards, 144 Vanderbilt makes room for a fitness
of the units are actually being used in tests by New York City Housing centre, children’s playroom and co-working lounge.
Authority to measure how much energy is required to ventilate them SO – IL’s second savvy economic move is to work with rookie contrac-
in the summer,” Idenburg says. Because each unit has at least two tors. “The reality is that the projects go to the lowest bidder,” Idenburg
(and as many as four) orientations, they allow for more comfortable says. “It means that we have to do a lot of work during construction, but
airflow; similarly, their high thermal mass helps to keep them relatively it’s the only way that we can build. Our metal guy ran a pizza shop during
cool in the summer. the day. That’s the nice thing about Brooklyn. That’s part of the hustle.”

E5 CMD-1>FILL

EMBRACE COLOUR

+ THE CASCADING FORM and fluted pink

concrete facade of 144 Vanderbilt (which
is on track to be completed early this year) are
further evidence of SO – IL’s ability to balance
creative and practical considerations. The
building’s shape is a direct response to zoning
restrictions, which allow for eight storeys on
the Myrtle Avenue side but only four on
Vanderbilt Avenue — yet its stacked, twisting
massing also helps distinguish it from other
housing developments that skew more conven-
tionally boxy. “It’s replacing an older gas station,
so we were thinking about how the building
should express itself as a sculpture,” says Liu.
Adding pigment to precast cladding became a
way to amplify its landmark status. “But we also
PHOTO BY IWAN BAAN (144 VANDERBILT AVE); SO – IL (PORTRAIT)

wanted to have something that is not foreign,”

Idenburg adds. Pink, which echoes the red
brick of nearby buildings, became the perfect
hue. “Red is also easier to achieve,” Idenburg
continues, “compared to blue or green — which
need an incredible amount of dye.”

Made from flut

ed precast conc
a pink land rete, 144 VAND
mark to Brookl ERBILT brings
again configur yn’s Fort Gree
ed around open ne. Units are
, single-loade
d corridors.

080 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 HOUSES / NEW YORK & LÉON

Tankhouse, there’s not a single repeating unit, which means you have
to draw three times as much, and we need to be on site more to get the
quality right,” says Liu. “We feel like if you have a variety of different unit
types, it produces a much more diverse, maybe complex community,”
Idenburg adds. “If we made a double-loaded corridor in a box, we’d be
done.” Liu echoes the sentiment. “We know how to make a profitable
business that is careless — but what does that do to us? As architects, we
chose this profession to make the world better,” she says. She points to an
art museum project for Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts,
as a dream scenario. “Every project should be like that one, because
they truly value architecture,” adds Idenburg. “But it’s not about making a
al housing profit. The university realizes that it is important for them to build a build-
ing on addition
Along with work – IL’s ing that lasts for a hundred years, so there’s a true investment in space.”
r Tankhouse, SO
developments fo ts for
signing projec Ultimately, while Idenburg and Liu may call New York home, they
team is busy de s Library
e and Detroit’
Williams Colleg recognize that the city’s ultra-high cost of living is part of the problem.
ve.
Street Collecti The projects they have built with Tankhouse so far have sold at market
rate; units at 144 Vanderbilt start at $1.95 million. (The team does have
an affordable housing project forthcoming in Gowanus.) What does
it mean for SO – IL’s vision of a diverse, dynamic neighbourhood if most
of its employees can’t afford to live there? Perhaps Detroit poses
a better opportunity. SO – IL is currently working with Anthony and JJ
Curis of Library Street Collective on a master plan for an arts campus
Everyone tells us,‘That’s a nice at the Stanton Yards marina. “It’s a place where young people can start

idea, but you have to prove it families, because they can actually afford a house. And there’s a lot
of creativity and space. It’s really the opposite of New York, in that you
with the numbers.’ We’re very can test new models,” says Idenburg. “Anthony Curis has asked us,
‘Why don’t you have an office here?’ It would allow us to do work for
keen on making sure that we have other places from Detroit. It’s only an hour flight.”
The Stanton Yards site was also the subject of their studio at the
all the data so that people can University of Toronto this past fall; as the Daniels Faculty’s 2024–2025
Frank Gehry International Visiting Chairs, the architects taught a class
see how it makes sense. dubbed “Big Little Village” that tasked students with envisioning a co-op
community where ownership is renewed on a 12-year cycle. The class
description reads: “We imagine such a community will inherit and be
indebted to a post-capital site, transforming it slowly over time without

OF COURSE, NOT EVERY PROBLEM has a tidy solution. Idenburg

and Liu learned that the hard way back in November 2022,
when they posted two job openings (for a designer with two to five years
the infusion of external capital. It will care about its neighbours as much
as itself, as by lifting everyone else around you, you also lift yourself.” In
conversation, Idenburg contrasts that line of thinking with Wall Street’s
of experience and a project architect with five to eight) on Instagram. prevailing financial logic. “From a market point of view, seven years is the
The pay specified for the positions was US$55,000 and US$65,000, cycle for a building: You want to get your money out in seven years, and
respectively — amounts that commenters found to be outrageously low. after that, the building has no value anymore on paper. But what is the
In the eyes of architecture meme accounts that advocate for healthier potential of a brick in that place — how much life does it have? It’s about
studio culture, SO – IL’s management became public enemy number one. shifting the conversation from just making new investments green to
In response, Idenburg and Liu brought in an outside team of financial extending the lifespan of materials.”
consultants and recalibrated their payment structure, removing the In development, you can never escape the numbers — yet design-
profit-sharing that they had originally extended to associates (which ing around the numbers alone ignores more important considerations.
they say would have bolstered the salaries advertised in their original SO – IL’s process may be driven by hard data (indeed, its new book,
post) in favour of higher base salaries. “None of our staff left. We raised In Depth: Urban Domesticities Today, includes several pages of spread-
the benefits in the office quite a bit, and we had a very long set of sheets), but this is more of a practical adaptation than a true creative
discussions,” Liu says. Yet they admit they will probably never be able strategy. “Everyone tells us, ‘That’s a nice idea, but you have to prove it
to compete with the pay offered by larger, more corporate firms. “I think with the numbers.’ We’re very keen on making sure that we have all the
the gist of that conversation was that we need to make more profit,” data so that people can see how it makes sense: the unit count, the con-
says Liu. “But as a smaller firm, you’re inevitably doing smaller-scale struction cost, the floor area ratio, the density. The algorithm is still guiding
projects that bigger firms didn’t want because they’re not profitable. So everything when someone starts thinking about a project,” says Idenburg.
how do you break out of that? Our staff tell us that people choose to But to him and Liu, all these numbers must still add up to a happy life.
work here because of the level of integrity and dignity we get from it. “We need to think about what human desire is: We want to connect with
How do you balance that with the reality of living in New York City?” each other. We want to leave traces of ourselves, and we want to create
An increase in commercial residential work could be seen as a memories. So how do we make that happen, spatially and materially?”
strategy — but it isn’t that simple. “Even in the buildings we make with asks Liu. Time to fire up Excel.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 081

Spec Sheet _Products

Workspace
SELECTIONS _Kendra Jackson

Lounge Collections
1
1 BOB Split
A new element for the popular BOB series by
Thomas Bernstrand and Stefan Borselius, BOB Split
is a wedge-shaped module that allows the lounge
system to meander in two directions at once.
Materials Wood, moulded polyurethane foam
Dimensions 40 H × 71 W × 151 D
Manufacturer Blå Station, blastation.com 2 3

2 Steeve Lou
With special cushioning foam and a seat depth
informed by ergonomics, the Steeve Lou two- and
three-seater sofas by Jean-Marie Massaud make
comfortable spots for getting work done; end tables
can be added to increase functionality.
Materials Steel, wood, aluminum, foam
Dimensions 81.5 H × 167.9 or 242.5 W × 89.8 D
Manufacturer Arper, arper.com

3 Rise Platform Lounge

An addition to the Rise modular series, Rise Platform
Lounge lifts the upholstered volumes off the ground
to create tiered seating arrangements. Power outlets
can be undermounted anywhere along the platform.
Materials FSC plywood, foam, laminate
Dimensions Multiple
Manufacturer Allsteel, allsteeloffice.com

4 Friends
Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance and Luca Nichetto
4
collaborated on Friends, a series of modules in
organic and geometric shapes that can be config-
ured in multiple ways. Optional arm rests come in
upholstered, wood or phenolic; contrasting textiles
can be selected for the back cushion, seat and welt.
Materials Metal, wood, foam
Dimensions Multiple
Manufacturer Bernhardt Design,
bernhardtdesign.com

082 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 2

Guest Chairs
1 Gala Executive
Gala Executive by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga utilizes
foams of varying densities for an ultra-comfortable
and supportive seat. It’s available in two heights,
two backrest variations (fully upholstered or with
a walnut plywood exterior) and four- or five-wheel
swivel bases.
Materials Aluminum, foam, plywood
Dimensions Multiple
Manufacturer Andreu World, andreuworld.com
1

2 Dais
Designed by Form Us With Love using a minimal
amount of material, Dais maximizes comfort with a
thick padded seat and a swooping bent plywood
back, which seamlessly morphs into generous arm-
rests that form a surface for a notebook or laptop.
Materials Ash, foam
Dimensions 77.4 H × 95.2 W × 70.4 D
Manufacturer Keilhauer, keilhauer.com

3 Allora Guest
A single-shell seat, Allora Guest by SF+M can be
3 configured with a variety of optional elements: an
upholstered seat pad, adjustable armrests, tablet
arms, book baskets and ganging bars or linking
caps; some versions can be stacked up to 15 high.
Materials Polypropylene, metal
Dimensions 77.7 H × 57.4 or 69.5 W × 48.2 D
Manufacturer Allseating, allseating.com

4 Jotta
For the Jotta chair, Estudi Manel Molina was inspired
by the natural beauty of elements found in the
forest — specifically, the graceful arch of the arm
references pine boughs. Multiple finishes are offered
for the aluminum arms and four- or five-star base.
Materials Metal, aluminum, plastic, foam
4 Dimensions 99 to 114.3 H × 60.9 W × 60.9 D
Manufacturer Studio TK, studiotk.com

ALL DIMENSIONS PROVIDED ARE IN

CENTIMETRES UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 083
Spec Sheet _Products

Privacy
1
1 Calm
The straight and curved freestanding screens that
make up Calm by Union Design can be stand-alone
or connected together with joining brackets to
create settings that range from single-person work
zones to multi-person collaboration areas.
Materials Recycled PET felt, steel
Dimensions 152.4 H × 91.4 W × 2.4 D (straight);
152.4 H × 54.1 W × 2.4 D (curved, 87.6 radius)
Manufacturer KFI Studios, kfistudios.com

2 Tulipan
A “micro–quiet space” by London-based design 2
studio Industrial Facility, Tulipan is entered through
a rotating wall with a built-in seat. Equipped with a
small table, the pocket of privacy allows for undis-
turbed work when closed; the open top maintains a
muted connection to the wider environment.
Materials Steel, plywood, hard and soft foam
Dimensions 137.6 H × 137.4 W × 80.8 D
Manufacturer +Halle, plushalle.com

3 Bay Work Pod

Providing a short-term focus space, Bay Work Pod
blocks distractions with its corrugated fabric exterior
3
and optional clear or frosted glass door. Lighting
is optimized for virtual calls, while a skylight allows
more illumination to enter. Two sizes are available, the
larger spacious enough for a wheelchair.
Materials PET, textiles, laminate, glass
Dimensions 210.8 H × 142.2 or 198.1 W × 127 D
Manufacturer Herman Miller, hermanmiller.com

4 WOD 4
Designed by Italian architect Raffaella Mangiarotti
with a three-pocket cylindrical hinge and wooden
dowel interlocking mechanism, the WOD panel
can move from straight to curved and back again
with ease. Made from a single material (wood or
felt) without screws or glue, the panels are easily
recycled at the end of their life.
Materials Wood or felt, hide (hinges)
Dimensions 180 H × 37 W per panel; custom
sizing available
Manufacturer Lapalma, lapalma.it

084 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 _Workspace

Conference Tables
1 DualScape
Designed by Jonathan Prestwich, the DualScape
table has a slim profile that belies its robust con-
struction and stability. Offered in indoor and outdoor
versions, the tables are available in square and
rectangular shapes, each in a variety of sizes. 2
Materials Aluminum, multiple surfaces
Dimensions Multiple
Manufacturer Davis Furniture, davisfurniture.com

2 Moss
Toronto designer and artist Deborah Moss marries
organic details and industrial materials with strong
architectural forms in the Moss collection of confer-
ence tables. Multiple tabletop formats and edge
profiles are available to pair with the sculptural base.
Materials Veneer, plastic laminates, glass, stone
Dimensions Multiple
Manufacturer Nienkämper, nienkamper.com

3 Argo Libro Metal

A versatile table for meetings, conference rooms and
co-working and training spaces, Argo Libro Metal
has a mechanical anti-shock folding system that can
be operated by a single person. Made from ultra-
thin steel (offered in a rainbow of powder-coated
finishes), the table is 100 per cent recyclable.
Materials Metal
Dimensions Multiple
Manufacturer Mara, marasrl.it
4
4 Cosmos
3
A collaboration with the Norman Foster Foundation,
the modular Cosmos table series is built around a
flexible skeletal structure that can expand to accom-
modate a large number of surface sizes.
Materials Recyclable aluminum, glass
_> MORE ONLINE
Find additional office solutions at
Dimensions Multiple
azuremagazine.com/spec-sheets
Manufacturer Tecno, tecnospa.com

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 085

Spec Sheet _Materials

Acoustic Solutions
SELECTIONS _Eric Mutrie

Wall
1 Hush Clad
2 3form Elements can print these 244-by-122-centimetre
panels, which are made from 50 per cent post-
consumer recycled PET, with custom or pre-existing
designs, including the leaf pattern shown. Optional
bevel cuts add an extra sense of depth by revealing the
base colour of an underlying layer.

2 Bloom
Take time to stop and smell the flowers with Slalom’s
3
panels, offered in sizes measuring 59.5 by 59.5 or 280
by 136 centimetres. Manufactured from a blend of flax
and viscose, each one features a unique arrange-
ment of flower petals treated at high temperatures to
remove their allergens.

3 Emboss
Zintra revives craft traditions with a collection of 18 new
designs. Stitch (shown) frames a grid of embossed
squares with rows of stitching and features a noise
reduction coefficient (NRC) of 0.35. Made from 100 per
cent recyclable materials, the 274-by-112-centimetre
panels are certified by Declare, Greenguard and HPD.

4 Barcelona
Digital design tools allow Turf to calibrate its
4 5
stone-look finishes to stretch across multiple 244-by-
112-centimetre panels with seamless bookmatching
and minimal pattern repetition. Installed using Z-clips,
the collection features an NRC of 0.85. A vertical
panel, Monolith, is also available.

5 Ecoustic Bio
Crafted from 100 per cent bio-based materials
derived from hemp, flax and agricultural by-products,
Unika Vaev’s Ecoustic Bio tiles are offered in two
shapes: a flat design, and a curved elliptical one that
can be arranged in a variety of ways to create sculptural
feature walls. Both styles achieve an NRC of 0.85.

086 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 1

Ceiling

1 GiosFelt Clouds
Akouo Acoustics sees peace and quiet in your next 2
project’s forecast. Three sizes of ceiling clouds — each
measuring 12 millimetres thick — are offered in six
shapes, including the cumulus-like quatrefoil design
featured. NRC ratings range from 0.45 to 0.85.

2 Crest
Acoufelt modelled its sculptural ceiling elements after
billowing ocean waves, developing a rounded shape
that is both sound-absorbing and visually calming.
Choose colours from the manufacturer’s Premier and
WoodGrain collections, with customizable sizing.

3 Gradi
MPS Acoustics brings three-dimensional depth and
noise-cancelling power to standard 2.4-centimetre 3

T-grid ceiling systems. Square tiles measure 60.9 by

60.9 centimetres, with depths ranging from five to 20.3 4
centimetres. Depending on the final configuration,
acoustic absorption can reach an NRC of up to 1.30.

5
4 Slot Diagonal
FACT Design’s zigzagging panels slice across ceilings
with all the visual thrill (and, thanks to optional inte-
grated lighting, even some of the glow) of lightning,
yet none of the noise of thunder. Tiles slot into 1.4- or
2.4-centimetre T-grids, allowing for fully concealed
installs in the latter.

5 Stratawood 2x2
Fräsch’s signature ceiling panels combine the warmth
of linear wood slats with the acoustic performance
of PET felt. A recent expansion to the line introduced
a new 60-by-60-centimetre size that fits into common
_> MORE ONLINE
Find other wall + ceiling options at
T-grid ceilings. Offered with a variety of veneers,
azuremagazine.com/spec-sheets
Stratawood 2x2 boasts an NRC rating of 0.80.

JAN/FEB 2025_ _ 087

Media Shelf

100 Women: Architects in Practice

Described as a “sample, and not an exhaustive survey”
of the world’s female architects, this volume showcases
the built works for which these women are best known,
as well as their social impact on a male-dominated
field. The book is organized geographically, seeking
to bring light to regions long overlooked in the
Eurocentric architectural canon. “While most
of us can name more household products
than we can women architects, this book
also features women from countries and
regions where most of us can’t name
a male architect, either,” the authors
(Harriet Harriss, Naomi House, Monika
Parrinder and Tom Ravenscroft)
write in their preface. Alongside
profiles on established talents like Mariam
Issoufou Kamara, Tatiana Bilbao and Liz Diller (and
a foreword by Alison Brooks), the book spotlights lesser-

Persons known practitioners like Kenyan architect Tatu Gatere,

whose social enterprise company Buildher helps local
young women gain accredited construction skills — and,

of Interest
THREE TITLES EXPLORE THE
by extension, agency in shaping the future of their cities.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF KEY PLAYERS

IN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
BY _Sydney Shilling

The Land Is Full:

Nelson Byrd
Woltz Landscape Calatrava:
Architects Complete Works
“As landscape architects,
1979–Today
when we first approach any The sculptural buildings of
site, it is with a simple act of world-renowned Spanish
grace: We ask its story and architect Santiago Calatrava
then begin to find the imprints can be described as larger
left by the forces that have than life. The size of this
shaped it over time,” writes monograph (which measures 30.7 by 39.1 centimetres and weighs a whopping
Thomas Woltz in his introduc- 7.4 kilograms) is an appropriate indicator of this quality, but also of the breadth
tory essay to this monograph. of his portfolio. The introduction by author Philip Jodidio gives an overview of
Indeed, the work of Nelson Byrd Woltz, the practice of which he is the senior Calatrava’s four-decade career and varied design influences, plus a short Q and A
principal and owner, seeks to counter the concept of land as a tabula rasa with the architect about recent works such as the pavilions of the United Arab
or generic green space. This philosophy is ever-present in the firm’s body of Emirates and Qatar at Expo 2020 Dubai and a monumental sculpture in Chicago.
work — as demonstrated through project case studies throughout this book, from Full-bleed photography and original watercolour sketches bring the projects to
the Brooklyn Naval Cemetery to Edmonton’s Aga Khan Garden — which embraces life, highlighting their organic forms and illustrating the blend of art and technol-
a research-based approach that considers both ecology and culture to create a ogy that defines his oeuvre. A limited-run art edition — signed by the architect
profound sense of place. himself — includes two lithographs by Calatrava and a custom box.

088 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 Reshaping
Communities
May 14-16, 2025 Registration opens
Ottawa, ON in March

Learning | Experiencing | Connecting | Celebrating

Visit oaa.on.ca/conference for more.

@oaarchitects Ontario Association of Architects @oaarchitects

Final Thought

PUB TRIVIA:
ARTHUR ERICKSON EDITION

1. What are some markers of Erickson’s signature style?

A An integration of architecture and nature
B “Flying beams” that extend out from a building’s walls
C Waterfalls and cascading forms
D All the above (Yes, we’re starting off with an easy one.)

2. Erickson was the first Canadian architect to have

Arthurian
received which accolade?
A The Pritzker Prize
B An Academy Award for Best Production Design
C The AIA Gold Medal

Legend D An AZURE AZ Award

3. How old was Erickson when his paintings were featured

in a gallery show at the Vancouver Art Gallery?
A 6
WHAT ELSE COULD BE LEFT B 16
TO SAY ABOUT ARTHUR ERICKSON? C 19
SURPRISINGLY, QUITE A LOT D 21

STORY _Eric Mutrie 4. What inspired Erickson to become an architect rather

than pursue his original plan for a career in diplomacy?
A A Fortune magazine story about Frank Lloyd Wright
B A trip to the 1939 New York World’s Fair
Last year would have been the 100th birthday of one of Canada’s best-known starchitects,
C The Fountainhead
who passed away in 2009. To mark this centennial, a wave of commemorations (many of them D Metropolis
supported by the Arthur Erickson Foundation) encouraged fresh reassessment of a seemingly
5. Who played a cinematic stand-in for Erickson in the
familiar figure. Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology kicked things off in June when it reopened
1994 film Intersection?
after an 18-month closure. Updated seismic codes had required the Great Hall — Erickson’s A Donald Sutherland
thoughtful adaptation of the post-and-beam architecture practised by coastal First Nations
B Michael Douglas
people — to be completely demolished and rebuilt to new standards. Architect Nick Milkovich, a
C Richard Gere
disciple of Erickson’s, executed a remarkably faithful update, installing base isolators beneath the D Harrison Ford
main floor slab while staying true to his former boss’s original vision.
ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC (MUSEUM); FRED SCHIFFER (PORTRAIT)
COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF

6. Pierre Trudeau picked Erickson to design the Canadian

In the months that followed, Erickson’s legacy underwent a similarly bold reconstruction.
Embassy in DC. Which firm had his jury selected instead?
Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines, a documentary by Ryan Mah and Danny Berish, A Zeidler Roberts Partnership
headlines the 2024–2025 edition of the Architecture and Design Film Festival, which closes in
B Moriyama & Teshima
Chicago in February. A rare exploration of Erickson’s gay identity, the film highlights his personal
C Smith Carter
and professional relationship with interior designer Francisco Kripacz; photos of lavish parties and D Moshe Safdie
DOLORE

sunny Fire Island getaways are juxtaposed with tales of working through the AIDS epidemic and a
ELKAN,

discussion of Erickson’s bankruptcy (evidently, the flowers for all those parties didn’t come cheap).
IPSUM

Answers: 1: D | 2: C | 3: B | 4: A | 5: C | 6: A
MICHAEL

Further Erickson insights came during historian Trevor Boddy’s Eras-esque tour of public lectures
LOREM

HOW MANY ANSWERS DID YOU GET CORRECT?

last fall, and from recent exhibitions at the West Vancouver Art Museum and Canadian Centre for 1: You’ve been to a concert at Roy Thomson Hall, but that’s about it.
BYBY

2–3: The selection committee is still out on your qualifications.

PHOTOS

Architecture, which delved into the designer’s domestic life and travel photography, respectively.
PHOTO

4–5: Good, but not quite AIA Gold Medal–worthy.

All of which raises the question: Just how well do you know Arthur Erickson? All 6: You’re pretty EPPICH.

090 _ _JAN/FEB 2025

 Meaningful Design to Inspire People’s Lives

LE CHIC BOHÈME COLLECTION

BAR - JARDIN EMERALD

Find inspiration at cosentino.com

ô @CosentinoCanada