Architecture is a vessel for cultural expression. From Douglas Cardinal’s Canadian Museum of History and Raymond Moriyama’s Science North to John and Patricia Patkau’s Audain Art Gallery, the country’s public galleries and museums claim a leading place in the national design discourse, providing a civic lens through which we understand culture, art, history, and nature. Yet, across Canada, the lens is seldom inverted; our galleries and museum programs rarely focus on architecture. Fortunately, there are notable exceptions. Last fall, I visited the elegant KPMB-designed Harrison McCain Pavilion ..read more

While in many parts of the world, outdoor furniture has a short season, that doesn’t mean that the design of al fresco spaces should take a back seat. This year’s launches prove that outdoor products can be every bit as comfortable, functional and stylish as their interior counterparts. And, thanks to manufacturing innovations, they are also durable enough to stand up to outdoor conditions — whatever the weather. Below, we’ve rounded up five standout collections that do just that: 1 ARIES Café Chair by Maglin Site Furniture Aries Café Chair Comfortable. Portable. Adaptable. These were the ..read more

Back in 2018, Flos introduced Bellhop: a small but mighty table lamp that kicked off the portable lighting boom. Defined by a rounded shade that mimics a porter’s cap, the design was an immediate hit. (In 2020, streetwear brand Supreme even released its own special edition, cementing the lamp’s place as an unlikely status symbol among sneaker heads.) The original portable Bellhop table lamp… and the Supreme special edition. For Barber Osgerby — the London team led by Ed Barber and Jay Osgerby that has envisioned everything from the 2012 Olympic torch to Apple’s task chair of choice ..read more

Julie Bargmann is a force of nature. For over three decades, the Virginia-based practitioner has not only transformed landscapes but also how we perceive them. Her work in remediating post-industrial sites into thriving, productive green spaces has demonstrated that landscape architecture is an activist realm – one of reclaiming, recycling and reimagining. AZURE is delighted to host Julie Bargmann in Toronto for two exceptional design events. AZURE Talk session on Thursday, June 20 at 6:30 pm – Bargmann will deliver a presentation on her inspiring career at George Brown’s Waterfront Camp ..read more

If two realms of work can be said to occupy opposite sides of the spectrum, they might be the industrial factory and the A.I. company. Standout examples of both types of workplace are featured in our May/June 2024 issue. WXY’s and Body Lawson’s The Peninsula bakes the factory typology into a new affordable housing community in Hunts Point, New York, where food processing is the literal bread and butter of the local economy. While the Bronx neighbourhood has long been a significant commercial zone, over the past several decades, its residents have suffered higher-than-average rates of poverty ..read more

RADICAL REUSE When the building is a relic, a ruin, a shell of its former self, an adaptation that links past and future can be just as audacious as it is sustainable and functional. Case Study 1: Domino Sugar Refinery, New York The Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn was once the largest such operation in the world. Today, it accommodates 15 storeys of office, retail and event spaces — all inside a glass volume inserted within the original facade. This new structure culminates in a stunning barrel vault roof that recalls the American round-arch style of the building’s windows. In adapti ..read more

It wasn’t that long ago that co-working spaces were riding what seemed like a massive wave that would never break. New brands were launching every few months (East Room in Canada, Second Home in Europe and NeueHouse in the U.S. were just some of the more interesting iterations from a design perspective), while established co-working companies like WeWork were opening spaces at warp speed. Then WeWork started to teeter and eventually collapsed in the face of insurmountable debt and crippling losses, COVID-19 reared its disruptive head, and much of the planet was ordered to work from home. Sudde ..read more

A tumultuous history of development has characterized Hunts Point Peninsula over the past century. Located along the southeastern edge of the Bronx and bounded by New York City’s East River, Bronx River and the Bruckner Expressway, the largely industrial neighbourhood was once a retreat for Manhattan’s elite — the likes of which included members of the Tiffany & Co. family — lined with sprawling estates and waterfront mansions. After the First World War, its ample space and strategic rail access to the tri-state area spurred a flurry of commercial and industrial activity, paving the way fo ..read more

Make the workspace a landscape. That was the essential brief that Nvidia put forward to Hood Design Studio, best known as the firm behind the landscape architecture at Crosstown Memphis, the new de Young Museum in San Francisco and the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The A.I. giant (currently valued at over two trillion dollars) selected HDS, led by Walter Hood, in an invited competition to create new office spaces for its Santa Clara headquarters — outdoors. Being able to take your laptop outside might be a year-round perk in perpetually sunny and mild Cal ..read more

Textiles are one of the most under-used and underappreciated tools in the designer’s tool kit. They soften the hard edges of modern materials and interiors to add comfort, intimacy, acoustic buffering and pure sensual pleasure. And every January, Frankfurt’s giant Heimtextil exposition asserts itself as one of the world’s most important bazaars for this most tactile of design elements. Along its hundreds of fabric-lined corridors, the seduction is relentless and palpable. In one section, you feel like you’re strolling through some ethereal Moroccan souk, and then, in the next hall, a jungle of ..read more