Groupe MONTONI boasts a portfolio of over 700 completed projects. Across Quebec, the company has built wide range of industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential properties, accounting for nearly 300,000 square metres of space throughout the province, with nearly as much still in the pipeline. When it came time to design a new head office, the company sought to celebrate the process of construction (and development) itself — but within a sleek, comfortable, and coherent space. For local designers Sid Lee Architecture (SLA), it presented for a creative challenge. Situated in Laval (a ..read more

The 14th edition of the AZ Awards Gala will take place at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks on Friday, June 21. Winners, including the People’s Choice, will be revealed and celebrated in company of colleagues and designers from around the world.  This is an opportunity to meet, mix and mingle with local and international finalists and our Guest of Honour, renowned landscape architect and educator Julie Bargmann, the first-ever recipient of the Oberlander Prize — a Pritzker-level honour bestowed by the Washington, D.C.-based Cultural Landscape Foundation.  Get your tickets now and f ..read more

Whether it’s the light golden tone of a lager or the deeper amber look of a pale ale, most pints of beer pour in some variation of the colour brown. But sour beers introduce a whole spectrum of more inspiring hues into the mix — with mango brews taking on a tropical tint, passionfruit sours boasting a sunset-like glow, and strawberry blends even rivalling fruit punch in their ruby red vibrancy.  New York City’s Talea brewing company understands this segment of the beer market especially well. Since launching in 2019, the beermaker (which is NYC’s first exclusively female-owned pr ..read more

As new parents, Karen Le Billon and her husband Philippe moved their young family from Vancouver to northern France. For Canadian Le Billon, relocating to Philippe’s hometown came as a culinary — and child-rearing — revelation. In a nation famed for its complex and even intimidating gastronomy, the couple’s daughters transformed from picky and demanding North American eaters to budding gourmands. Chronicled in Le Billon’s popular 2012 book French Kids Eat Everything, the process hinted at a broader difference in the cultural understanding of childhood. It’s a sensibility that translates to Fr ..read more

From retail to museums, Wutopia Lab’s wide-ranging portfolio is unified by an ethos of play: an approach the Shanghai firm refers to as magical realism. Though perhaps best known for its inventive bookstore designs, which have turned the typology on its head, the studio takes a similarly imaginative approach to its cultural projects, the latest of which have been dubbed Klein Blue Hills and White Cliffs. Completed in October 2023, the two structures bring new life to a former stockyard in Shanghai. Hemmed in by conventional-looking industrial buildings, the cultural hub immediately stands out ..read more

Golf is a slightly different game on every course, with a location’s climate and landscape both contributing to site-specific putting conditions. To hear L.A. design firm 22RE founder Dean Levin tell it, retail design is at its best when it conveys a similarly distinct sense of setting. Just look to Levin’s latest undertaking, Malbon Miami. After documenting his house reno on Instagram during the pandemic, Levin (who studied architecture in school, but had previously been working primarily as an artist) received a string of word-of-mouth commissions from friends of friends who liked his style ..read more

Spring is just around the corner. To celebrate, we’re offering 40% off subscriptions and single copies of Azure for two weeks only! In other words, there’s never been a better time to treat yourself to the best in global architecture and design. Get a copy of our latest issue, celebrating projects that centre social good, or, better yet, subscribe to a full year of inspiring content! Don’t miss your chance to immerse yourself in the latest cutting-edge architecture, innovative interiors, groundbreaking product design and industry trends. Head to our shop and use the promo code S ..read more

As stainless steel continues to take the design world by storm, it’s starting to feel like all the coolest hospitality spaces are suddenly modelling themselves after commercial kitchens. Maybe it’s the influence of The Bear, or maybe we’re all just craving some sense of order during a chaotic time. Either way, the latest project that’s taken a shining to stark, disciplined design is Istanbul coffee shop Petra Pera, designed by local firm Sanayi313.  Granted, in this setting, the industrial kitchen aesthetic is far more than just a trendy surface treatment. As anyone awaiting their mornin ..read more

When Petra Hanáková and Radek Techlovsky decided to buy Masná 130, a Renaissance-era home in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic, in 2016, they didn’t quite realize what they were getting into. Though complications are to be expected in a 500-year-old building, it was clear that it had been neglected for decades; the foundations were damaged by flooding, the roof was dilapidated, and the home wasn’t even connected to the sewage system. “We only discovered gradually that taking care of even a small historical house borders on insanity,” they said. But the new owners’ intuition told them that undernea ..read more

What do we owe each other as members of a community? What do we owe ourselves as individuals? What do we owe those we care for? “Brick and Roses,” the title of our cover story, recalls the time-honoured adage “bread and roses” and its twin appeal to have our basic needs met while also gaining some access to that often neglected essential: beauty. The article is about intentional communities, inspiring places enabled by co-operatives, community land trusts and other frameworks that allow a group of people to come together, organize and shape their own ways of collective living. Another saying ..read more