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CONTENTS 

MAR ⁄ APR 2016 

FEATURES 

→ 

ICONIC 

BUILDINGS 

Welcome to a new age of extraordinary landmarks 

COMMUNAL SPACE 

50 

74 Tiny Landmarks Five smart 

low-budget projects that reframe 

what good public space can be 

INTERIORS 

Harbin Opera House The unstoppable Ma Yansong’s magnum opus lands in northern China. By Michael Webb 

58 68 

Guildford Pool An aquatic centre in Surrey, B.C., 

bathes in light and ingenuity. By Adele Weder 

Philip J. Currie Museum A unique dinosaur museum rises 

up on a site rich in Mesozoic fossils. By Omar Mouallem 

62 

80 Re:Grouping Teknion’s new 

show room embodies the flexible 

workspace trend with panache 

FOCUS: GLASS 

Bahá’í Temple Siamak Hariri’s poetic temple in Chile is a legacy built to last 400 years. By Noah Richler 

48 Water Work Aquatic-inspired 

patterns that add sublime effects to 

translucent surfaces 

MAR ⁄ APR 2016 21

CONTENTS 


DEPARTMENTS 

SHOW REPORT 

34 of-the-art 

Music Factory How Bureau V transformed 

an old sawdust mill in Brooklyn into a stateconcert 

hall 

82 

IIDEXCanada What we saw and loved at 

Toronto’s top design and architecture show. 

By Erin Donnelly 

FIELD TRIP 

IDENTIKIT 

38 Just Built Dan Roosegaarde’s smog-free 

tower tackles air pollution head on 

40 Fresh Take How will driverless cars shape 

our cities? We ask the experts 

36 Trending Tabletop accessories in chunky 

marble and blocky brass 

44 Et Cetera Porcelain 

Arctic beasts; modular 

wool tiles; a London 

time capsule; and more 

ALSO 

84 High Art A mountain retreat outside Tel Aviv 

revives a brutalist gem with vibrant art 

DESIGN FILE 

46 Kristen Five Malvær The Oslo designer on 

her fearless love of colour and organic forms 

MATERIAL WORLD 

30 Contributors 

42 Calendar CooperHewitt Design Triennial; 

Coverings in Chicago; Milan Design Week 

94 Media Shelf Books, films and websites: 

what we’re reading, watching and 

downloading 

96 Boldface Movers, shakers, winners, 

do-gooders, and milestones 

97 Advertiser Index 

98 Trailer The flip side of unbuilt architecture 

88 Come Together The latest conferencing 

furniture merges high tech with high style 

92 Cladding Made Cool Metal, concrete, 

fibre and wood that add the wow factor 

ON OUR COVER 

Since China’s newest opera 

house opened in October 2015, 

photog raphers from around 

the globe have descended on 

Harbin to shoot it. Here, 

renowned lensman Adam Mørk 

captures the beauty and drama 

of its faceted glass rooftop. 

22 MAR ⁄ APR 2016

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CONTENTS 


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NEWSLETTER 

Foil method At the Centre for Innovation and Design in Grand-Hornu, Belgium, AL(L): Projects in 

Aluminum by Michael Young presents experimental and iconic work using the malleable metal. Young’s 

pieces are featured alongside those of his peers, including Tokujin Yoshioka’s Memory chair (above). 

MILAN DISPATCHES 

In April, we’ll present on-the-ground 

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in Milan, where Design Week (including 

Salone del Mobile and the many 

exciting off-site events) will be in 

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24 MAR ⁄ APR 2016 AZUREMAGAZINE.COM

DES I G N PO RTRAIT. 

Michel Club, seat system designed by Antonio Citterio. www.bebitalia.com 

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VOL. 32 – NO. 246 MAR ⁄ APR 2016 

AZUREMAGAZINE.COM 

Editorial Director 

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Editor 

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Creative Director 

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Managing Editor 

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Contributing Editors 

Andrew Braithwaite, Tim McKeough, Elizabeth Pagliacolo, 

Rachel Pulfer, David Theodore, Adele Weder 

Contributors 

Tom Arban, Floto+Warner Studio, Ulysse Lemerise, 

Jason Logan, Paige Magarrey, Omar Mouallem, Ema Peter, 

Carolyn Pioro, Corinna Reeves, Noah Richler, Peter A. 

Sellar, David Sokol, Jessica Vrazilek, Michael Webb, 

Paul Weeks 

Associate Art Director 

Vicky Lee 

Junior Designer 

Taylor Kristan 

Web Editor 

Elizabeth Pagliacolo 

Web Designer 

Kari Silver 

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PLOUM sofa by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec 

ligne-roset-usa.com

CONTRIBUTORS 

→ WE ASKED: WHAT CAN 

DESIGNERS DO TO FOSTER A 

SENSE OF COMMUNITY? 

Hive BLOCK ©2012 modularArts, Inc. 

Zephyr BLOCK ©2012 modularArts, Inc. 

“Ask people where they like to 

hang out and why. And take notes.” 

For her feature article, contributing 

editor Adele Weder paid a visit to the 

newest community space in Surrey, 

B.C.: the light-infused Guildford 

aquatic centre, designed by Bing 

Thom. → Page 58 

“Innovate in the design and construction 

of affordable apartment 

buildings that foster sociability 

among residents. Increasingly, 

people live in urban environments, 

but their choices are meagre.” 

Writer Michael Webb looks inside 

the world of Ma Yansong for his 

profile of the Chinese architect’s 

Harbin Opera House. → Page 50 

Quincy BLOCK ©2011 modularArts, Inc. 

Sculptural screen wall blocks stack up to 

create fully dimensional, double-sided, 

rock walls. U.S. Patent 8,375,665 

Hive 

Zephyr 

Quincy 

“Planners here in Edmonton are 

returning to the basics: entrances 

on the sidewalk, scraping tint off 

windows and relaxing the parking 

rules – simple tweaks that get 

people out on the street and 

rubbing shoulders.” 

Omar Mouallem journeyed to a 

remote corner of the Alberta prairies, 

deep in dinosaur country, to tour 

Teeple Architects’ Philip J. Currie 

Dinosaur Museum. → Page 68 

“Think twice before levelling stuff 

we don’t like. I live by Regent Park, 

and I’m sorry to see Canada’s first 

urban planned community go. 

That’s our history, and community 

attaches itself to exactly that.” 

In his profile of Siamak Hariri, architect 

of the soon-to-be-completed 

Bahá’í Temple in Chile, writer Noah 

Richler explores the philosophical 

side of monument building. 

→ Page 62 

modulararts.com 206.788.4210 made in the USA 

Clarification Writer Carolyn Pioro’s name was spelled incorrectly in our 

November ⁄ December issue. Azure regrets the error. 


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GROUNDBREAKER 

MUSIC 

FACTORY 

Brooklyn’s Bureau V brings down the 

house, transforming a disused building 

into an eye-popping concert hall 

BY TIM McKEOUGH ⁄ PHOTOGRAPHY BY FLOTO+WARNER STUDIO 


←← The scale of the performance 

space was inspired by Haydn Hall 

at the Schloss Esterházy palace in 

Eisenstadt, Austria. 

← Black-glazed ceramic tiles in 

a herringbone pattern clad the 

vestibule’s eight-metre-high walls. 

↓ Bureau V retained the original 

exterior, even keeping the former 

sawdust manufacturer’s signage. 

SOMETIMES, INNOVATION INVOLVES keeping what’s already there. While planning 

National Sawdust, a performance venue in Brooklyn’s rapidly gentrifying 

Williamsburg neighbourhood, the partners at Bureau V realized that preserving 

a small piece of history was almost revolutionary. “There’s a tabula rasa model 

in this neighbourhood of tearing down all the old things and building glass towers,” 

says Peter Zuspan, who led the project with partners Stella Lee and Laura Trevino. 

“We thought it might be a nice gesture to keep an old brick building.” 

Or at least the facade. While the brick walls of a former sawdust factory still 

abut the sidewalk, visitors will find that the original interior has been gutted. In its 

place stand two eight-metre-tall crystalline forms clad in glossy black tile, which 

form a craggy canyon. “We wanted to make the interior a jarring juxtaposition to 

the exterior,” says Zuspan, “so you know you’ve arrived somewhere different.” 

Run by a new nonprofit that took its name from the former occupant (a sawdust 

maker whose customers included meat packers and circuses), National Sawdust 

is intended to support musicians working in a multitude of genres. Doorways 

on one side of the canyon provide access to such services as ticket booths and a 

restaurant. On the other, a massive vertically retracting door opens up to the main 

event, a concert hall of exceptional visual drama, with space for up to 170 people 

seated or 350 standing. 

The walls and ceiling are lined with translucent white panels made from 

perforated metal layered over the same type of acoustically transparent fabric 

used to cover speakers. A crisscrossing network of black channels that separate 

the panels seems to slice the walls and ceiling into fragments, while hiding 

such functional components as lighting, ventilation and audio visual equipment. 

Designed in collaboration with Arup’s acoustics team, the entire hall floats on 

massive springs, to isolate it from the vibrations of the street and the subway, 

a method known as box-in-box construction. The result is a 21st- century 

interpretation of an intimate 18th- century chamber hall. 

The room’s facets are not just for show. They’re designed to provide brighter, 

more lively acoustics, much like the ornamentation in concert halls built over 200 

years ago – which Arup discovered contributed to better sound. There is no main 

stage. Instead, a series of floor panels can be raised or lowered in different configurations 

to accommodate various types of perform ances. The room can also be 

sonically tuned on the fly with sound-dampening curtains concealed in the walls. 

The remarkable US$16-million, 1,200-square-metre venue is even more 

impressive when you realize that it’s the first building Bureau V has completed. 

Even though the building is finished, Zuspan, a former opera singer, plans to remain 

involved, and currently serves as both secretary of the nonprofit’s board and a 

curator. “It’s rewarding,” he says, “to think about being part of this project long after 

the architectural contract is fulfilled.” bureauv. com 


TRENDING 

AGELESS 

BEAUTY 

Ancient materials, sculpted into 

simple geometric forms, are 

a formula for timelessness 

BY ERIN DONNELLY 

“Marble is such a finite thing,” says 

Gabriel Hendifar of New York studio 

Apparatus, explaining his latest work, 

the Neo Marble collection. CNC cut 

and turned by lathe at an Italian quarry, 

these classic stone vessels and candlelit 

lanterns are complemented with brass 

bowls and glass orbs. “We felt it was 

import ant to respect the permanence 

of the material, so we looked to shapes 

that would be relevant for a long time. 

We wanted to make objects that could 

have been designed thousands of years 

ago, or thousands of years from now. 

I like to imagine these pieces having a 

life before me and a life after.” 

apparatusstudio. com 

When Mogens Lassen designed the 

Kubus candle holder in 1962, a small 

series was produced and gifted to 

those closest to the Danish architect. 

Generations later, family members 

inherited more than just a handful of 

heirloom pieces; they were also left 

the patent on Kubus, among other 

designs. The candle holders became 

the foundation of a new family 

business in 2008, when his grandson 

and great-granddaughter launched 

By Lassen. A bowl was added to the 

series in 2009, and new bronze and 

nickel finishes have been introduced 

in recent months. bylassen. com 

Each Globe, from the inaugural 

collection of New York artists 

Charcoal Creative Studio, is a unique 

piece built to last many lifetimes. The 

five modular components, made from 

timeless materials, include a handblown 

glass dome as well as a tray and 

candle cups in three metal finishes; 

the solid marble base is offered in 

four distinctly veined patterns. More 

than just a beautiful object, with a 

tea light it becomes a lamp, and filled 

with water it’s a vase or a planter. 

charcoalcreativestudio. com 

36 MAR ⁄ APR 2016 


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JUST BUILT 

CLEARING 

THE AIR 

A smog-eating tower by designer 

Daan Roosegaarde delivers an in-your-face 

reminder of the threat from pollution 

BY CATHERINE SWEENEY 

ONLY 12 PER CENT OF CITY DWELLERS live in areas where air quality meets 

safe levels, according to the World Health Organization – and that’s just 

among cities that report their data. The dream of clean air everywhere 

spurred Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde to invent his Smog 

Free Tower. Working with a team of scientists and engineers over two years, 

he has realized what he calls “the world’s largest smog vacuum.” 

The seven-metre tower, a hexagonal structure clad in horizontal aluminum 

louvres, employs filters similar to those found in hospitals, with ionization 

technology that uses a static charge to clear the air of pollutants. 

Roosegaarde’s scaled-up version pulls in air through a radial vent at the top, 

filtering 30,000 cubic metres per hour and releasing it through a series of 

vents to create a large bubble of clean air. Now stationed in Rotterdam, the 

tower is set to tour several cities – including some with extremely poor air 

quality, such as Beijing – as part of Studio Roosegaarde’s Smog Free Project. 

As for what happens to the pollutants collected, the studio seals tiny 

masses of the sooty particles in clear plastic and sets them into stainless 

steel rings and cufflinks, each representing 1,000 cubic metres of air cleaned. 

While this may be not an entirely practical use, Roosegaarde hopes the 

visual, like that of the tower itself, will inspire others to work toward cleaner 

air. “It makes people aware of smog,” he says, “and how it actually looks.” 

Above all, the Smog Free Tower’s visible presence may get the clean air 

conversation really started. studioroosegaarde. net 

↑ A world tour is in the 

works for the sevenmetre 

tower, currently 

sited in Rotterdam. 

→ Inside the tower, 

seen here from above, 

massive ionizers use 

electrical charges to 

pull smog from the air. 

↘ The sooty particles 

collected from the 

tower are sealed inside 

jewellery as a visible 

reminder of the air we 

breathe. 


Rolf Benz ONDA 

Design Christian Werner 

Toronto: KLAUS, 300 King Street East 

Flagship New York: Rolf Benz at STUDIOANISE, 21 Greene Street / Chicago: Mobili Möbel, 220 West Erie Street / Miami: Internum, 3841 NE 2 nd Ave / Dania Beach: Carriage House, 

1855 Griffin Road / Denver: Studio 2b, 2527 Larimer Street / Sarasota: Home Resource, 741 Central Avenue

FRESH TAKE 

CARS ON 

AUTOPILOT 

We asked 10 experts: what 

impact will driverless cars have 

on the future of cities? 

ILLUSTRATION BY JASON LOGAN 

It’s impossible to ignore the 

idea that driverless cars will be 

commonplace in the future, 

perhaps as soon as 2030. With our 

focus on big buildings in this issue, 

we decided to ask experts what 

effects they think the technology 

will have on our cities. 

Smart vehicles will create a high 

degree of surveillance. I’m not 

convinced that the public will 

welcome this level of monitoring. 

I prefer the car not to be a courtroom. 

– Rem Koolhaas, principal 

architect at OMA 

On its surface, an automated car 

promises an accident-free, lawabiding 

transport system. A world 

with driverless cars should ideally 

mean we no longer require multilane 

highways; instead, we can take 

the more rural approach of singlelane 

roads. The future might entail 

reduced infrastructure, which 

would allow more space for nature. 

– Ben van Berkel, principal architect 

at UNStudio 

It’s possible to imagine cities made 

more livable and walkable by freeing 

up the vast reservoir of parking 

spaces, reducing collisions, aiding 

with the challenge of the “last mile” 

combined with transit, and enhancing 

mobility for people who can’t drive. 

On the other hand, a dystopian misuse 

of driverless technology could 

promote vast sprawl, separation and 

isolation, disrupting and distorting 

the urban project. – Ken Greenberg, 

principal architect and urban 

designer at Greenberg Consultants 

I don’t believe in driverless cars. 

Our lives have shifted too much 

toward the abstract, and we’re losing 

experiences that give life meaning. 

I simply cannot imagine a life in which 

machines do everything for us. 

– Li Xiaodong, architect 

One of the most significant transformations 

will be the end of car 

ownership. This is a no-brainer. It will 

increasingly become an absurdity 

to own a car when it sits unused and 

could be out there driving around, 

running errands or picking up other 

people. – Jennifer Keesmaat, chief 

planner for the City of Toronto 

The driverless car is no panacea 

for sprawling suburban development. 

We are in the midst of a great 

inversion, with people trading in their 

cars and suburban homes for urban 

neighbourhoods, walkability and 

transit. But there are way too few of 

these neighbourhoods to go around, 

so the rich colonize them, and the 

less advantaged get pushed out. It’s 

time to get beyond the car, get 

beyond suburban sprawl and build 

more of the denser, transit-served 

communities that people want. 

– Richard Florida, author and 

professor of urban studies at the 

University of Toronto 

By separating the drop-off and 

parking functions of urban shopping 

streets, we can take advantage of 

underutilized spots across a neighbourhood: 

ubiquitous street parking 

could be replaced by drop-offs 

on each block, with the balance of 

space allocated to pedestrians, 

cyclists, patios or trees. Similarly, 

low-volume residential streets could 

be narrowed to one lane and the 

space given over to community uses. 

– Paul Kulig, principal, urban design 

and transit at Perkins+Will 

Currently, the assumption is that 

fewer vehicles will be on the road 

in dense city areas, but that traffic 

will increase in the intermediate 

areas. One possible development 

in the inner city is the creation of 

safety zones, accessible only to 

vehicles equipped with automatic 

accident prevention systems. This 

frees up space occupied by safety 

measures such as guardrails. 

– Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the 

board of Daimler AG 

A new type of “third space” that 

exists between the home and work 

will emerge in the form of a new 

generation of autonomous vehicles. 

Some of these mobile offices will 

take on forms more closely resembling 

architecture, rather than the 

cars we know today, and they will 

provide new spaces in which to 

work. Your workspace comes to you. 

– Danny Stillion, partner and 

executive design director at IDEO 

Driverless cars might transform 

the old battle lines between private 

individuals behind their own wheels 

and users of mass transit systems. 

The prospect may present a chance 

to realize a long dreamt-of urban 

utopia: a kind of fully automated 

socialized system that also gives us 

individual autonomy and freedom. 

– Sam Jacob, principal architect and 

designer at Sam Jacob Studio 


Mazzoli is proud to announce the 

opening of it’s North American showroom 

in Toronto. 

Visit our downtown showroom shared with 

Eurolite, a favorite in exquist lighting solutions, 

to feel what quality Italian furniture design is 

all about. 

Toronto • 200 Queens Quay East • Tel.416.203.1501 • mazzoli.com 

HEADQUARTERS • Mazzoli s.r.l. Via Cavallera, 2. 25030 Torbole Casaglia (BS) Italy • mazzoli.it

CALENDAR 

TO AUGUST 21 

BEAUTY: 

COOPER HEWITT 

DESIGN TRIENNIAL 

NEW YORK 

The Horseman bench, 

by South African studio 

Dokter and Misses, 

functions as both a seat 

and a storage cabinet. 

FOR THE 2016 INSTALMENT of the acclaimed event, the Cooper Hewitt, 

Smithsonian Design Museum – refreshed and renamed since its last triennial, 

in 2013 – is devoting two floors to the most innovative and intriguing 

works of the past three years. Beauty’s celebration of contemporary design 

encompasses seven themes (extravagant, intricate, ethereal, transgressive, 

emergent, elemental, transformative), represented by 63 designers and 

more than 250 pieces drawn from virtually every discipline. 

On view are lighting and furniture, fashion and jewellery, and objects 

ranging from Herman Miller’s Formwork desk accessories to the way-outthere 

Afreaks. The series of colourful beaded characters is a collaboration 

between the Los Angeles–based Haas Brothers and the Haas Sisters of Cape 

Town. Also hailing from South Africa, multi disciplinary studio Dokter and 

Misses will be represented by its Horseman bench (right); part of the Kassena 

Town series, the hand-painted white beech form functions as both seat and 

cabinet. cooperhewitt.org 

APRIL 18 TO 21 

COVERINGS 

CHICAGO 

North America’s best opportunity to take in the latest in 

tile and stone trends returns with products representing more 

than 40 countries. The ever-growing show will bring more 

than 1,000 exhibitors to McCormick Place, among them Imola, 

Lea Ceramiche, and Flaviker, displaying its porcelain Supreme 

collection (right), which uses 40 per cent recycled content. 

coverings. com 


MILAN DESIGN WEEK 

The most anticipated event on the industry’s calendar, Milan 

packs more exciting furniture launches into six days than we’ll 

see for the rest of the year. The big players – including Moroso, 

Kartell and Cappellini – are on hand at Salone del Mobile. Niche 

brands like A Lot of Brasil, which last year introduced new 

work by the Campana brothers (left), are also at the fair; while 

emerging designers are found off-site, in the Ventura Lambrate 

district. This year includes the biannual feature EuroCucina, 

which spotlights 130 kitchen exhibitors. salonemilano. it 

TO APRIL 30 

JAIME HAYÓN’S FUNTASTICO 

HOLON, ISRAEL 

Design Museum Holon marks its fifth anniversary with this 

travelling exhibition. The first retrospective of Hayón’s work 

has picked up additional pieces along its journey: the Spanish 

designer created Face Mirror (left), a massive Caesarstone 

mask, for the occasion. Also on view: the oversized chess set 

he installed at the London Design Festival back in 2009. 

dmh. org. il 

UPCOMING FAIRS 

MARCH 13 TO 18 

LIGHT + BUILDING, FRANKFURT 

Lighting and smart building services. 

light-building.messefrankfurt. com 


LIGHTFAIR, SAN DIEGO 

Architectural and commercial 

lighting. lightfair. com 


PROPOSTE, COMO, ITALY 

The latest from Europe’s 

contract textile manufacturers. 

propostefair. it 

MAY 3 TO 5 

SOLAR EXPO, MILAN 

Italy’s expo for sustainable energy 

and architecture. solarexpo. com 

MAY 3 TO 17 

NYCXDESIGN, NEW YORK 

Design takes over the city with 

events including ICFF and 

WantedDesign. nycxdesign. com 

MAY 4 TO 6 

HD EXPO, LAS VEGAS 

Inspiration and ideas for 

hospitality design. hdexpo. com 

MAY 5 TO 7 

SIDIM, MONTREAL 

A spotlight on local talent, including 

ceramicists and other design-based 

craftspeople. sidim. com 

MAY 10 TO 13 

MAISON&OBJET AMERICAS, MIAMI 

A new U.S. edition of the decorative 

design fair. maison-objet. com 


ET CETERA 

SELECTION BY ERIN DONNELLY 

← ALL OF THE ABOVE 

A load of aluminum scrap, 

rescued from the dumpster 

next to Stockholm artist 

David Taylor’s studio, 

resulted in this collection 

of sculptural objects. 

davidtaylor. se 

← LINK 

This modular system 

from FilzFelt is made with 

100 per cent wool felt tiles, 

joined using tab-and-slot 

connections. In 63 colours, 

the system can form privacy 

screens or shading, 

and it even offers acoustic 

dampening. filzfelt. com 

↙ CUBE 

Paris brand La Boite 

Concept combines 

powerful, high-quality 

speakers with small-scale 

furniture. The latest series, 

coffee-table-sized Cube, 

looks stunning in silky white 

Corian and rich walnut. 

laboiteconcept. com 

↑ BAL HOUSE 

For a unique residence in 

Menlo Park, California, 

Terry & Terry Architecture 

divided the two wings with 

a passageway wrapped in 

glass to bring the outdoors 

into the main living space. 

terryandterryarchitecture.com 

← FUTURO HOUSE 

London artist Craig Barnes 

painstakingly restored this 

prefab home, a spaceshipshaped 

relic of the 1960s, 

which is now hosting a 

year-long series of events 

on the roof of Central Saint 

Martins design school. 

futurohouse.co.uk 

↖ ARCTIC BEASTS PLATES 

This series of Limoges 

plates was designed by Paris 

studio Tes-Ted with Esprit 

Porcelaine. It includes six 

animal motifs, among them 

a snowy owl, a walrus, a 

polar bear, and the arctic 

fox shown. tes-ted.com 


Visit our website: www.downsviewkitchens.com 

The Downsview cabinetry collection is custom crafted in North America and available exclusively through select kitchen design showrooms 

U.S.A. - SCOTTSDALE, AZ Thomas Design Group (480) 563-2577 - BEVERLY HILLS, CA Kitchen Studio Los Angeles (310) 858-1008 - COSTA MESA, CA Kitchen Spaces (714) 545-0417 - SAN DIEGO (Del Mar), CA Folio Design 

(858) 350-5995 - MONTEREY, CA Monterey Kitchens (831) 372-3909 - SAN FRANCISCO (Bay Area), CA Atherton Kitchens (650) 369-1794 - DENVER, CO Exquisite Kitchen Design (303) 282-0382 

STAMFORD/NEW CANAAN, CT Deane Inc. (203) 327-7008 - MIAMI (Dania at DCOTA), FL Downsview Kitchens (954) 927-1100 - PALM BEACH (Juno Beach), FL Downsview Kitchens (561) 799-7700 

NAPLES, FL Elite Cabinetry (239) 262-1144 - ATLANTA, GA Design Galleria (404) 261-0111 - HONOLULU, HI Details International (808) 521-7424 - CHICAGO, IL nuHaus (312) 595-1330 - INDIANAPOLIS, IN Kitchens by Design 

(317) 815-8880 - NEW ORLEANS (Harahan), LA Classic Cupboards Inc. (504) 734-9088 - BOSTON, MA Downsview Kitchens (857) 317-3320 - BIRMINGHAM, MI Bolyard Design Center (248) 644-3636 

MINNEAPOLIS, MN North Star Kitchens, LLC (612) 375-9533 - CHARLOTTE, NC Downsview of Charlotte (855) 473-4300 - PARAMUS, NJ Design Studio Paramus (201) 587-9090 

MANHASSET, NY The Breakfast Room, Ltd (516) 365-8500 - NEW YORK, NY Euro Concepts, Ltd (212) 688-9300 - CLEVELAND (Willoughby Hills), OH Faralli’s Kitchen & Bath (440) 944-4499 

PHILADELPHIA, PA Joanne Hudson Associates (215) 568-5501 - CHARLESTON, SC Downsview of Charleston (855) 473-4300 - DALLAS, TX Redstone Kitchens & Baths (214) 368-5151 

SAN ANTONIO/AUSTIN, TX Palmer Todd, Inc. (866) 341-3396 - CANADA - CALGARY, AB Empire Kitchen & Bath (403) 252-2458 - VANCOUVER, BC Living Environments Design (604) 685-5823 

OTTAWA, ON Astro Design Centre (613) 749-1902 - TORONTO (GTA), ON Downsview Kitchens (416) 481-5101 - TORONTO, ON Yorkville Design Centre (416) 922-6620 - MONTREAL, PQ Audacia Design (514) 344-8000 

CARIBBEAN - BAHAMAS, BS Nassau (242) 327-7606 - SAN JUAN, PR Cocina+Diseno (787) 721-5555 

DOWNSVIEW KITCHENS 2635 Rena Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L4T 1G6 Telephone (905) 677-9354 Fax (905) 677-5776

IDENTIKIT 

KRISTINE 

FIVE MELVÆR 

The Norwegian designer uses 

a multidisciplinary approach 

to take on the global scene 

BY ELIZABETH PAGLIACOLO 

↓ The mouth-blown 

glass Light Jars, with 

LED-embedded oak lids, 

can hold small objects 

for a personal touch. 

→ Melvær’s Pop collection, 

for the Swedish outdoor 

furniture brand Vestre, 

includes benches, screens 

and planters. 

Born Drammen, Norway, 1984 

Location Oslo 

Education Master of industrial design, 

Oslo School of Architecture and Design 

(2008); master of architecture, design and 

industrial form, Royal Danish Academy 

of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (2007); 

graphic design, Westerdals School of 

Communications (2010); master of visual 

communications, Oslo National Academy 

of the Arts (2012) 

Occupation Industrial designer 

Selected awards 2015 Best Textile, 

ICFF Editors Awards; 2014 Riedel Award; 

2013 Nomination, Nordic Designer of 

the Year, Nova Design Award 

Selected exhibits 2014 Riedel 

Award Winner Exhibition, Venice; 2013 

SaloneSatellite, Salone del Mobile, Milan 

Selected clients Magnor Glassverk, 

Røros Tweed, Vestre, When Objects Work 

BEGINNINGS From when I was little, I’ve loved to 

work on creative projects. My education was divided 

into four different degrees: I studied small-scale 

architecture and furniture design, then went on to 

graphic design and visual communications. Industrial 

design is my spine – thinking about the user and 

problem solving. But when I started graphic design, 

I found so many interesting links between the disciplines. 

I set up my studio in 2012, and for the first 

year and a half I was also working full time as a 

graphic designer at a bigger firm. 

BIG BREAKS In 2013, my Soft Bowl went into 

production with When Objects Work. The Belgian 

company works with John Pawson, Shigeru Ban, all 

these world-recognized architects and designers. 

That opportunity to work with a company that appreciates 

beauty and quality was a big moment for me. 

Another big break was last year, when I started 

designing textiles for Røros Tweed, a Norwegian 

company that I really love. It’s a great mix between 

my two disciplines: you work with a graphic motif, 

and you create an object. The collections have been 

a huge commercial success and won a textile award 

at ICFF in New York last May. 

GLASS WORKS I love that glass is so immediate. It 

can break in a second, but at the same time it could 

last forever. I have a huge respect for glassblowers. 

There are so many possibilities and limitations, and 

you have to understand the material and its different 

stages. I’ve been working with the Norwegian glass 

manufacturer Magnor Glassverk for about three 

years, and we’ve launched about eight collaborations, 

including the Oui vases. It’s nice that we have this 

knowledge in Norway, and that I can be at the factory 

and we can challenge each other. I love how you can 

work with really free forms or organic shapes, and 

the transparency, the matte and gloss. 

COLOUR THEORY Colour is one of the most inspiring 

parts of the process. Sometimes, I start with the 

colour samples and work intuitively. With industrial 

design, you have many rules and specifications linked 

to engineering, but my graphic education taught 

me to work more intuitively. It’s important to be more 

free at some points, then more grounded later in 

the process. 

FURNITURE FORAY My first furniture collection is 

for Vestre. I wanted to make these light outdoor 


→ Naturpledd blankets, 

from Røros Tweed, launched 

last May at ICFF, where they 

earned an Editors Award for 

best textile. 

← The Bloom series of 

lamps is in welded steel, 

with a flora-inspired 

printed canvas shade. 

↑ The hand-turned 

Obelix vases are made of 

lacquered stoneware. 

Melvær showed them at 

Salone del Mobile in 2013. 

↑ Melvær collaborated 

with her husband, 

Tor bjørn Anderssen, on 

the Oui vase, produced 

by Magnor Glassverk. 

pieces. In the legs of the benches and tables, you 

have these thick steel parts joined with thinner 

steel parts. It’s like a twig that holds the seats and 

the backrests, which are thin and transparent like 

leaves. Then there are the walls, which can be used 

inside the planters, or freestanding to create different 

spatial situations. In a schoolyard, you can play 

around it, pin up different tasks or throw snowballs 

at it. The collection can be ordered in all kinds of 

colours: the perforated sheets in one colour and the 

frame in another. That’s where the name Pop comes 

from, the colours popping against each other. The 

line is playful, and it balances nature and architecture 

against each other. 

MODERN NATURE In Oslo, you have different kinds 

of nature around you: the forest, the sea and the 

mountains, all within a short distance. It’s very 

inspiring, but I interpret it in a subtle way. I think it’s 

important that you can read multiple connotations 

into it, and then it can communicate to different 

people with different backgrounds. It won’t be like 

telling the same joke every day. It will change a bit 

with you. Then you can give it to someone else, 

who can interpret it in their own way. 

OSLO DESIGN SCENE When they started Norway 

Says, my husband, Torbjørn Anderssen, along with 

Espen Voll and Andreas Engesvik, showed the new 

generation that it’s important to work and exhibit 

inter nationally. That we can be really free when it 

comes to different expressions. I’m working with 

manufacturers in Belgium, France and Italy, as well 

as Sweden, Denmark and Norway. I’m part of a 

club with other designers who do exhibits together 

and talk about things that are relevant when you 

are establishing yourself. 

WHAT’S NEXT I’m working on a line of doormats for 

a new Noweigan producer, really high quality and 

made to last. Also, I designed the Vava stool as a 

self-initiated project, and now I’m looking for a 

producer in Stockholm. It’s nice to do prototypes 

now and then to work completely freely. The stool’s 

legs sort of dance up and down; when you walk 

around it, it’s this steady rhythm. They are turned in 

a way you would assume is wrong, but it’s a complex 

angle turned in two directions, so it’s very stable. 

I was working with some classical elements, like the 

round legs and the wood, but I wanted to do something 

I hadn’t seen before. kristinefivemelvaer. com 

↑ Soft Bowls, from When Objects 

Work, are in walnut and beech. 

↓ The Vava stools are a recent 

prototype debuted at the Stockholm 

Furniture Fair in February.

FOCUS 

ARCHITECTURAL GLASS 

Glass effects that capture water’s many forms, from frozen lakes to tiny raindrops 

SELECTION BY KENDRA JACKSON ⁄ PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL WEEKS 

RISER 

BY INTERSTYLE 

interstyle.ca 

FOSSILA 

BY THINKGLASS 

thinkglass.com 

WINGATE 

BY CARVART 

carvart.com 

JALI BURST 

BY SENSITILE 

sensitile.com

CHROMA GLASS 

BY JEFF GOODMAN STUDIO 

jeffgoodmanstudio.com 

PRESSED GLASS 

BY 3FORM 

3-form.com 

GO-GO 

BY 3FORM 

3-form.com 

SEAGRASS 

BY SKYLINE DESIGN 

skydesign.com 


Iconic 

Building 

one 

The opera house, an undulating, 

aluminum-clad mass, is located in 

northern China, where it blends 

in with the landscape during the 

winter months. 

PHOTO BY HUFTON + CROW 


HARBIN 

OPERA 

HOUSE 

A CULTURAL MONUMENT LIKE NO OTHER 

HAS LANDED IN HARBIN, CHINA, BECOMING 

A POWERFUL SYMBOL FOR A CITY ON 

THE RISE, AND FOR ITS DESIGNER, BEIJING 

ARCHITECT MA YANSONG 

BY MICHAEL WEBB 


CNC-milled Manchurian 

ash wraps the interior, 

creating the look of eroded 

wood smoothed over time. 

PHOTO BY IWAN BAAN 


PHOTO BY ADAM MØRK. TOP: HUFTON + CROW 

Theatregoers enter through 

a pristinely polished lobby. 

Ma wanted the experience 

of finding your seat to be as 

theatrical as the performance.

AS MOST CHINESE ARCHITECTS are struggling to compete with the popular 

appeal of foreign architects on native soil, Ma Yansong, principal of 

MAD Architects, is flourishing. At 40, the Beijing native already has an 

impressive list of mega-projects behind him, from his first international 

competition win – the curvaceous twin condo towers outside Toronto, 

dubbed the Marilyns – to the boulder-like museum located in the 

Manchurian outpost of Ordos. 

All are remarkable structures, but his most ambitious – and accomplished 

– yet is an opera house and theatre in the northern Chinese city 

of Harbin. Located in the wetlands to the north of the Songhua River, the 

swooping twin buildings were planned as the centrepiece of a new city 

that will complement the metropolis of 10 million on the south bank. 

Already, government oices have begun to relocate to the area, and a wall 

of residential and commercial towers will eventually surround the parkland, 

in a juxtaposition Ma likens to Central Park. 

Before winning the Harbin Opera House competition in 2009, his firm 

was selected to design the China Wood Sculpture Museum, a silvery horizontal 

tube on the edge of the city’s core. Japanese architect Arata Isozaki 

has since completed a concert hall for the local symphony orchestra, and 

Ma may be invited back to build yet another museum. 

For now, the 79,000-square-metre complex, open since October 2015, 

symbolizes a city on the rise. The 1,600-seat opera house is linked to a 400- 

seat black box theatre via a footbridge that crosses a reflecting pool, which 

was created from the excavation of earth used to elevate the two buildings. 

“When I first flew into Harbin, I saw how the river twists and turns, and I 

thought we should make the buildings into a free-flowing ribbon, or like 

the gentle hills on the site, which become soft mounds of snow in winter,” 

explains Ma. “The white structure will then merge with the horizon.” 

What makes this building so remarkable is the confidence of its design 

and the quality of the finishes. Parametrics have liberated architects to create 

ever more dramatic swooping forms, and early on Ma began to master 

the CAD-based language of Zaha Hadid, whom he worked for in London for 

a year after earning a master’s degree at Yale University. He also interned 

with Peter Eisenman in New York, and is a great admirer of Frank Gehry’s 

expressive forms. Like the buildings of Ma’s heroes, Harbin goes well beyond 

its sen sational looks. “We wanted to create an interactive environment, 

not just an architectonic sculpture,” he explains. “Ramps are carved into 

the exterior so people can take an architectural promenade to the rooftop 

amphitheatre.” A tilted, four-level glass window lights the soaring all-white 

lobby, and its pyramidal structure is self-supporting, eliminating the need 

for any visually obstructing interior columns. 

The impeccable craftsmanship of the aluminum skin and the sensuously 

curved joinery surpasses even Ma’s expectations. In China, architects are 

often marginalized after the design is done, and complex buildings are 

routinely rushed to completion, by impatient politicians or inept contractors 

or both. Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House, for one, was badly botched, and 

its cladding panels appear ready to flake of. Here, the contractor was dedicated, 

the client patient, and Ma was able to draw on his previous experience 

of working in Harbin to enlist skilled craftspeople. As a result, every surface 

is extraordinarily smooth, and the CNC-milled sections of Manchurian ash 

that define the concert hall interiors are seamlessly assembled. Ma likens 

the main auditorium to the inside of a giant instrument that combines 

warmth, elegance and precision. 

In contrast to other Chinese cities, which build trophy museums before 

having a clear idea of how to use them, Harbin is known for its commitment 

to serious music with a pre-war tradition of theatregoing. Even before construction 

began, citizens were asked to vote on the winning design, and they 

expressed strong support for MAD’s unusual scheme. At the same time, as 

the massive structure began to take shape, a few spectators asked when the 

theme park would be ready, mistaking the undulating skeleton for a roller 

coaster. Another vote of confidence came from the city’s symphony orchestra, 

which played at the opening and judged the acoustics better than in 

Isozaki’s music hall. 

North America has presented diferent challenges for Ma. Last year, he 

opened a satellite oice in Los Angeles, to oversee a half-dozen projects 

now under way in the U.S. and Canada. When his drawings for the Lucas 

Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago were unveiled, critics likened the 

proposal to a spaceship that had landed on a beloved waterfront. The comparison 

seems appropriate, though, given that the building will house Star 

Wars artifacts. Ma prefers to describe its spacey form to the ancient burial 

mounds that long preceded the city’s orthogonal grid. 

In Beverly Hills, a smaller MAD project is in the works: a five-storey 

residential complex that paraphrases the local vernacular of small hillside 

houses and tall hedges with an inner courtyard designed to promote community 

interaction. Ma remains hard at work with other iconic projects in 

development for New York and Toronto. Meanwhile, his next ambitious 

twin tower is under construction in Beijing. Ma, the meteor, is still soaring. 

i-mad. com 

Architects: MAD Architects Client: Harbin Songbei Investment and 

Development Group Associate engineers: Beijing Institute of Architectural 

Design Institute No. 3 Cladding consultants: Inhabit Group, China Jingye 

Engineering Acoustic consultants: ECADI Site area: 180 hectares Building 

size: 79,000 square metres Completion: October 2015 

PHOTO BY ADAM MØRK 


PHOTO BY ADAM MØRK. TOP: HUFTON + CROW 

A crystalline glass curtain 

wall soars above the grand 

lobby, supported by a lightweight 

diagrid structure.

56 MAR ⁄ APR 2016 

PHOTO BY ADAM MØRK

A narrow promenade has 

been carved out of the curved 

rooftop, allowing visitors 

to take in the building and 

surroundings from above. 


Iconic 

Building 

two 

The centre integrates an 

Olympic-sized pool, a leisure 

pool, therapeutic waters, 

and a chil dren’s area with 

an inviting water slide. 


BING THOM’S LUMINOUS AQUATIC CENTRE IN SURREY, 

B.C., IS SWIMMING WITH LIGHT AND INGENUITY 

BY ADELE WEDER / PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMA PETER 


↑↑ Visitors enter the 

centre via a concrete 

bridge that spans 

above both pools. 

↑ Change rooms 

have clear sight lines, 

to reduce the 

incidence of theft. 

↓ A calm environment 

prevails in both the 

main pools and the 

ancillary spaces. 

A GIANT SHOEBOX MAY BE THE LOGICAL FORM for a natatorium, but the Guild ford 

aquatic centre in Surrey, British Columbia, relays an imaginative approach 

that imbues it with a complexity worthy of its program. The 10,400-squaremetre 

expansion of the existing recreational centre harmoniously knits 

together an Olympic-sized pool and a leisure pool with a water slide. Along 

with universal change rooms and a fitness centre, there is a sauna, a steam 

room and spectator seating for up to 300. Bing Thom Architects worked 

with Shape Architecture, both based in Vancouver, to meld these diverse 

elements into “a meditative space, like a library,” says lead architect Bing 

Thom. “We are playing with this mystery of the box.” 

The public welcome begins outside, where the landscape has been transformed 

into a raised green bufer zone that separates the aquatic centre from 

a ferociously busy thoroughfare outside. Before reaching the main lobby at 

the nexus of the building, you are first invited – indeed, compelled – to stroll 

across a five-metre-wide concrete bridge overlooking the pools, a dramatic 

element that serves as a viewing gallery, a corridor and a means of breaking 

up the massive interior. 


Engineered-wood 

trusses, each 29 metres 

long, direct natural light 

in what architect Bing 

Thom calls “painting the 

walls with daylight.” 

The ceiling support system, aside from structural practicalities, is 

groundbreaking in its multi- tasking. Each of the 22 trusses has a series of 

mechanical elements concealed in its vertex, and the beam itself enables 

technical staf to walk on it to repair mechanicals or lighting. At most 

aquatic centres, the public has to live through maintenance shutdowns, 

when the pool is drained and scissor-leg ladders are placed in the empty 

pool to reach the ceiling. “It’s ridiculously great,” attests the centre’s 

co ordin ator, Jennifer Farrell. 

The approach also resolves a perennial pool design conundrum: difu sion 

of light. Glass ceilings provoke jarring flares of sunlight for back strokers, 

and glazed walls tend to make a space like this seem under lit. At Guildford, 

the skylights are instead positioned along the perimeter, supplemented 

by naturalistic, upward-facing track lighting concealed along the beams. 

The surfaces of the four-metre-wide trusses help to capture, difuse and 

gently reflect the light. “The trusses act as giant light fixtures,” notes Shape 

Architecture principal Nick Sully. And as a dramatic aesthetic bonus, 

the afternoon light throws diagonal stripes onto the east wall, what Thom 

calls “painting the walls with daylight.” 

For mostly practical reasons, laminated strand lumber was used for the 

trusses, rather than the usual steel, as it stands up much better to chlorinesaturated 

air. On the aesthetic front, the white-stained and painted wood 

reads as warm and friendly – artisanal, even. You can see the texture and chip 

pattern of the wood underneath. That’s part of the plan: to make swimmers 

feel a sense of warmth, even amid chlorine and chaos. “I’m hanging on to 

that, creating calm spaces for people,” says Thom, “so even if it’s noisy, it’s 

calm spiritually.” bingthomarchitects.com, shapearchitecture.ca 

Architects: Bing Thom Architects (architect of record and design), Shape 

Architecture (associate architect, aquatic features) Client: The City of 

Surrey Cost: $39 million Engineers: Fast + Epp (structural), AME Consulting 

Group (mechanical), Applied Engineering Solutions (electrical), CoreGroup 

Consultants (civil) Size: 10,400 square metres Pool features and waterslide: 

Acapulco Tile: Jensen Tile + Stone Trusses: StructureCraft Builders 

Glazing: Glastech Glazing Contractors Completion: February 2015 


A REMARKABLE BUILDING IN CHILE, DESIGNED TO 

LAST FOR AN ETERNITY, IS REACHING COMPLETION. 

ARCHITECT SIAMAK HARIRI SPEAKS TO WRITER 

NOAH RICHLER ABOUT ITS CREATION AND WHY 

A SMALL TEMPLE IN THE ANDES IS THE MOST 

IMPORTANT PROJECT OF HIS CAREER 


Iconic 

Building 

three 

The first Bahá’í temple in South 

America is located outside Santiago. 

A steel exoskeleton supports two 

layers of cladding, marble within and 

cast glass on the exterior. 


“KNOW WHOM YOU’RE SPEAKING TO,” says Siamak Hariri, 

the soft-spoken founding partner at Toronto’s Hariri 

Pontarini Architects. For Hariri, “the mother factor” is 

paramount. As he explains, “When I was at Yale, a secur ity 

guard at Louis Kahn’s University Art Gallery would run 

his hand along the concrete, and you got the sense he was 

moved by the light. Making that connection, finding that 

sense of humanity, is really important in architecture. 

If you’re building a temple and your mother doesn’t feel 

comfortable praying in it, then you have a problem.” 

Hariri’s firm, located on the first floor of a reclaimed 

warehouse on Toronto’s King Street West, is all wood and 

brick, with intensely concentrating employees filling rows 

of desks. But that sense of humanity he describes is not 

forgotten here either. I make a joke about actually seeing, 

amid the sea of monitors, a pencil sitting on a desk, and 

he says simply, “The pencil is my best friend,” then points 

to a variety of sketches pinned to the wall. 

A model of his most ambitious project, the Bahá’í 

Temple of South America, is modestly mounted on a 

nondescript table nearby. The commission, won through 

an international competition, was 13 years in the making, 

nine of which were devoted to development before construction 

could start. Over that time, the firm has worked 

closely with companies from all over the world, including 

engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger in the 

U.S. and German-based Gartner. Taking time to do the 

project was the only way it could be completed for under 

$30 million, says Hariri, and his clients understood that 

the project would require time. “Imagine that,” he says, 

shaking his head in humility and astonishment. “I had 

the best client in the world.” 

The biggest challenge was finding the right location. 

Initially, the temple was to be set in the centre of Santiago, 

as part of bicentennial celebrations planned for 2018. 

But the decision garnered little popular support, and the 

present site in the Andes foothills above the Chilean 

capital was finally selected. A bulbous, shimmering whirl 

of translucent marble and glass set amid spacious gardens, 

the temple is a marvel of exquisite design and stateof-the-art 

engineering, the latter out of necessity: the 

mandate for the temple, located in an earthquake zone, 

was that it be built to last for 400 years. “We couldn’t even 

use silicone for a primary seal, because the technology has 

only been around for 25 years,” says Hariri. 

Mounted on seismic isolation pads, the building stands 

30 metres high, with an elaborate metal exoskeleton that 

supports nine torqued sails of white marble and white 

glass panels. Each of the 2,000 cast panels is unique, so 

the seismic load for every one of them had to be tested. 

The sails converge above a single open space and mezzanine 

at an apex 2.7 metres wide, where the Bahá’í 

symbol – “the greatest name” – hangs beneath a clear 

glass oculus. In all of these elements, light is of the essence. 

The great slabs appear to collect light during the day and, 

come night, to disperse it. The temple appears otherworldly, 

yet of the mountainside and belonging to it. 

“It’s not easy to put something up against the Andes,” 

says Hariri. His tone is confiding, as if what is patently 

obvious would somehow not be. When I make the 

comparison to the Shrine of the Báb in Haifa, designed 

by another Canadian architect, William Sutherland 

Maxwell, Hariri is delighted. For him, the mother factor – 

that conversation with people – is occurring at the same 

time as another dialogue he is having with “the greats.” 

“I have always been impressed that people like 

Kazuo Shinohara and Frank Gehry are looking over their 

shoulders and knowing who their greats were,” he says. 

“You’re always terrorized by the artistic process, of not 

knowing if you’re nothing but a fraud, then finding yourself 

turning to the greats and asking, Am I doing okay? 

Acknowledging that nothingness is helpful, because it 

actually sets you up to push for excellence. 

“What I love about the Shrine of the Báb,” he continues, 

“is how it holds Mount Carmel, the mountain behind it. 

That is something very hard for a small building to do, and 

it’s what I really wanted in the temple. From a long way 

of, it fits into the profile of the Andes, but at the same 

time I didn’t want it to be so monumental that it makes a 

person feel like nothing.” 

I suggest that from afar it appears like a magnolia 

imminently to bloom. “I’m glad you are able to see it from 

your own perspective,” says Hariri – words that, coming 

from a less gracious speaker, might seem dismissive. 

Rather than the petals of my imagining, he prefers to speak 

of the nine surfaces as “wings.” Later on, he compares 

them to gentle folds of cloth, the imperfections of certain 

objects like pottery, or the curves of the human face. 

Nine, he tells me, is a mystical number in the Bahá’i 

faith, one that represents a state of perfection. Of the 

few constraints placed on the design, one specified that 

the temple should have nine sides so that it is welcoming 

in all directions and to people of diferent faiths. If the 

temple looked like a mosque or a church, then certain 

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN FORD. TOP RIGHT AND BOTTOM LEFT BY GUY WENBORNE 


Of the few constraints placed 

on the design, one was that the 

building should have nine sides, 

so that the temple is welcoming 

in all directions and to people 

of diferent faiths.

people wouldn’t come in, he says. The challenge was to create 

the feeling of a sacred place, but at the same time one that is 

architecturally comfortable. 

To that end, stepped pathways, water pools and gardens 

surround the temple, coursing out from its nonagonal 

geometry. The gardens, by Chilean landscape architect Juan 

Grimm, are planted with indigenous species that require 

little maintenance or watering, and as you get closer to 

the temple the plant life becomes more refined and you 

discover all sorts of exotic flowers. 

We discuss what word might best encapsulate the intent 

of the approach. “There are a lot of ways in which monumental 

architecture deliberately seeks to make people feel 

small,” says Hariri, “but the feeling I wanted was the opposite. 

The steps are narrow, with gardens on all sides, but 

you can take your time in the approach. You can rest at the 

very top or on the side, or you can take a giant arc and avoid 

the steps entirely.” It is his hope that once people reach the 

temple at their desired pace, they will look up and think 

they are gazing at the heavens. 

To meet that end, he wanted to create a sense of embodied 

light that somehow touches the material and causes it to 

come alive. At first, the firm tried alabaster for the exterior 

cladding, but it was ruled out, as Santiago’s pollution would 

have necessitated high-pressure cleaning, which would 

have quickly eroded the stone. Instead, marble and glass 

were used, the former because it is stronger than alabaster 

and able to be cut very thinly. The problem was that most 

marble is, generally speaking, a little orange, except for one 

vein found in a quarry in Portugal. The owners had been 

holding the marble in reserve for seven generations, but 

when the project was explained to them they let it go. “You 

have to see it. The light kisses it, and the veining becomes 

alive. It’s just crazy,” says Hariri. 

The cast glass used on the outermost layer, which was 

developed by Toronto artist Jef Goodman (who died in 

2012), took over a year to finesse. Hundreds of samples were 

made that were either too thick or too yellow or too chunky 

and breakable. Eventually, Goodman turned to borosilicate 

(the stuf of Petri dishes and test tubes), which can get 

extremely hot, have ice thrown on it and not crack. The 

studio began breaking the glass rods into a certain pattern, 

then melting them to just the right point where they would 

become clear but retain the pattern. 

As we discuss Hariri’s penchant for materials to endure, 

another conversation with the sacred – with time – emerges. 

I ask him if wanting the work to last, and the sheer audacity 

of building a temple for the ages, ever leads him to worry 

about hubris. “You try to fight it, but there is this feeling of 

trying to touch perfection, and of course this is always 

beyond your reach. 

“This is the first Bahá’í temple in all of South America,” 

he says introspectively. “It’s like building in the very first 

days of Christianity or Judaism or Islam, so you can’t just be 

cowering, and you’re constantly begging that you are connected 

to some greater will. Believe me, I’m terrified.” 

Architects: Hariri Pontarini Architects, local architects 

Benkal y Larrain Arquitectos, landscape architect Juan 

Grimm Client: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís 

of Chile Superstructure and cladding: Gartner 

Glass: Jeff Goodman and CGD Glass Stone fabrication: 

EDM Cost: $30 million Site area: 9.3 hectares Building 

footprint: 794 square metres Gross floor area: 2,438 

square metres Floors: Two plus mezzanine Completion: 

October 2016 

PHOTOS BY GUY WENBORNE. RIGHT MIDDLE BY JUSTIN FORD 


Mounted on seismic isolation 

pads, the temple stands 30 metres 

high. A metal exo skeleton supports 

the torqued sails, each clad 

in marble and cast glass panels.

HUGGING THE EARTH LIKE A GIANT REPTILE, TEEPLE 

ARCHITECTS’ MUSEUM IN THE REMOTE PRAIRIES OF ALBERTA 

IS DEVOTED TO DINOSAURS, INSIDE AND OUT 

BY OMAR MOUALLEM / PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM ARBAN 


Iconic 

Building 

four 

↖ A glazed exit yawns open 

like a gargantuan mouth. Much 

of the exhibit space is below 

grade, maintaining the building’s 

low profile. 

↑ The exhibit design was led by 

Reich + Petch. Some of the 

articulated skeletons on display can 

be “re-skinned” and “reanimated” 

with an augmented-reality app. 


THE ROAD THAT WINDS through the Canadian prairies from Edmonton to 

Whitehorse is long and tedious, dotted with farmers’ fields and industrial 

plants in equal measure, and little else. But 500 kilometres northwest of 

Edmonton, outside Wembley, Alberta (population 1,383), a national landmark 

is dedicated to the rich paleontological history of a region where, tens 

of millions of years ago, herds of giant horned dinosaurs roamed. 

The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, named for the renowned Canadian 

paleontologist and designed by Toronto’s Teeple Architects, sits virtually 

on top of one of the world’s densest fossil sites: the so-called River of Death 

bone bed at Pipestone Creek, where the first known Pachyrhinosaurus 

lakustai fossil was discovered by a local teacher 42 years ago. From certain 

angles, the museum’s profile does evoke a giant reptile, with its sinuous, 

low-slung shell and gaping mouth – even before you spot the articulated 

Gorgosaurus skeleton through the glazed front entrance. Although the 

resemblance is intentionally vague, meant to linger in the back of one’s mind, 

“It’s a parallel structure,” says principal architect Stephen Teeple. “It’s got 

legs, skin, bones.” 

The resemblance becomes more than superficial inside, where over 100 

glulam beams and struts support a free-form geometric ceiling that peaks 

14 metres overhead. To gaze up at it is like staring into a dinosaur’s rib cage. 

The prominence of this carapace belies the fact that most of the building is 

subterranean. Windows at grade, inserted between the zigzagging columns, 

serve as clerestories in the sunken triple-height main hall, a form inspired 

↑ British Columbia 

engineering firm Structure- 

Craft Builders was brought 

in to design and build the 

unique connections, where 

up to seven beams meet 

at unusual angles. 

↗ In the main exhibition 

hall, below-grade concrete 

columns support the 

complex timber structure 

of the above-ground shell. 

The Douglas fir beams 

were harvested from 

local forests damaged by 

invasive pine beetles. 



↑ At a latitude of 55º North, the large 

windows required triple glazing with 

two low-E coatings and an extra-wide 

thermal break, but allowed Teeple to 

throw to views of the landscape. 

3 4 

2 

1 

5 

7 

6 

by the ad hoc canopies that shelter fossil dig sites in the surrounding hills. 

A model of the bone bed greets visitors around the first corner, before 

they traverse a series of catwalks overlooking the exhibition space below. 

This gangway gives an up-close view of the pterosaurs and plesiosaurs suspended 

from the rafters, and even ofers glimpses of a working lab through 

a section of glass floor. A staircase descends through a fossil gallery of mostly 

local species to the final corridor: a geological exhibit that places the tiny 

town on Earth’s four-billion-year timeline. 

“The farther you descend into the building, the farther back in time you 

go,” explains Teeple. “You discover the bone bed, the work of the paleontologists 

and so on. They discover, you discover.” The narrative experience 

was established before the Toronto firm won the 2010 bid: Teeple’s Earth 

Sciences Museum, at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, was also a 

reverse chronological descent into the earth and the past, where the architects 

similarly used earthen materials, including concrete, to evoke a sense 

of delving below the surface. 

Meanwhile, this museum’s above-ground Douglas fir skeleton comprises 

so many unique angles that a British Columbia engineering firm was 

brought in to invent the connectors. StructureCraft president Gerald Epp 

says the most significant innovation is the nodes, where up to seven beams 

and columns meet. Developed using Grasshopper and created from sandwiched 

plywood, these nodes eschew the easier option of welded steel in 

favour of aesthetic cohesion. “We’ll probably never do it again,” Epp says. 

Teeple was forced by the county’s shrinking budget to also shrink the 

museum’s size by nearly one-fifth, to 3,900 square metres, among other 

adjustments. “We’d hoped for shingle zinc cladding, which would have had 

the efect of scales,” he says. Instead, the use of standard seam aluminum 

cladding shaved $1 million of the $25.4-million construction budget. 

It doesn’t detail as cleanly, though Teeple concedes that it fits in better 

among the barns and warehouses of Alberta’s rural and industrial north. 

After a three-year delay, as philanthropists (including comedian 

and dinosaur enthusiast Dan Aykroyd) rallied for funding, Teeple was 

impressed by the locals’ perseverance: “They never doubted the vision, 

because they wanted something special to bring people to their town.” 

teeplearch. com 

FLOOR PLAN 

1 Entrance 

2 Classroom 

3 Café 

4 Gift shop 

5 Main exhibition hall 

6 Gallery 

7 Lab 

Architects: Teeple Architects with Architecture Tkalcic Bengert Client: 

County of Grande Prairie Structural Engineers: Fast + Epp Cost: $25.4 

million Size: 3,900 square metres Windows: Kawneer 7500 curtain wall 

Exterior cladding: Zip-Rib standing seam aluminum siding Completion: 

September 2015 


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TEXT BY DAVID DICK-AGNEW, CATHERINE 

OSBORNE, ELIZABETH PAGLIACOLO AND 

CATHERINE SWEENEY 


“People like looking at other people without 

imposing, and sometimes you just 

need to add a bit of playfulness to enable 

the complexity of everyday life to unfold.” 

– Niels Bjørn Povlsgaard, architect 

TOP PHOTO BY AARHUS I BILLEDER 

NATURE HUGGER 

INFINITE BRIDGE GJØDE & POVLSGAARD ARKITEKTER 

Sometimes, an architectural gesture is so 

simple and inviting, it’s hard to believe it didn’t 

exist before. That’s the case with Infinite Bridge, 

a raised circle 60 metres in diameter, partly 

installed on a sandy beach and partly over the 

water in Aarhus, Denmark. Visitors stroll along 

the wooden jetty to take in views of the coast, 

or dangle their feet above the deepening water. 

The bridge, installed for two months last year, 

was so popular that weddings were held on it, 

and crowds gladly lined up to saunter along its 

inviting route. 

Designed by Danish studio Gjøde & Povlsgaard 

Arkitekter, the project was part of Sculpture 

by the Sea, an art biennial where artists from 

around the world are invited to find new ways of 

enticing visitors to experience the water’s edge. 

Similar events, with the goal of reactivating 

urban landscapes through pop-up architecture, 

have become popular elsewhere in recent years. 

Winnipeg’s Warming Huts, where temporary 

huts are installed along the Red River Mutual 

Trail, has attracted big-name architects to 

participate. Its success has spurred on another 

annual winter festival in Toronto, called Winter 

Stations, where lifeguard towers in the east end 

Beach neighbourhood form the basis for pavilions 

that make walking the beach in the dead of winter 

a much more attractive prospect. 

What’s intriguing about the Infinite Bridge is 

its immediate appeal. While dock fingers have 

provided a place to stroll beyond the shoreline for 

an eternity, a circle adds a whole other coastal 

experience by providing endless viewpoints from 

which to take in the surroundings. Says principal 

architect Niels Bjørn Povlsgaard, “Sometimes, 

you need playfulness, and sometimes you need 

simplicity in architecture to enable the complexity 

of everyday life to unfold.” gpark. dk – C.O. 


MONTREAL, QUEBEC 

SPACE ACTIVATOR 

IMPULSE LATERAL OFFICE AND CS DESIGN 

Picture it: a January night in Montreal, sub-zero wind whipping through the darkened 

streets. Ahead stands a row of 30 glowing seesaws bobbing gently like driftwood, emitting 

synthesizer harmonies with every movement. All around, abstract videos projected 

onto nine surrounding buildings create a towering tapestry of moving light. 

This multi-sensory installation, called Impulse, is a part of Luminothérapie, an annual 

celebration of light held in Place des Festivals, and launched to get citizens outside to 

experience the joys of winter. It’s one reason Place des Festivals has become the focal 

point of the Quartier des Spectacles cultural district. Now home to 40 perform ance 

venues along with bars, cafés, galleries and cinemas, the Quartier is the kind of urban 

planning success story every city wishes for, one centred on a fountain-studded plaza 

that’s ideal for taking in summer concerts. 

Activating the plaza in winter is a diferent story. With Impulse, the seesaws were 

a compelling way to get visitors physically involved. “We had the cover of Unknown 

Pleasures by Joy Division in mind,” says Mason White, co-founder of Lateral Oice. 

“We used multiple lines, each with their own pulse, but which collectively form a 

dynamic topography. From a distance, it’s a wave-like ripple along the street.” Each 

seesaw plays a diferent musical variation, developed with sound artist Mitchell 

Akiyama, with the speed determined by the riders. “We were interested in the idea 

of the user being the person who makes the space,” says Lola Sheppard, the studio’s 

other co-founder. “It becomes a giant urban instrument that’s constantly changing.” 

lateraloffice. com, designcs. ca – D.D.A. 

TOKYO, JAPAN 

PAUSE ENABLER 

LA KAGŪ KENGO KUMA AND ASSOCIATES 

Usually, it’s city planners who make it their 

business to find ways of carving out public places 

within dense neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, most 

retailers prefer to entice shoppers indoors. 

La Kagū, a unique lifestyle emporium in Tokyo, 

has reversed that approach with a rambling 

962-square-metre staircase, inviting passersby 

to simply hang out and take in the scenery. 

Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, 

a master at building with wood and steel, the 

promenade diverges halfway along to create two 

entry points into the adjoining building: one 

leading to the main level, the other rising to the 

second floor. Each deep and shallow step echoes 

the terrain of Kagurazaka, a district known for 

its hilly streets and Paris-like café culture. Kuma 

gave the steps a leisurely incline, to encourage 

visitors to take their time before heading into 

the multi-purpose complex. Housed in a former 

storage facility, it’s now a chic and airy interior 

filled with a café, a bookstore and a workshop 

space. The main tenant is a home and fashion 

boutique that sells such labels as Acne Studios, 

Maison Margiela and Sofie D’Hoore, along with 

vintage Danish furniture. 

The goal from the start was to open up the site, 

owned by Japanese book publisher Shin cho sha, 

to the local community. Since their launch, the 

La Kagū steps have become a destination in 

themselves, listed in guidebooks and on fashion 

blogs as a must-do. They have also morphed into 

a perfect stage for open markets and impromptu 

concerts. kkaa. co. jp – C.O. 

PHOTO BY KEISHIN HORIKOSHI / SS TOKYO 


The Warp, built in 12 days, is the 

third structure designed and 

executed in rural China by firstyear 

architecture students from 

the University of Hong Kong. 

LUDIAN, CHINA 

VIEWFINDER 

THE WARP OLIVIER OTTEVAERE AND JOHN LIN 

Resembling a cresting wave, the Warp delivers a 

trifecta of uses to the people of Ludian: a stepped 

roadside market, an undulating lookout point 

and a shaded respite. In this mostly Muslim 

town in Yunnan, China, which has been rocked 

by earthquakes in recent years, the 130-squaremetre 

structure helps to buttress community 

togetherness while establishing an architecturally 

striking landmark. Constructed from wooden 

planks, its sine-curved shape mimics the mountainous 

landscape as it swoops down to almost 

meet the ground at its centre, then rises up again 

on either side. On one end, it soars like a sail, 

inviting locals to find shade beneath its trussed 

underside. Meanwhile, the concrete risers at its 

base provide an area for selling fresh produce, 

potentially animating it with commercial activity. 

The project was funded by the Gallant Ho 

Experiential Learning Fund and a student 

project grant, after the region was hit by a major 

earthquake in September 2012, leaving many 

residents with nowhere to live, except tents, for 

almost a year. Architects Olivier Ottevaere and 

John Lin designed the Warp, along with their 

first-year architecture students at the University 

of Hong Kong. 

It marks the third and final instalment in their 

series of Yunnan projects, which pack a multiplicity 

of functions into small, low-cost timber 

structures. One of the first to go up, the Pinch, 

houses a library and a community centre, while 

the Sweep acts as both observation deck and 

kids’ play area. “Collectively,” the architects say, 

“the series explores the activities of buying and 

selling, bridging, resting, viewing, eating, reading 

and playing.” For a town that has lost so much, 

these buildings restore core social activities that 

prop up community life. – E.P.

HOLON, ISRAEL 

SHADE MAKER 

CLOUD SEEDING MODU ARCHITECTURE 

Watching the wind blow may not seem like the 

most captivating pastime. Yet a pavilion outside 

the Design Museum Holon in Israel has turned 

this often overlooked enjoyment into a spectacle, 

with a rooftop that suspends 30,000 plastic balls 

propelled by gusts of air. Designed by New York 

studio MODU, in collaboration with Geotectura, 

the 232-square-metre Cloud Seeding provides 

a semi-shaded gathering spot for the public, and 

uses the city’s hot, windy climate to activate the 

participatory environment. 

The greenhouse frame is topped with a canopy 

of fine architectural fabric mesh, designed to be 

as inconspicuous as possible and keep the focus 

on the balls’ constant, game-like movements. 

Transparent polycarbonate panels on the sides 

of the rooftop keep the balls from rolling of as 

they scatter about. The gossamer-light plastic 

spheres, made of recycled PET, create a dynamic 

play of light and shadow for people lounging on 

the beach chairs underneath. 

To test out how the balls would behave, MODU 

used such simulation techniques as computational 

fluid dynamics. But nothing beats the real 

thing, so they also built a series of prototypes. 

“The unexpected uses of the pavilion are the 

most enjoyable for us,” say MODU co-directors 

Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem. “The weather 

prompts children to chase the balls from below 

as they move about with the wind. And we have 

watched as visitors move the lounge chairs 

to sunnier or shadier locations. These are the 

most rewarding moments for us.” The pavilion 

is now being tested out as a prototype for 

permanent shade pavilions throughout the city. 

moduarchitecture. com – E.P. 

COMMUNITY 

BUILDER 

RE-AINBOW COMMUNITY CENTRE 

H&P ARCHITECTS 

In Duc Tho, Vietnam, where amenities can be scarce and 

nature severe, a neighbourly place to gather is not a luxury; 

it’s a necessity. The Re-ainbow, with it is generous open-air 

rooftop, is now that hub for the largely agricultural region 

of roughly 115,000, some 60 kilometres from the provincial 

capital of Ha Tinh. The sheltered area serves a myriad of 

functions, as a place for impromptu meetings or holding 

classes, and an adjoining clinic ofers basic medical care. 

The $US10,000 project was designed by H&P Architects, 

a Hanoi firm run by Doàn Thanh Hà and Tran Ngoc 

Phuong, no strangers to finding socially and ecologically 

sound ways to build in their home country. In 2014, they 

constructed a cost- and site- sensitive washroom made 

from bamboo for schoolchildren without access to proper 

toilets, all for under US$3,000. The project won a 2015 

AZ Social Good Award. 

For Re-ainbow, the firm amassed readily available and 

discarded construction materials, including steel pipes, 

sheet metal and bricks, to keep costs down and lighten 

the centre’s ecological footprint. To further that aim, solar 

energy and a greywater system cover of day-to-day operations. 

The storm-resistant exterior and triple-peaked 

roofline are made primarily of recycled steel. The most 

vibrant feature is the scafolding, a simple yet dynamic 

framework that locals use as playful climbing equipment 

and pull-up bars – all under one brightly coloured roof. 

hpa. vn – C.S. 

DUC THO, VIETNAM 


RE: 

GROUPING 

THE NEW 

MEETING SPACE 

Offices are more collaborative than ever. For Teknion, 

that means making changeable work environments 

that fit every need, starting with their own 

By Kendra Jackson / Photography by Peter A. Sellar 


↑↑ Qui ottomans are 

on hidden casters for 

easy movability. Some 

are also embedded 

with charging ports. 

↑ A modular sofa 

and lounge seating 

offer inviting places 

for relaxed meetings. 

← A harvest table at 

the entrance is both a 

workspace and a casual 

welcome for clients. 

OVER THE PAST DECADE, the buzz in the contract furniture world has been 

for breakaway spaces that bring about freestyle collaboration, with open 

concept oices providing the perfect stage set. But another shift has 

been gaining ground: the need to re-include some modes of privacy that 

cubicles once aforded. 

In response, Teknion has opened a showroom in Toronto that acts as 

an observatory for the ever-evolving oice culture. Spread out over 1,000 

square metres, the column-free interior, designed by San Francisco’s 

Vanderbyl Design, incorporates zones both large and small for various 

styles of work. Along one glazed wall sits a row of high-backed upholstered 

chairs, overlooking the city’s harbour and providing sound- bufered seating 

for employees to make a private call or take a break. In another area, a 

grouping of colourful ottomans on hidden casters serves as an inviting 

place to meet informally. Conversely, there are high-tech boardrooms 

behind glass partitions, and a desk-free oice with lounge-like settings 

kitted out in facing sofa sets, floor lamps and cofee tables. 

“It’s a transparent environment,” says sales president David Patterson 

of the new showroom. “It’s a testing ground for answering the question, 

If there are no barriers to where you work, how do you work?” In fact, like 

many early adopters of the mobile working environment, the staf here 

have no fixed workstations. Instead, they move about freely with smart 

phones and iPads in hand. 

The move downtown, to the 20th floor of Bremner Tower, also follows 

the trend of oice furniture manufacturers bringing their product to where 

their clients work, and making room to display it in ways that can be digested 

and understood. Corporations, after all, are not always ready to stress out 

employees by taking away their desks. However, when they enter the showroom 

and the first thing they see is not a reception desk but a harvest table 

surrounded by bar stools and lounge areas, it can change their minds. It’s 

definitely a less stufy, more inviting way to arrive at work. teknion.com 


2 

1 

SHOW REPORT 

SWITCHING IT UP 

IIDEXCANADA WAS FULL OF SURPRISES, FROM A REVOLVING DISPLAY OF OFFICE 

FURNITURE TO BRILLIANT LIGHTING LAUNCHES BY ERIN DONNELLY 

THE LEAD-UP TO IIDEXCANADA LAST DECEMBER gave the impression that, once again, 

contract furniture would rule the floor at the Toronto building expo. After 

all, the feature installation, Go Away!, designed by local firm Quadrangle 

Architects, was billed as an exploration of the workplace, with a cast of 

furniture from Teknion, Haworth, Keilhauer and Steelcase. The exhibit did 

indeed delve into the fluid work environment, and throughout the two-day 

run its four corners were regularly changed up to form various vignettes, 

from casual breakout spaces to a tiny room for making personal calls. Once 

visitors caught on to the revolving displays, it was both fun and worthwhile 

to check out each iteration, perhaps taking a break on Steelcase’s Emu Ivy 

outdoor sofa or Keilhauer’s Chemistry bench. 

The remaining 400 exhibitors ranged from floor and wall treatments by 

the likes of Ceragres and Kirei to furniture from Vitra and smart LEDs by 

Nanoleaf. Lighting was particularly strong, with Lightform showcasing the 

latest from Pablo; and an exhibit dedicated to Spanish design that featured 

beautiful spun aluminum pendants by Bover. The spectacular booth by 

Secto Design of Finland, displaying its birch lamps, won an innovation award. 

Another shining moment was found at Woodshop, a selection of furniture 

pieces that make clever use of timber felled by the city’s emerald ash borer 

infestation. The standout was Kichul Lee and Doosu Shin’s Chair_W, a 

CNC-formed seat made using a carbonization process to remove pesticides 

from the wood. iidexcanada.com 

1 WORK OUT 

One of Steelcase’s contributions to the 

evolving “biomes” arranged within the 

Quadrangle-designed Go Away! exhibit, 

Emu Ivy is a collection of outdoor seating 

and pouffes designed by Paola Navone. 

steelcase. com 

2 UNDER WRAPS 

Jake Whillans’ Leather Bench is 

constructed of ash wood, with a tubshaped 

underbelly wrapped in vegetable 

tanned leather. The seat lifts to reveal 

three roomy storage compartments. 

jakewhillans. com 

3 HANGING OUT 

Secto Design, the Finnish maker of 

wood-shaded lamps, exhibited the Varsi 

1000 sus pension arm. In black or white 

powder-painted steel, it gives the beautiful 

birch pendants greater flexibility and 

versatility. sectodesign. fi 

4 SPANISH SPIN 

Bover pendants were a highlight at a 

booth devoted to Spanish design. The 

spun aluminum Tibeta shades are available 

in polished aluminum, black chrome or 

a copper finish. bover. es 

3 

5 CURVE APPEAL 

Another ash piece from the Woodshop 

display, Chair_W is designed by Kichul 

Lee and Doosu Shin. They employed CNC 

technology, and used a kiln treatment 

to remove any lingering pesticides from 

the wood. architect-k. com 

6 STONE FACED 

Ceragres launched its first marble-effect 

collection, White Experience, in a range of 

sizes and five finishes, including polished 

and matte. ceragres. ca 


7 ECHO EFFECT 

EchoPanel, an acoustic wall tile collection, 

is manufactured by Kirei from recycled 

plastic bottles. It won distributor Richelieu 

an innovation award at the show. 

richelieu. com, kireiusa. com 

6 

7 

8 ON THE HUNT 

This mirror, designed by Tim Richards 

of South Street Boat Builders, pairs with 

a sled-inspired coffee table to form the 

Hunt collection. Both pieces are lashed 

with rope that holds the steam-bent wood 

in place. southstreetboatbuilders. com 

8 

9 

10 

9 PHONE IT IN 

Local innovator Nanoleaf launched its 

Smarter Kit. The set includes two longlasting 

Ivy LED bulbs, as well as a Smart 

Hub that links to your iPhone for voiceactivated 

lighting schemes. nanoleaf. me 

12 

10 FLIP FOR IT 

Speaking of smart, Vitra’s Super Fold 

Table, by Jasper Morrison, stores away 

easily. Not only does the top flip sideways, 

but the base pivots inward for a minimal 

footprint. vitra. com 

11 FRAME JOB 

Lightform introduced several new 

options by Pablo, including the elegant 

Contour. Its round-cornered silhouette is 

embedded with a warm LED light source. 

It’s made from extruded aluminum, wood 

and fabric. lightform. ca 

11 

12 A WALK IN THE PARK 

Six eco-friendly styles – inspired by 

natural elements such as bark, stone, 

water, sky, trees and grass – form Park, 

a new carpeting collection from Shaw. 

shawcontractgroup. com 


FIELD TRIP 

ELMA HOTEL, ZICHRON YA’AKOV, ISRAEL 

HIGH 

ART 

A former workers’ rest house overlooking 

the Mediterranean finds new life as a retreat 

saturated with culture 

BY JESSICA VRAZILEK 

↑ Israeli artist Sigalit 

Landau’s Thirst, hewn 

from 26 tons of marble, 

greets visitors at the 

hotel entrance. 

IN THE CHARMING TOWN of Zichron Ya’akov, Israel, 

the Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel sits among 

the peaks of Mount Carmel. An hour’s drive north 

of Tel Aviv, it offers stunning views of verdant 

fields and the Mediterranean Sea. Some savvy 

visitors head here to bask in the Tuscan-like 

atmosphere of courtyard cafés, others to steep 

in early Zionist history. To this already fertile 

ground, the Elma – short for “Elstein Music and 

Art” – adds a cultural wellspring. 

The hotel boasts over 500 works of art from 

the collection of owner Lily Elstein, a prominent 

Tel Aviv matron of the arts. Paintings and sculptures 

appear throughout the main building’s 51 rooms, 

the galleries and the art library. “Guests feel that 

they’re staying in artistic surroundings,” she says. 

“It’s a place where those who enter its doors can 

find art in every corner and at every moment.” 

Visitors’ first glimpse of the interior is dominated 

by Thirst, a colossal stone sculpture carved from 

26 tons of marble by Israeli artist Sigalit Landau. 

Even the reception desk has been shaped to look 

like a black grand piano. 

The building – a former workers’ rest house 

designed in 1968 by Yaakov Rechter – is remarkable, 

especially among brutalist icons, for its 

undulating facade; it claimed the 1972 Israel Prize 

for architecture. But the fate of the structure, 

known as the Mivtachim Sanitarium, was once 

far from certain: in 2005, Elstein heard of its 

planned demolition and stepped in to save the 

landmark. In a move more typical of governments 


↑ From a plateau on 

Mount Carmel, the 

Elma offers exquisite 

views overlooking the 

Mediterranean. 

↗ The lobby floor, made 

of terrazzo with slabs of 

stone from Atzmon 

in northern Israel, has 

been fully restored. 

← Various configurations 

of furniture, including 

this massive steel table, 

encourage guests to 

connect in different ways. 

→ The concert hall is 

considered one of the 

best in the country. 

than private citizens, she bought it, then worked 

with Rechter’s son Amnon (the third generation to 

lead local firm Rechter Architects) to preserve it 

and bring the interiors up to standard. In February 

2015, the Elma reopened in its current form. 

The public areas, by London firm United Design 

Partnership, are neutral, placing the focus on 

the art. The collection boasts works by names that 

range from such renowned figures as Pablo Picasso 

and Georges Braque to contemporary Israeli 

artists Yehudit Sasportas and Ilit Azoulay. Besides 

the public spaces now turned over to art, the 

hotel includes indoor and outdoor swimming pools, 

a luxury spa and treatment centre, restaurants, 

bars and one of Israel’s premier concert halls. 

Local firm Baranowitz + Kronenberg was brought 

on to redesign the restaurant. Impressed with 

their sensitivity to the spirit of Rechter’s building, 

Elstein extended their commission to include the 

suites. The designers removed walls to turn many 

of the original 18-square-metre cells into 38 deluxe 

suites of twice that size, but did little else. “The 

moment we entered the rooms, it was very clear to 

us that we were not going to touch the structure,” 

says co- principal Irene Kronenberg. “It’s about 

concrete – white walls and concrete.” Apart from a 

furniture upgrade, including custom desks that 

can be angled to offer views of the sea, the suites 

remain monastic, true to Rechter’s vision of a 

place for restorative contemplation. 

The amenities in the suites echo the fidelity to 

the architect’s nationalist goals. Runners on the 

beds revive a textile from the postwar era, 

produced by Israeli fashion house Maskit. 

Although made in Spain by Gandia Blasco, the 

rugs are a kilim weave, to reflect the Bedouin 

influence on the nascent national identity of 

1960s Israel. Kronenberg says of the blue and 

yellow palette, “The colours are connected to the 

sun and the sand. It’s the DNA of our country.” 

In the lobby, ceilings incorporate the exterior’s 

signature wave motif via a thin channel of light 

that snakes through the main entrance. Here, the 

ori gin al flooring was restored using irregularly 

shaped slabs of sand-hued Atzmon stone set in 

creamy terrazzo, creating the effect of an 

oversized giraffe hide. 


FIELD TRIP 

ELMA HOTEL, ZICHRON YA’AKOV, ISRAEL 

↑ Against the neutral 

backdrop of Yaakov 

Rechter’s architecture, 

textiles in blue and yellow 

speak to the hotel’s 

surroundings. 

← The designers made 

few interventions in the 

public spaces, opting to 

leave the emphasis on 

the art collection and 

Rechter’s use of concrete. 

→ A central courtyard 

offers guests an ideal 

place to bask in the 

Mediterranean climate. 

If you go 

HOW TO GET THERE Trains depart regularly from 

locations across Tel Aviv to the town of Binyamina. 

From there, it’s a 15-minute bus ride north to 

Zichron Ya’akov. Taking a taxi from Binyamina 

will cut the time in half and costs around $20. 

THINGS TO DO Among the complex’s main attractions 

are two concert halls that offer diverse 

performances year-round. The beautifully tiered, 

450-seat Elma Hall was methodically designed 

by Arup’s renowned acoustic con sult ants, with 

dramatic striated side panels and a state-of-theart 

stage that moves to increase seating capacity 

or create an orchestra pit. A smaller concert hall, 

seating 150 and descriptively known as The Cube, 

hosts more intimate performances. 

A 75-kilometre drive south takes you to the 

city of Holon, often referred to as a children’s city, 

thanks to the Israeli Cartoon Museum, the Israel 

Children’s Museum and the city’s expansive parks 

full of statues depicting children’s stories. In 

2010, the city began to redefine its cultural standing, 

opening the Design Museum Holon, built by 

esteemed architect Ron Arad, the first of its kind 

in Israel. The acclaimed cultural institution runs 

a dynamic program of exhibitions on every aspect 

of design. 

WHERE TO EAT Irene Kronenberg describes Oratorio, 

the hotel’s main restaurant, as “a melting pot of 

the bohème.” It features Mediterranean cuisine 

prepared using locally sourced ingredients in a 

casual setting. 

A 15-minute stroll away – smack in the middle 

of the main pedestrian boulevard – is Manuella 

restaurant, an authentic, homey ode to Italy that 

makes everything from scratch. 

Zichron is Israel’s epicentre for all things related 

to wine. Carmel Winery is one of the largest in the 

country, producing 15 million bottles per year at 

four separate facilities. The new Carmel Wine and 

Culture complex includes a shop, two tasting 

rooms, a cinema and a barrel room. 

→ Rooms from $320. elma-hotel.com 


DESIGN FILE 

CONFERENCING FURNITURE 

ASSEMBLY 

POINTS 

From device-charging tables to 

laptop-friendly seating, the new 

boardroom mixes tech with style 

BY KENDRA JACKSON 

1 2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

1 Highway by Three H 

Four power outlets can be embedded 

in the surface of this counter-height table 

or tucked under the top edge. Wires are 

hidden in the legs, which have hinged 

doors for access. Available in more than 

35 laminate colours. three-h. com 

2 Flex Executive by Andreu World 

Despite its slim profile, this piece provides 

comfort with a super-high upholstered 

back. The swivel base features auto-return 

and height adjustment, and two leather or 

eight fabric colourways are available. 

andreuworld. com 

3 Tono by ICF 

A generous seat shell made of 100 per 

cent recycled PET bottles makes this 

chair comfortable and sound absorbing. 

The four-legged base comes in oiled or 

lacquered wood or powder-coated tubular 

steel. icfsource. com 

4 Cell 72 by SitLand 

Extending from the steel tube base of 

this tub-style chair, a handy tablet swivels 

to adjust. The 200-millimetre-thick seat 

cushion and the upholstered frame can 

be covered in one or two colours. 

sitland. com 

5 A Frame by Nienkämper 

Designed to be visually lightweight, 

this table can be equipped with a power, 

data and video conduit. Tabletops come 

in wood veneer or laminate, and the steel 

legs can be finished in chrome plate, 

silver, or white or black powder coat. 

nienkamper. com 

6 Satellite by Offecct 

A near-perfect circle when viewed from 

above, this chair by Richard Hutten is both 

comfortable and compact. A side table 

rotates 180 degrees to accommodate 

left- or right-handed scribes. offecct. se 

7 Double Table by Moroso 

Made of two separate laminated pieces, 

the top of this table by Jörg Schellmann 

can be extended up to four metres, or 

reduced to two metres by sliding one side 

under the other within the varnished 

steel base. moroso. it 

8 Traverse by Okamura 

This collection of statement-making tables 

features an ultra-thin top that’s extendable 

up to six metres, with electrical connectivity 

concealed underneath. Fourteen 

wood options are available, with brushed 

or polished metal accents. okamura. jp 


8 

10 

11 

9 

12 

14 

13 

9 Massuad by Coalesse 

Duvet upholstery gives this chair a residential 

feel, but adjustable back tension 

and seat height make it a comfortable 

choice for extended meetings and brainstorming 

sessions. coalesse. com 

10 Collo by Keilhauer 

The curvaceous form of this wellproportioned 

chair comes with or without 

arms and three base options: five-star 

in nylon or aluminum, or four-leg in steel. 

The swivel base rocks in sync with the 

sitter’s movements. keilhauer. com 

11 Haan by B&T Design 

A channel for cable support runs down 

the centre of this traditional conference 

table, which comes in lengths from 

2.4 to six metres. Set on painted metal 

legs, the rounded rectangular top is 

finished in matte lacquer. bandtusa. com 

12 Memo by Lema 

Stretching up to four metres in length, 

Piero Lissoni’s expansive table balances 

a minimal design with basic elements 

of a heat-treated oak or lava stone top 

supported by a painted metal base. 

lemamobili. com 

13 Ginkgo Arm by Davis 

Expanding on the series released in 

2011, the latest iteration has a sculptural 

bent-plywood seat in an elegant tulip 

form. The aluminum swivel base includes 

a self-return option, and a padded seat 

cushion is also available. 

davisfurniture. com 

14 Lite by Global 

With a lightweight body in ribbed mesh 

and chrome legs, this armless chair 

exemplifies clean, versatile design. It can 

be upholstered in fabric, faux-leather, 

leather or vinyl, and it comes in a cantilevered 

version. globaltotaloffice.com 


DESIGN FILE 

CONFERENCING FURNITURE 

GATHER 

ROUND 

Multimedia hubs that bring the 

conversation to you 

1 

2 

4 

3 

5 

6 

1 Exclave by Herman Miller 

To set up flexible meeting zones, this 

multi-component suite includes tables in 

sitting or standing heights; wall rails and 

mobile carts that hold up multiple whiteor 

corkboards; media tiles that display one 

or two monitors; plus various storage 

elements. hermanmiller.com 

2 E-Media by DVO 

Designed to facilitate video conferencing 

for smaller groups, this module features a 

vertical panel that holds a monitor or a 

camera, with cables concealed in a metal 

casing, and a built-in work surface (seating 

not included). dvoffice. com 

3 Beatnik Room-in-Room by Donar 

Dedicate a conference space in an open 

plan office with this hub. Made from 

acoustic fabrics, the structure has integrated 

video display, a BOSE audio system 

and gesture-operated lighting. It can also 

be kitted out with USB and HDMI connections 

and power outlets. donar. si 

4 Teem by Kimball 

A dual-sided media cabinet is at the centre 

of this system. Display monitors on both 

sides means two meeting spaces can be 

set up, with panels keeping cables out of 

the way. kimballoffice. com 

5 ClubTalk by Teknion 

The components of this stand-alone 

boardroom are set on casters for mobility 

and flexibility. It includes media wall carts, 

height-adjustable tables, and technology 

that enables data from laptops or tablets 

to be displayed on a large monitor. 

teknion. com 

6 Downtown by Artopex 

For a more casual option, Downtown’s 

modular furniture can be rearranged to 

suit different meeting styles. It contains 

hidden outlets and USB ports, and the 

supporting tables and media screens have 

built-in linking systems to seamlessly 

transfer information from mobile devices. 

artopex.com 


WFP/Dina El Kassaby 

Give Hope 

When millions of Syrian 

refugees felt forgotten, 

the world responded. 

That glimmer of hope is 

keeping them going. 

But this winter, many more 

still urgently need our help. 

Your donation to the World Food Programme 

could make a huge difference by providing 

Syrian refugees with vital food vouchers 

to buy food. 

No refugee should go hungry. 

PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TODAY. 

wfp.org/Syria 

THANK YOU. 

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency 

providing food asssistance to some 80 million 

people in 80 countries. 

Join us 

on Facebook 

follow us 

@WFP

MATERIAL WORLD 

OUTER 

SHELLS 

The latest exterior cladding systems 

incorporate materials that are both 

durable and decorative 

BY PAIGE MAGARREY 

CONCRETE AND STONE 

1 

2 

1 BRICK BY BRICK Designed for installation in rows of 

alternating sizes (or coursed patterns), as well as more 

traditional configurations, Urban Ledgestone comes in 

three sizes and two muted tones. arriscraft. com 

2 INTERACTIVE CAPABILITY Blingcrete’s touchsensitive 

concrete integrates a signal processor 

within a conductive medium. TouchCrete is available 

in different colours and patterns, and it can be used 

as a motion sensor or even as an embedded touchpad. 

blingcrete. com 

3 TOUGH TEXTURE Ideal for creating unique accents 

and adding texture, low-maintenance TuffBlock 

facade panels from Nichiha measure 16 millimetres 

thick and come in steel, pewter, walnut and bamboo 

hues. nichiha. com 

4 BESTSELLERS The new TaktlSelect program provides 

a curated selection of Taktl’s most popular highperformance 

concrete facades at a reduced cost. It’s 

an efficient option for large projects with average lead 

times that require simple repeating geometries. 

taktl-llc. com 

Natural 

durability 

3 34 

METAL 

1 

Easy to 

maintain 

3 

4 

2 

1 MIX AND MATCH Nine profiles have been added 

to Centria’s Cascade collection of single-skin metal 

panels, which provide hundreds of custom colour 

combinations with distinctive curves and ribs. 

centriaperformance.com 

2 EVER-GREEN Indoor-outdoor Vertical Green, from 

Italian manufacturer De Castelli, offers a metallic 

take on the green wall. The modular system of threedimensional 

copper “leaves” comes in an autumnal 

palette of golds, reds and rusted green. decastelli. it 

3 RIGID FLEXIBILITY Originally made for the Georgia 

BioScience Training Center, Lanier stainless steel 

rigid mesh is now part of Cambridge Architectural’s 

standard lineup. The versatile material is suitable 

for diverse applications such as facades, solar shading 

and parking garages; it comes in panels up to 30.5 

metres tall. cambridgearchitectural.com 

4 GRAPHIC METAL Hairline, one of the latest metal 

panel patterns from German manufacturer Inox 

Schleiftechnik, is a linear graphic etched on stainless 

steel or aluminum modules, in widths up to 2.5 metres. 

inox-schleiftechnik. de 


WOOD AND FIBRES 

1 

2 

1 MAINTENANCE-FREE Cedar Impressions individual 

five-inch sawmill shingles – Certainteed’s first 

polymer siding to offer the variegated characteristics 

of wood – install like traditional shingles but never 

need maintenance. certainteed. com 

2 FIBRE-INFUSED CEMENT Cellulose and minerals 

combine with regular cement mix to form Engineered 

Assemblies’ Equitone Linea, a high-density fibre 

cement cladding. The easily perforated and printable 

panels come in lengths up to three metres. 

engineeredassemblies. com 

3 RICE IMITATING WOOD Made from 60 per cent rice 

husks, along with salt and mineral oil, TruGrain by 

Westech Building Products looks like wood, but with 

the resistance to water, cracking, fungus, weather 

and humidity of man-made materials or metal. 

westechbp. com 

3 

Ingrained 

warmth 

4 METALLIC FINISH Spanish manufacturer Parklex 

has launched a bronze finish for its line of high-density 

stratified wood cladding. A special additive extends 

the natural durability. parklex. com 

4 

CERAMIC AND SOLID SURFACING 

1 2 

1 DESIGNER COLOURS Since Marcel Wanders 

launched the Lucia collection with Hi-Macs last year, 

the company has added three new colours to the 

line of tone-on-tone surfacing. Ice Queen, Shadow 

Queen and Star Queen each feature varying degrees 

of micro- particles and coarser shavings. himacs.eu 

2 CRADLE TO CRADLE Offering the market’s first 

C2C-certified exterior cladding tiles, Dutch manufacturer 

Mosa’s ventilated facade system is resistant 

to extreme weather, UV rays, graffiti and shocks. The 

new decorative finishes include glossy fire-glazed 

styles. mosa. nl 

3 SUPER-SIZED Laminam’s new Extra Large Size 

Series (think ceramic slabs measuring 1.6 by 3.2 

metres) are weather, UV and stress resistant. They’re 

available in more than 100 styles, including everything 

from 3-D textures to solid neutrals. laminam. it 

4 HIGH-TECH PORCELAIN Italian brand Monocibec 

and its technical division, Fincibec, have created a line 

of porcelain stoneware suitable for ventilated exterior 

cladding. The collection comes in a range of styles 

and sizes. monocibec.it 

3 

Manufactured 

endurance 

4 


MEDIA SHELF 

Infratecture 

Book by Marc Verheijen 

nai010 Publishers (softcover, 224 pages) 

BUILDING ART 

Book by Paul Goldberger 

For Rotterdam city planner and former OMA manager Marc Verheijen, a city’s web of 

streets, tunnels, bridges, paths and rail lines is ripe with potential. He argues that the 

channels people use to move their goods and themselves – the design of which he 

calls “infratecture” – are the crux of the cultural, ecological and economic changes 

that are needed to prepare cities for the future. The author presents 30 international 

case studies that spotlight the joint efforts of designers, engineers, planners, 

government and even citizens, grouped by such themes as Transfer, Bridging and 

Art. Some are familiar, including New York’s Grand Central Terminal (a building integral 

to the city’s transit system); others less so, such as Lyon’s years-long plan to move 

12,000 parking spaces from the city’s streets, a manoeuvre that eased crowding and 

made the city safer and more enjoyable for pedestrians. Verheijen’s concise examples, 

amply illustrated with photographs and diagrams, make for a vivid reminder of how 

design is key to a livable urban environment. BY KENDRA JACKSON 

Knopf (hardcover, 514 pages) 

”OH MY GOD, what have I done to these people?” When Frank Gehry 

visited the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, for its official opening in 1997, 

that was his initial reaction. He looked around at the massive swirls of 

titanium cladding and was terrified – of either making the biggest mistake 

of his life or becoming the world’s greatest living architect. Philip 

Johnson had yet to cry real tears on the Charlie Rose show and call the 

museum “the greatest building of our time.” New York Times architecture 

critic Michael Kimmelman had not yet proclaimed it the most significant 

building of the 20th century. Gehry was not yet that Gehry. 

He was still the Jewish kid from Toronto trying to make it in Los Angeles 

and, like every ambitious architect, working long hours on a dozen 

projects to stay afloat. While he had won a few big commissions, most 

notably the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A., none had been built. Gehry 

was best known for “cheapskate architecture” (his term), where he turned 

inexpensive materials like chain-link fencing and corrugated steel into 

playful, often wonky exterior features. 

Paul Goldberger’s biography devotes only a single chapter to Bilbao, 

but the project represents multiple convergences. Besides awakening 

the public to new architecture and causing every city thereafter to crave 

a starchitect landmark of its own, it was the point at which building 

with computers came of age. Engineered using computer-aided threedimensional 

interactive application (CATIA) software, Bilbao opened wide 

the possibility of constructing just about anything imaginable. 

Architecture has never looked back. 

Anyone familiar with Gehry’s career will recall many of his breakthrough 

moments, and Goldberger’s journalistic talent (he is a contributing 

editor at Vanity Fair) is perfectly suited to weave them into an insightful 

and entertaining narrative – right up to the present day, when Gehry, 

now 86, is still at the top of his game. 

Catherine Osborne is Azure’s editor. 

dutchDesign 

Website by Simon Fraser University 

sfudutchdesign.ca 

Since 2011, senior design students lucky enough to attend Simon Fraser University’s 

School of Interactive Arts and Technology have had the oppor tun ity to participate 

in dutchDesign, a biannual field school that offers a semester in the Netherlands. 

The program’s highly visual website reports on their research, capturing urban 

interventions in Eindhoven, or walkthroughs of the Paris metro. But the real highlight 

is a collection of interviews with design world notables. Each of these immaculately 

produced videos, roughly 10 minutes long, explores a single theme: industrial designer 

Matali Crasset speaks of design as the creation of scenarios for living; architect 

Winy Maas of MVRDV explains the importance of conveying identity through the structures 

we inhabit; and Ronan Bouroullec stresses the need for contextual awareness. 

Local personalities are included as well, illuminating the scope of Eindhoven’s design 

sensibility as they talk about tech-infused bicycles, locavorism and typography. 

Prospective students and seasoned pros alike will find plenty of food for thought. 

BY DAVID DICK-AGNEW 

BOOK PHOTOS BY TAYLOR KRISTAN 


David Adjaye: Collaborations 

Film by Oliver Hardt 

Signature Films (50 minutes) 

The only element common to each project by renowned British architect David 

Adjaye is that there isn’t one. Rather than flaunting a signature style, or replicating 

his earlier work and wrapping similar gestures around different purposes and places, 

his buildings are individually devised and driven by context. The interviewees in 

this feature-length documentary reinforce that impression when describing their 

interactions with the architect and his work. Assembled by the Haus der Kunst in 

Munich and the Art Institute of Chicago to complement a major exhibition of Adjaye’s 

work, Collaborations brings together a range of clients, curators and others who have 

worked closely with him over the course of his career. While these conversations are 

at times less commanding than the buildings that serve as the film’s backdrop, it’s 

a testament to Adjaye that rather than talk about how well they worked with him, each 

collaborator is compelled to discuss how well his buildings work – with people and 

with their surroundings. BY ERIN DONNELLY 

Top picks from 

Lee Broom 

Industrial designer 

MIAMI BEACH / MAY 10-13, 2016 

MIAMI BEACH CONVENTION CENTER 

BRINGING TOGETHER 

THE INTERIOR 

DESIGN COMMUNITY 

IN THE AMERICAS 

WWW.MAISON-OBJET.COM 

Surfing I like theselby.com. 

It’s an insight into people’s lives. 

It’s by a photographer named 

Todd Selby, who started off taking 

pictures of his friends’ homes 

and putting them on his website, 

and then it just went crazy. It’s got 

design, it’s got fashion, it’s got 

people that you know and people 

you don’t. His home shoots are very 

natural. Up to that point, we were 

used to seeing everyone’s homes 

looking so polished. 

Downloading I use the TurboScan 

app. Basically, it’s a scanning 

machine on your phone. I sketch 

all the time, and when I work with 

my design team, which produces 

technical drawings, we start with 

those sketches. I scan my sketches 

with my phone, and I can get them 

to my team straight away. 

Listening When I’m creating 

collections, I generally have an 

idea of how I want to present the 

show, and I’ll listen to music that 

relates to that mood. There’s an 

album by the artist Janelle Monae, 

called ArchAndroid. It has electro, 

it has funk, it has orchestral. It’s 

almost like opera in a way – a really 

cinematic album. I’ve worked to 

that quite often, because it takes 

you on a journey as you listen to it. 

CHRISTELLE REY - TEL : + 1 514 861 5668 / 1 800 387 2566 - CANADA@PROMOSALONS.COM 

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BOLDFACE 

AND THE WINNERS ARE… 

This year is already proving to be a big one for 

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. In January, he 

was named the 2016 recipient of the Pritzker Prize. 

The executive director of Chilean firm Elemental, best 

known for its social housing projects, is also curating 

this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, which he has 

titled Reporting from the Front. The exhibit was last 

curated by Rem Koolhaas, also a Pritzker laureate, 

who received the honour in 2000. 

One of the world’s top visual arts awards has gone to 

an architecture practice for the first time. In December, 

British collective Assemble was announced as the 

2015 winner of the Turner Prize, handed out annually 

by the Tate gallery. The young practice has been 

gaining notice for its temporary projects, such as the 

pop-up theatre Cineroleum. Recently, it has earned 

more permanent commissions, including Goldsmiths 

Art Gallery in London. 

The American Institute of Architects bestowed five 

awards in December, including the 2016 AIA Gold 

Medal, which went to Robert Venturi and Denise 

Scott Brown. The husband-and-wife team, who head 

up the eponymous firm, have been collaborating 

since the mid-’60s, often on sensitive projects with 

historical considerations. For the Sainsbury Wing 

of the National Gallery in London, they complemented 

the scale and materials of the original 1838 building 

with a modern intervention. Read about the other 

AIA honourees at aia.org. 

Early in the new year, technology brand Logitech 

received five Good Design Awards for 2015. Three 

more went to lighting brand Flos; and Alessi was 

tapped three times for its tableware, including a 

condiment set by Peter Zumthor. Custom rug company 

Illulian’s limited editions by Karim Rashid were also 

recognized by the program, which was initiated in 

1950 by Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames and 

Edgar Kaufmann Jr. 

A massive fur-lined orb, designed by Calgary 

artists Caitlind r.c. Brown, Wayne Garrett and Lane 

Shordee, has been selected as a winner in the second 

annual Winter Stations competition. In the Belly of 

a Bear and six other winners – including concepts by 

students from OCADU in Toronto; Laurentian 

University in Sudbury, Ontario; and U.K. architecture 

firm FFLO – were designed to be installed around 

lifeguard towers in Toronto’s Beach community, and 

are on view there from February 15 to March 20. 

winterstations. com 

Yves Béhar received the 2015 Design Miami / Design 

Visionary Award in December. The Jawbone designer 

presented an exhibition entitled Connecting, which 

provided a glimpse behind the curtain with sketches 

and prototypes from some of his most iconic works. 

A study trip to Germany is on the books for Montreal 

architects Pelletier de Fontenay, following their 

receipt of the Phyllis Lambert Grant and a $10,000 

cash prize. Given in recognition of the firm’s project 

Architectures de la nature captive, which explores 

the relationship between the built and natural environments, 

the endowment will fund visits to nature 

museums in four cities. They’ll pick up tips for the 

Insectarium Metamorphosis, their bug-focused 

addition to Montreal’s Space for Life Museum, to be 

built by 2019. The grant’s namesake also received 

accolades recently: Phyllis Lambert was the recipient 

of the 2016 Wolf Prize in Architecture. Handed out in 

five categories, the award is considered Israel’s 

equivalent of the Nobel Prize. 

MOVERS AND SHAKERS 

Detroit was recognized as a significant design hub 

when it was included as one of 47 additions to the 

UNESCO Creative Cities Network, announced in 

Paris this past December. The organization’s director 

general, Irina Bokova, presented the list of new members, 

acknowledging contributions to seven creative 

fields, including film, literature and music. Also on 

the list were Austin, Budapest, and Kingston, Jamaica. 

See all of the new members at unesco.org. 

British architect David Chipperfield will join the Rolex 

Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in 2016, as architecture 

mentor. The biannual program also announced 

six other master artists who will participate, including 

filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón and composer Philip Glass. 

Each mentor will select an emerging artist as a protégé 

for a year-long collaboration beginning in June. 

rolexmentorprotege. com 

Two major design events have announced an exciting 

partnership that will bring IMM Cologne to Los 

Angeles as part of Dwell on Design, running June 24 

to 26. Along with 50 international exhibitors, IMM 

will bring its Da Haus exhibit, designed this year by 

Sebastian Herkner, for its North American debut. 

In December, Lemay, the multidisciplinary Montreal 

firm, announced its purchase of interior design studio 

Andres Escobar & Associates. The latter has offices 

in New York, and a long history in the Middle East, 

both markets that Lemay is working to expand into. 

The board that oversees Toronto’s rapidly chan ging 

waterfront has a new president and CEO. Will Fleissig 

steps into the role following the retirement of longstanding 

head John Campbell. Fleissig was previously 

president at Communitas Development, a San 

Francisco real estate development and advisory 

company, and director of planning and development 

for Boulder, Colorado. 

ON THE BOARDS 

New York firm REX Architecture has won a 

prestigious commission to design a performing arts 

venue at the World Trade Center site. REX beat 

out both Schmitt Hammer Lassen and UNStudio for 

the job, which Frank Gehry had previously spent 

nearly a decade on before being dropped in late 2014. 

The building will be one of the final pieces in Daniel 

Libeskind’s master plan for Ground Zero. 

MILESTONES 

Eb Zeidler celebrated his 90th birthday in January. 

The senior partner emeritus at Zeidler Partnership 

still advises the firm he founded 60 years ago, and he 

has left an indelible mark on the Canadian landscape, 

with projects including Canada Place – created for 

Expo 86 in Vancouver – and such Toronto landmarks 

as the Eaton Centre and Ontario Place. 

COMING IN AZURE: 

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TRAILER 

On the flipside 

Unrealized architecture finds new life as art in Miami 

“Design Miami isn’t about architecture,” says 

Yiliu Shen-Burke. So why was the architectural 

designer from the Harvard Graduate School of 

Design standing at the threshold of the white-hot 

decorative arts fest back in December? Shen- 

Burke – along with fellow master’s candidates 

Joanne Cheung, Doug Harsevoort, Steven Meyer, 

and Jenny Shen – shrank the built environment 

to the scale of furniture, ceramics or lighting for 

Unbuilt, the Harvard GSD Pavilion. 

Each year since its 2005 inception, the fair 

has commissioned emerging talent to create an 

installation for its entry courtyard. Unbuilt marks 

the first time the privilege has gone to students; 

in turn, the Cambridge quintet milled 198 architectural 

models from foam in MiMo-era pink. 

Mounted on a soaring grid of steel supports, the 

forms are hung upside down, so visitors could 

stroll beneath the pastel cloud and take in its 

orthogonal nooks and biomorphic crannies. 

Though the final designs were selected via a 

competition, Cheung explains the pavilion as a 

model of inclusivity. The maquettes were elicited 

from an open call to GSD students, faculty and 

alumni to submit their unrealized work, from failed 

competition entries to concepts that never made 

it off the drawing board. While the pavilion literally 

skewers architecture – each volume is pierced by 

the steel armature, in a kind of urban kebab – 

its underlying message is heartfelt. Besides 

representing the widest possible swath of the 

Harvard GSD community, the project encompasses 

a huge intellectual network. Great works 

are founded on creative experiments and design 

iterations. Unbuilt reminds us that for every 

icon that is realized, innumerable alternatives 

engage in a dialogue that even design’s most 

devoted fans rarely get to witness. 

Design journalist David Sokol is seriously 

considering installing maquettes upside down 

on the ceiling of his New York apartment. 

PHOTO BY YILIU SHEN-BURKE 


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AZURE 2016-03-04_downmagaz.com

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