Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2023 i AZURE

It’s no exaggeration to say that LEDs have revolutionized what lighting can be and what it can achieve. “The flexibility and versatility of this modern lighting solution has allowed us to experiment with shapes and colours, creating completely new and surprising lighting effects,” says Davide Giovannardi of Mandalaki design studio. Launched as a new venture by the Milanese practice in 2017 to explore this untethered freedom, Halo Edition comprises a series of precision-engineered luminaires that marry the latest LEDs with optical lenses to project large, bright and intense spectra — vibrant sunset reds and deep oceanic blues. “For us, the merging of art and technology is central to our brand philosophy, and we strive to create unique pieces of high conceptual value that go beyond a simple source of illumination,”…

“Being there would be pretty spectacular.”—Lawrence Scarpa Stretching 36.5 metres, this resplendent low-slung home is two-faced in the best way. At its moat-like entrance, the home’s character is expressed by two stone-clad volumes that telescope out from the main concrete block; on the opposite, private side, the home is one sweeping gesture of minimalism. The detail that gives this serene rectangle its undeniable dynamism: a series of floor-to-ceiling rope brise-soleils that pivot open to dissolve the line between indoors and out. Designed by mf+arquitetos in Uberlândia, Brazil, Lake House continues its process of unfolding with a landscape that steps down from the hill on which the house is gently perched to a wooden platform and pool. The pairing of the two simple geometries of this architectural deck and the house…

Appearing like fantastical creatures from the deep sea, the pieces in the Metamorfosi collection capture the imagination in a truly delightful way. They are also proof positive that waste materials can be given a new and exuberant life, especially in the hands of like-minded creatives who place a high value on ecological, social and corporate responsibility. Before their collaboration on Metamorfosi, both the designers (Humberto and Fernando Campana) and the manufacturer (Paola Lenti’s eponymous Italian studio) were disrupters of design in their own right: Since forming their studio in São Paulo in 1984, the Campana brothers have become known for extraordinary genre-bending works that blur the line between fine art and design, while Paola Lenti has been merging traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge innovation and sustainable material exploration since its inception…

“Beautiful. And 20 years from now, it will look even more beautiful.”—Peter Mabeo Prime Seafood Palace is remarkable for its restraint. Applying only three materials — rich white maple, brass, and supple buff-toned leather — architect Omar Gandhi rendered the interior of the downtown Toronto restaurant with a warmth and intimacy more akin to a light-filled cathedral or cozy cabin in the woods. For Gandhi, it was an exercise in translating the refinement of the residential projects he’s known for to a commercial scale. For restaurateur Matty Matheson, it is exactly what he was looking for. An East Coaster, Matheson grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, and spent his childhood summers at his grandfather’s Blue Goose Restaurant on Prince Edward Island. Nostalgia for his formative years mixed with an…

“This is a clear winner.”—Pascale Sablan “Is it possible for a train station to be more than a stopover for travellers, but an urban public space that people can enjoy?” MAD Architects has answered its own question with the Jiaxing Train Station, an inspired demonstration of how infrastructure can be a force for commercial development and community reinvigoration. The 35.4-hectare project encompasses the redesign of the historic station itself — which had reached its maximum capacity — as well as new subterranean commerce courts, plazas to the north and south, and a renovation of the adjacent People’s Park. Altogether, MAD’s scheme connects bus terminals, a tramway, metro, car parking and taxi stands in a cohesive, future-oriented yet history-respecting whole. The architects rebuilt the historic station — after conferring with scholars,…

“A transformative project for the community that needs it.”—Lawrence Scarpa An ambitious plan for the redevelopment of the Lower Albina district of Portland, Oregon, sets out a holistic and socially conscious vision to repair decades of racist urban policies and rebuild a prosperous, close-knit Black community. Once home to a thriving African American neighbourhood, the downtown riverfront district was decimated in the postwar decades by mass displacement as interstate freeway construction and “urban renewal” transformed it into a sprawling waterfront arena complex. Led by local non-profit organization Albina Vision Trust and integrated design firm and curatorial practice El Dorado, the project seeks to reverse the damage that played out across the site’s 38 hectares on the east bank of the Willamette River. To shape the vision, the design team started…

Customizable Systems 1 Sei New components have been added to Austrian designer Marc Sadler’s Sei kitchen (2018) to allow for greater compositional range. Included are four materials for the countertop and 25 fresh colourways for the modules. Materials Wood, marble, steel, laminate, quartzite and more Manufacturer Euromobil, euromobil.com 2 Prism Addressing urban living needs, where the kitchen and living room are often one, Prism conceals appliances and ample storage behind elegant mirror-like panels for a clean and unified look. Materials Stone, metal, Fenix, high-gloss lacquer, plus others Manufacturer Moralia, moralia.ca 3 Guadalupe Shown in a soft pastel inspired by country homes, this modular family-style kitchen features a striking marble backsplash, titanium metal handles and numerous storage and organizing spaces. Materials Wood, metal, marble, etc. Manufacturer Aran Cucine, arancucine.it 4 Musa…

Norman Foster It’s a nearly impossible task to distill Norman Foster’s six-decade career into a few hundred pages. It’s easy to understand, then, why this monograph of the U.K. architect’s work comprises two XXL volumes. Enclosed in a custom slipcase that cleverly folds into a stand, the book reflects Foster’s skill at marrying art with structure. Alongside a short biography, the first volume showcases his oeuvre of more than 70 projects, from early collaborations with Buckminster Fuller to the iconic Millennium Bridge and 30 St. Mary Axe, as well as such works in progress as the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts. The second volume contains eight illustrated essays, written by Foster, that explore his many sources of inspiration; “Roots” follows his non-linear path to an architecture career, while “Flight” examines…

When Madrid firm SUMA Arquitectura submitted its competition-winning proposal for a Barcelona library in 2015, the architects dubbed the project “The Enchanted Forest.” It was pure serendipity that the resulting building, which opened in May 2022, was later named after the founding father of magical realism, Gabriel García Márquez. Like the literary genre, the library’s design balances pragmatism and whimsy — making it a fitting tribute to the celebrated Colombian author, who spent seven years living in Barcelona after writing One Hundred Years of Solitude. As a relatively young practice, SUMA was an unexpected choice for the landmark project (which is the firm’s first in Barcelona), but its striking proposal sparked the community’s imagination — and aligned with the government’s push for timber construction. SUMA had been toying with the playful…

“It’s super-interesting graphically.”—Meg Graham Crack open a geode and a crystalline, luminous world reveals itself inside an unassuming rock. Crack open an apartment complex? Behind the sleek glass facades characteristic of contemporary residential towers, Dutch architects MVRDV and developer Edge have conjured textured and dramatically jagged inner topographies—a high-rise landscape reminiscent of a craggy rock cliffside. In Amsterdam, the innovative mixed-use complex Valley playfully evokes a sort of geode in reverse, offering a pixelated counterpoint to the glazed rectilinear forms that increasingly define dense urban living. The 75,000-square-metre project comprises three residential towers rising from a shared commercial base. A variety of retailers — including cafés, restaurants and a Molteni&C flagship — animate the street level, while the seven podium storeys are mostly occupied by offices, and 200 apartments are…

Wines are an embodiment of the terroir. In the eastern Aegean Sea, the Greek island of Samos is renowned for its viticulture and a history of wine production and distillation that stretches back to antiquity. To this day, the Mediterranean climate, granite soil and semi-mountainous topography make the island an ideal home for sweet muscat grapes — a key ingredient in the production of Metaxa liquor. To help the time-honoured brand share and embrace its roots, Greek designers K-Studio have sensitively adapted a Metaxa vineyard to welcome guests into the productive landscape that kindles the drink’s distinctive aroma and character. Situated beneath the village of Vourliotes — and 800 metres below sea level — a sloped 380-square-metre plot was subtly transformed to create a journey through the century-old vineyard. Carefully…

“There’s a sense of fun that softens the strong conceptual ideas behind it.”—Thom Fougere With Plusminus, Diez Office and Vibia collapse the distinctions between traditional lighting typologies like pendants and floor lamps. Rather than approaching a lighting design as a single stand-alone object, their ultra-flexible system imagines it as something more akin to a charm bracelet covered in ornaments. At the heart of their concept is a special polyester belt threaded with copper wire. Designed to conduct electricity (but still safe to touch), this band provides the structural backbone for an entire kit of lighting parts. Six luminaire fittings allow cones, spheres and other simple geometric shades to easily clip onto the fabric and deliver various styles of task or mood lighting. Additional mounting components work to secure the belt…

As a cultural touchstone of the 1990s, plaid tends to evoke Kurt Cobain’s flannel shirt collection. But these days, the pattern is also contributing to a whole new kind of acoustical nirvana thanks to the design team at Turf. Mind you, the manufacturer’s Plaid acoustic ceiling product skews more grand than grunge. A three-dimensional take on crisscrossing lines, the geometric ceilingscape effectively transforms overhead space into its own architectural focal point. What’s more, the sound-absorbing properties of the system’s recycled PET felt mean that someone can now play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at one end of the office without drowning out their co-worker’s nearby Zoom call. Along with its ability to cut down on distracting sonic interference, Plaid’s strength is its extensive customizability. The collection is available as both a…

“What is especially powerful about this project is the visceral response it elicits — particularly in how it poetically weaves together human habitation with the landscape and our non-human relations in a kind of material and formal dance.”—David Fortin Part museum, part nature reserve and part visitor centre, The Whale emerges elegantly from the rugged Norwegian coastline. Copenhagen firm Dorte Mandrup’s competition-winning proposal may at first seem a little on the nose, but it is inspired as much by the sea mammal’s appearance as it is by its adaptive behaviours. Located on the tip of Andøya, an island about 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, the site’s dramatic underwater landscape and unique microclimate make it an ideal feeding ground for migrating whales — and consequently, a prime location to…

“It’s so lovely. It’s a breath of fresh air for Ottawa.”—Meg Graham Slated for completion in 2031, Block 2 is poised to emerge as a vital civic space, one that expertly weaves together past, present and future. Due to its location across from Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, it was critical that a site of such national importance embody Canadian values — and reflect a more sustainable and inclusive future. This competition-winning proposal by 2023 Pritzker Prize honoree David Chipperfield and Canadian firm Zeidler Architecture more than fits the bill. Block 2 is imagined not just as a government facility but as a key piece of urban infrastructure. Besides housing offices for the Senate and Members of Parliament, it includes additions to the Library of Parliament and revitalized retail spaces on Sparks…

“There’s a real grappling with the micro and macro here. You can tell it’s a passion project.”—Thom Fougere With this ingenious affordable housing concept, architecture student Nicole Cao beautifully illustrates how shelter has many meanings. Imagined for a site adjacent to Bramalea City Centre in a suburb northwest of Toronto, Solar Steps would house 100 to 150 residents in a collective living scenario that brings them together as a community, internally and with their surroundings. The design challenge became a matter of mediating environmental disruption while maintaining and strengthening social connections to the commercial activity taking place on site. Solar Steps achieves this by redefining the thresholds between private and public spaces — while mitigating the environmental disruption of the growing commercial district in which it resides — and making…

“It’s a game-changing product.”—Lawrence Scarpa Over the past century, an astonishing 88 per cent of the U.S.’s oyster biomass has been lost due to pollution, harvesting and habitat destruction. This lack of filter feeders has significantly decreased the water quality in coastal areas, disrupting what were previously some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. Florida has been particularly vulnerable due to its narrow, kilometres-long seawall-lined canals, which preclude conventional living shorelines, and the resulting habitat fragmentation caused by long distances between natural mangroves. Enter Mangrove Reef Walls, an alternative solution that seeks to shift coastal construction toward more sustainable practices, restoring these marine environments and reconnecting urban waterways. Parametrically modelled to resemble the form and function of naturally occurring red mangrove tree roots and oyster reefs, the digitally…

Alcova, the recurring Milan Design Week group exhibition, is defined in part by its off-the-beaten-path settings, which have included a defunct cashmere factory, an abandoned military hospital and a former panettone production facility. Alcova’s founders, Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, have said that this nomadic approach is partly a way to avoid contributing to gentrification. After the week ends, life can go back to the way it was — even if that means that a site returns to relative obscurity. Yet given the potential of these locations, this can often feel like a missed opportunity. This year was different in that Alcova’s temporary home — Ex Macello, an erstwhile abattoir — is already in the midst of transformation. In July 2021, a team including real estate company Redo Sgr and design…

Pascale Sablan An associate principal at Adjaye Associates — and colead of the firm’s New York office — Pascale Sablan has over 15 years of experience spanning numerous projects around the world. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. The 315th living African American woman registered architect in the United States, Sablan is an activist architect who works to advance architecture for the betterment of society by bringing visibility and voice to the issues concerning women and BIPOC designers. She founded the Beyond the Built Environment organization to address the inequitable disparities in architecture. Jay Osgerby Jay Osgerby co-founded London, U.K., industrial design studio Barber Osgerby together with Edward Barber in 1996. Its approach emphasizes experimentation…

From afar, it could be mistaken for a classical building. Yet KPMB’s showpiece expansion of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the culmination of three phases, was completed less than a year ago. Its historic references are intentional. Located across the street from the ornate Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, the addition — known as the Harrison McCain Pavilion — offers a contemporary counterpoint that reinterprets the porticos of its heritage context through material and form. The pavilion’s elegant precast concrete and glass facade — including its impressive colonnade — gently curves to mirror its Queen Street site and the adjacent Saint John River. The river’s influence was twofold: Due to dramatic springtime flooding, the ground floor is elevated well above the floodplain, also strengthening its relationship to the legislative…

“I appreciate the interesting approaches this project takes as well as its educational aspects.”—Lawrence Scarpa Even turned upside down, flowers find their way toward the sun. Conceived as part of Quebec’s renowned Jardins de Métis, Gravity Field imbues an inventive landscape folly with an artistic paean to the resilience of nature and the possibilities of adaptation. Designed by New York–based Terrain Work, the installation comprises a cloud of 171 sunflowers that appear to float just above the ground. Initially grown upside down, the plantings eventually curved toward the light, seemingly defying the laws of physics. Constructed over a four-day period on a 162-square-metre plot using repurposed wood, a trellis supports these unique planters, which were themselves adapted from off-the-shelf outdoor lighting fixtures. With this simple kit of parts — and…

“It’s art and sculpture and architecture and placemaking.”—Jay Osgerby If experimental architectural landmarks like Buckminster Fuller’s Expo 67 Biosphere and Disney’s EPCOT ball serve as clues, prevailing design logic dictates that a glimpse of the future is best delivered in spherical form. The latest in this line of impressive, forward-thinking destinations is Novartis Pavillon, commissioned by pharmaceutical company Novartis to host the permanent multimedia exhibition “Wonders of Medicine” at its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. The building’s designers — AMDL Circle and Michele De Lucchi — understood that a venue dedicated to communicating the power of science ought to incorporate a few scientific breakthroughs of its own. In turn, they worked with design studio iart to develop an innovative zero-energy media facade system that more than lives up to the inspiring…

A little over a decade ago, the High Line made the case for reimagining New York’s decommissioned railway tracks as a raised parkway. But why wait until a transit system is retired to unlock its higher potential? In Shenzhen, architecture studio Crossboundaries worked with the district government to rethink the roof of the southern terminal and depot building for the city’s Metro Line 2. The resulting design forms an elevated community hub that introduces both recreational space and professional sports facilities. To allow multiple user groups to enjoy the roof simultaneously, the 1.2-kilometre-long space (which ranges in width from 50 to 70 metres) is subdivided into five zones. Two of these provide recreational facilities for neighbouring schools (specifically, the Shenzhen Bay School’s north and south campuses, as well as the…

“The concept of reuse of industrial sites tells quite a nice story about making something desirable in a place that has been exploited.”—Jay Osgerby Well-considered and thoughtful, Dimitrios Mitsimponas’s Re-mining Giali is a landscape rehabilitation proposal that sees a pumice mine on a volcanic Greek island — once exhausted and decommissioned — converted into an oasis that not only heals the anthropogenic damages inflicted upon it but also rejuvenates the mind, body and spirit of those who visit. Part of the large cluster of islands that form the Dodecanese in the southeastern Aegean Sea, uninhabited Giali is the visible portion of a submerged caldera that formed roughly 200,000 years ago. Deemed archaeologically and geologically significant due to its abundance of volcanic rocks, it has been plundered by mining and deforestation…

Architecture: Buildings Over 1,000 SqM Project: Shanshui Firewood Garden Location: Sichuan, China Firm: MIX Architecture, China Team: Suning Zhou with Ke Yang, Qian Shi, Ziye Wu, Tao Tang and Libin Lin Photos: Arch-Exist Earth, water, light and air: Shanshui Firewood Garden brings it all together beautifully in a 1,100-square-metre tearoom in Sichuan. The building comprises four rectangular huts, which pinwheel around a central pond. The exterior cladding — red sandstone in a brick-weave pattern — evokes local vernacular design, and the interior amenities, like the café and reading room, offer framed views onto a nearby bamboo forest. The central pond is surrounded by what the architects call “hollow walls”: rows upon rows of mottled firewood, suspended from the eaves by cables, which sway in the breeze and cast shadows onto…

Porcelain 1 Silverdrop 1 2 Caesarstone’s recent expansion into porcelain includes this grey pattern featuring blue undertones and sage accents that bring a rich, earthy feel to modern kitchens. At 1.2 centimetres thick, slabs are offered in lengths of up to 3.2 metres and widths of 1.6 metres. caesarstone.com 2 Calacatta Macchia Vecchia The veining on SapienStone 4D, a recently introduced large-format by Iris Ceramica Group, extends right through, creating a pattern that carries from surface to side edge with no visual interruption. The collection includes several colourways, with each slab measuring 2.0 centimetres thick. ciot.com 3 Fusion Inspired by oxidized metal, Casalgrande Padana’s stoneware tiles replicate the aged appeal of industrial finishes. Offered with a special antibacterial finish, the range includes six colours and a variety of tile sizes,…