Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2023 i AZURE

British talk shows had a particularly loose spirit in the 1990s. “People were just smoking away, having a kind of gaudy, drunken chat on the sofa,” says Alex Holloway, creative director of London design firm Holloway Li. Hoping to capture this playful energy, Holloway and his studio co-founder, Na Li, set out to create a similarly cheeky furniture collection. The result is T4, a series of modular seating in vibrant colours and blown-up proportions. Indeed, Holloway and Li were also inspired by the inflatable armchairs from their childhood bedrooms, and sought to develop something that looked “amorphous and chubby” but was deceptively lightweight. To achieve this desired airiness, the duo enlisted Turkish manufacturer Uma, which specializes in fibreglass auto parts and had previously collaborated with Holloway Li on resin panels for…

At a symphony performance, the most integral instrument is perhaps the concert hall itself. Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall is a case in point. Originally designed by Max Abramovitz, the New York Philharmonic’s headquarters had been notorious for poor acoustics since its opening in 1962. Over the years, several architects, including Philip Johnson, sought to resolve the issues, to no avail. But the latest revamp, completed this past October, may finally mark the end of this sonic saga. Toronto-based firm Diamond Schmitt (which also operates a New York office) won the competition for the hall’s design in 2015 based in part on its experience with Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and the Mariinsky II Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Over the past two years, the firm raced to…

Just a short trek from Todos Santos in Baja California Sur, Mexico, is a mini compound offering a unique escape from the bustle of the up-and-coming tourist town. Surrounded by a desert landscape dotted with low-lying scrub and cacti, Casa Santos responds to its environmental context through resilient and sustainable architecture that celebrates place and performance. When architects María Gómez, Héctor Coss and Giovanni Ocampo were commissioned for the project, it was initially intended as a private villa for two business owners and their families. In a move that proved fortuitous, as the retreat is now available for public bookings, the trio broke away from a standard house set-up by sequestering different room functions (bedroom, kitchen and living space) into 11 separate yet identical cubes arranged into three clusters (two…

WINDOW WALL SYSTEM Suitable for homes and high-rises, this system has a tilt-in panel design that can be safely installed from the inside. The kit of parts features an adaptable PVC thermal break (glue or cap) that accommodates different panel materials and thickness and is non-strutted for easy disassembly and recycling. kovaproducts.com NORTHERN TRI-PANE COLLECTION Designed specifically for colder climates, these thermal-performance windows feature two 1.2-centimetre argon-filled air pockets between three panes that add an extra layer of insulation and reduce radiant heat condensation. The interior panes also buffer exterior noise transfer and increase internal sound absorption for a quieter environment. A range of operating styles and frame finishes are available. jeld-wen.ca SLIMLINE 38 Offered in three surface styles — inclined Classic, stepped Cubic (shown) or straight with shadow gaps Ferro —…

Wallpapers 1 Chess Influenced by classic board games, Italian palazzo marble flooring and Vans sneakers, Eskayel founder and creative director Shanan Campanaro’s hand-painted and digitally printed pattern pairs bright colours with a more fluid rendition of the grid-like motif. Materials Clay-coated paper, latex water-based ink; in six colourways (Reef shown)  Manufacturer Eskayel, eskayel.com 2 Lagoon Italian graphic designer and illustrator Anna Zaccaria created this dreamlike series that celebrates nature through stylized florals and varying chromatic depths. Three patterns are included, each in two colourways.  Materials Vinyl and silk  Manufacturer Or.nami, ornami.it 3 Orb One of four non-repeating murals inspired by the “enigmatic wonders of the world” that make up the Mystique collection, Orb romantically riffs on the moon’s glowing energy and can be detailed with hand-sewn felt accents. Materials Textured…

The pandemic changed the types of projects that lead a city’s tourism brochure: Starchitect-designed museums are out and dynamic green spaces are in. “Access to fresh air, open sky and nature is now our priority,” says Richard Kennedy, senior principal of James Corner Field Operations, “as is providing equal opportunity to experience something, so you’re not privileging one audience. Parks are the democratic spaces of a city.” Granted, the new six-hectare landscape that Kennedy’s team recently completed on San Francisco’s north side long predates the shift to outdoor gathering: Presidio Tunnel Tops is the culmination of a decades-long infrastructure plan to bury a key urban roadway. The finished project carves walking trails and drought-tolerant gardens into bluffs that sit directly atop seven lanes of the 101 highway. It also reconnects…

From the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel to the Grande Arche de la Défense, the Historical Axis in Paris is a walkable 10-kilometre stretch of architectural and cultural significance. So in order for a new building to make any sort of impression, it must possess a little something special. Case in point, the recently completed InDéfense and Hôtel OKKO; it now anchors La Défense — the westernmost region of the Axis and Europe’s largest purpose-built business district — which dates back to the 1950s. As the first structure you see when you enter the neighbourhood, it needed to be an “eye-catching and dynamic” standout. This aspect was top of mind when Danish architecture firm 3XN began designing the 16,000-square-metre mixed-use project (its first in France), which was commissioned…

Material Cultures has an admirable goal: to steer the architecture industry “towards a post-carbon built environment.” Working with all levels of the A & D community, the U.K.-based not-for-profit, which was co-founded in 2019 by architects Summer Islam and Paloma Gormley (architect George Massoud joined as director in 2021), champions regenerative design and construction principles. It advocates the use of bio-based materials and sustainable building methods that are economically viable and “touch lightly on the ground.” The group recently launched its first book, Material Reform, a collection of essays that call for a more harmonious relationship between the built environment and the natural world. Here, they — collectively — share some thoughts on how change can be implemented. Recognize your responsibility “It’s really critical that architects understand the consequences and implications…

As part of a larger regional project intended to bring back life, heritage and tourism to the depopulated area around the Aragón River in Northeastern Spain, Zaragoza-based Sebastián Arquitectos has restored a small stone chapel outside the hamlet of Ruesta. The hermitage of San Juan de Ruesta was originally built in the 12th century; it was known for its significant collection of Romanesque paintings before the artwork was removed in the early 1960s, when a pharaonic reservoir and dam were built nearby, hastening the area’s decline. In 2001, in an act that Sergio Sebastián Franco, founder of the architecture practice, calls “cruel and unnecessary,” the local government demolished part of the chapel’s roof and walls and covered the remains with a metal structure. The brief to the firm (which is also…

A renovated 18th-century building is now the beating heart of a co-housing project in Leuven, Belgium. Distinct from the development’s cork-clad apartment blocks, the pitched-roof structure once housed a café called “De Sijs,” which became the new project’s namesake. Beyond the charm of its restored facade, the neighbourhood fixture is the inviting face of OFFICEU architects’ pragmatic and innovative solution to urban housing. The three volumes are linked by an L-shaped circulation axis, along which are located the entrances to the flats and the shared spaces — a move that maximizes residents’ interactions and strengthens their sense of community. The project is the result of an open competition organized by the city and the future inhabitants and assisted by Cohousing Projects, a Belgian organization that acts as a consultant and…

The street is packed. It’s a glorious Saturday, and I’m lost in the festival crowd, basking in the sun-drenched splendour of a summer afternoon. The faces and families number in the thousands — the mosaic of races and ethnicities that define a multicultural metropolis. Closed to traffic, the busy thoroughfare is animated by some 130 vendors as aromas of falafel, roasted corn, Hawaiian barbecue, Hakka, gyros and jerk waft sweetly through the air. On either side of the festivities, some of North America’s best restaurants line the street, their outdoor tables melding with the throng. Over 250,000 people gather here over the course of the three-day fair. This is Toronto’s beating heart. Not everyone would agree. The annual Taste of Lawrence plays out well away from the city’s downtown, in…

Despite starting construction in 1390, the Basilica di San Petronio at the heart of Bologna, Italy, remains incomplete, its facade only half-covered in marble. This landmark gains new symbolic meaning each September when the Emilia-Romagna region’s capital hosts Cersaie, an annual showcase of porcelain and ceramic tiles where Italian manufacturers unveil ever more realistic marble imitations. At the exhibition fairgrounds last fall, it was easy to imagine a day where the upper half of Bologna’s central basilica could be convincingly finished in a stone-look product. Sure, many would decry this as sacrilege. But it’s a testament to the verisimilitude of today’s marble-like offerings — by manufacturers like Atlas Concorde, Florim and Cotto d’Este — that it’s actually possible to entertain the idea. Atlas Plan can even extend an extra-large porcelain…

From initial sketch to final rendering, realistic models of architectural concepts traditionally take days (if not weeks) to produce. The fantastical facades pictured here — structures sheathed in swaths of multicoloured fabric, glazing encased in Antoni Gaudí–inspired curves — are different. They were created by artificial intelligence. Using text-to-image A.I. tools (Midjourney is one of the most popular), designers and architects are conceptualizing boundary-pushing envelopes using little more than a string of text. Enter a few words and these tools get to work, scouring image “memories” developed during the A.I.’s neural network training. Seconds later, they generate new forms and invite the human on the other side of the screen to refine, remix or upscale their appearance. A welcome disruption to a manual process or a threat to the human element…

TEKSTUR With an expansive portfolio of patterns and colourways, Tekstur (an EcoSupply brand) protective panelling makes an immediate visual and textural statement. A composite made by applying heat and pressure to resin-saturated kraft or decorative papers (recycled and FSC-certified), the material is resistant to impact, heat, water and staining; a variety of predetermined patterns are available, as is the option for custom designs. ecosupplycenter.com, tekstur.com LUNA LAYER The Luna Layer extra-wide spruce exterior cladding (shown here on an upper terrace of the Wittywood office building in Barcelona by Ballarin & Grinyó) has a brushed surface that will gradually turn a lovely larch-like grey over time if left untreated. The straight-edged tongue-and-groove planks are available in two widths and are easy to assemble on site. lunawood.com MODULAR AL WALL SYSTEM This flexible…

Remnants of an old farm road, low stone fences punctuating the landscape, striking views and a client with a penchant for the works of British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy: What more could Wei-Han Vivian Lee and James Macgillivray, founding principals of Lee and Macgillivray Architecture Studio (LAMAS), have wished for as they first met with their new client in North Hatley in Quebec’s Eastern Townships? She wanted a home she would eventually occupy on a full-time basis, and which her daughter — and her family — would consider theirs as well. Toronto-based LAMAS had already built a house in the small community, and they knew it intimately — particularly Macgillivray, who spent many summer holidays here. The site occupies part of a much larger former homestead that once belonged to the…

When Pina Petricone, co-founder of Toronto design firm Giannone Petricone Associates, first visited the then-shuttered Royal Hotel in Picton, Ontario, back in 2013, she was intrigued by the strange green carpeting in one of the rooms. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was actually moss. Opened in 1879 as an upscale destination for rail travellers, the Royal later deteriorated into a seedy tavern before closing up shop altogether in 2008, and the roof began leaking not long after. The hotel that Petricone walked into was decrepit, but it also boasted that rare dignity that comes from having lived a long and complicated life. “There was something incredibly sublime about the building in that state,” she says. Guests at the revamped Royal Hotel, which officially reopened this past spring, will…

Luxury Vinyl Tile 1 Botanic This past fall, Bolon expanded its popular woven vinyl Botanic collection with eight new colours, including earthy tones like Honey, Chestnut and Canyon, as well as Rain (a subtle purple) and Vintage (a dark blue). The designs are offered in rolls, 50-by-50-centimetre tiles and custom configurations. bolon.com 2 Great Heights Part of Interface’s nature-inspired Fresco Valley range, this flooring collection is available in six textural colourways inspired by woods like white oak and birch. Each 25-by-100-centimetre tile includes a sound-reducing backing as well as a durability-boosting wear layer. interface.com 3 Pattern of Time For its latest launch, Mohawk Group looked to artist workshops to develop wood-grain patterns with a subtle wash of colour — almost as though the flooring were splashed with paint and then…