Inhoudsopgave van May/June 2025 - AZURE

When the world is changing at whiplash speed, how do you take stock? Azure’s 40th anniversary offers us an occasion to pause — if just for a moment — and evaluate the major moments that have brought us here. I am referring to our 40th anniversary journal, updated since our last celebrated milestone (year 35) to include the tumultuous years since the beginning of the decade. Globally, we faced a daunting challenge as the COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives and cities; we weathered that era only to arrive at a new nexus of uncertainty. Along the way, architects, designers, urbanists, artists, activists, and the myriad other creative professionals that we have featured in this magazine since its inception in 1985 have come up with ingenious ways to persevere and push…

Three office projects that let sustainability shine, innovative earth-friendly materials from two major furniture manufacturers and more WHEN NEW WAVE LONDON decided to expand its headquarters of 15 years, staying in the same neighbourhood — the vibrant borough of Brent — was top of the wish list. To evaluate the efficiency of its existing office, the high-end construction company tapped long-time collaborator Thomas-McBrien Architects, which responded with the proposition of a 600-squaremetre glulam roof extension. This would preserve the two-storey industrial building and free up valuable floor space without expanding the structure’s footprint. What’s more, the overhaul would create zero timber waste. “Belonging to an industry with a significant impact on climate change, we are acutely aware of our responsibility to advocate for sustainable design wherever possible,” shares practice founder…

What might a building designed for A.I. innovation look like? Ask ChatGPT, and you might expect the online software to conjure complex algorithmic forms, holographic displays or even a dynamic smart facade. Instead, its response is surprisingly practical: “A building designed for A.I. innovation would reflect the technology’s emphasis on adaptability, efficiency and cutting-edge research,” it tells me. In dreaming up the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus (SRIC), a new tech incubator at the University of Toronto whose tenants include the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence (led by Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton), New York firm Weiss/Manfredi didn’t rely on A.I. for design inspiration. And yet, when I tour the building on a rainy morning in March, it’s clear that the final product delivered on these imperatives — and much more. When…

Twenty-four kilometres from Chicago’s downtown waterfront and iconic Navy Pier Ferris wheel, there is a little-known toxic waste dump. Located in the Southeast Side neighbourhood that once hosted the city’s steel manufacturing plants, the dump sits along Lake Michigan’s shoreline just north of Calumet Park’s popular beaches. Unlike many landfills, where human detritus piles up, this one contains material dredged from the Calumet River — the stuff pulled from riverbeds to ensure the commercial waterway remains navigable. It appears like a benign dry retention pond surrounded by barbed wire and fencing. But beneath the surface sit decades’ worth of highly toxic sediments, and like any landfill located next to where kids play, it has drawn the rightful ire of local residents and environmental justice advocates who want to see it…

Pat Hanson’s Heroic Public Infrastructure How remarkable can a project called “Real Time Control Building #3” truly be? If it’s in the hands of Pat Hanson, founder of Gh3*, the question itself is redundant. The architect’s works in Toronto and Edmonton, including the aforementioned “state-of-the-art engineered mechanism for monitoring the time-sensitive dynamic loading of urban store and wastewater,” demonstrate the power of inspiring infrastructure design. An outlier in Canadian procurement culture, the City of Edmonton awarded Hanson in its competitions for a number of park pavilions — and ever since, she has amassed a portfolio of stunning work that proves urban amenities can and should be beautiful. Downsview Framework Plan Few sites are less conducive to good urbanism than airports. From sprawling runways and hulking terminals to the sea of…

Our guides to the newest furniture, finishes, building materials and more Recess Ukrainian brand Corner recently introduced the Scandi-inspired Recess collection, defined by its depressed rounded-rectangular handles. Made from Fenix (in three colourways) with exposed plywood edges, the series includes a six-drawer island, a pantry, shelving and units that easily integrate appliances. Margo Designed with architect Roberto Gobbo, the Margo island (and coordinating cabinet) from Euromobil marries a sandblasted oak body with a Taj Mahal quartzite worksurface. A 14-millimetre perimeter frame on the doors and drawers highlights the units’ craftsmanship and elegance. Archigraphica Honouring the warmth and character of wood, this kitchen designed by Gabriele Centazzo for Valcucine features a grid of raised square-edged walnut profiles that frame the solid walnut units and serve as an integrated handle. To contrast…

FRESH FROM THE BIGGEST RENOVATION IN ITS 53-YEAR HISTORY, Alvar Aalto’s landmark congress centre and concert venue has emerged brighter and more accessible. The rebooted Finlandia Hall overlooks another recently overhauled Helsinki attraction — Töölönlahti Park — but the updates made throughout the building also prompt visitors to look back on design history. Here, Teemu Tuomi of Helsinki-based Architects NRT, who oversaw the project’s renovation, charts the evolution of a modern masterpiece. 1971 Back when Finlandia Hall first opened, its surroundings were very different. “There was no park at all, and there was a railway in front of the building,” explains Tuomi. The venue was to be the first of many significant public buildings to rise alongside the water according to a master plan designed by Aalto and commissioned by…

IT WILL COME AS NO SURPRISE that one of the earliest examples of a purpose-built quadrangle can be found at Oxford University’s New College, a centuries-old educational institution. Constructed in 1403, the building-enclosed courtyard would come to inspire the popular feature on university campuses across the globe. Now, the college is set to widely inspire again with the creation of the sinuous Gradel Quadrangles by David Kohn Architects. Situated just a stone’s throw from the main New College buildings, the Gradel Quadrangles were primarily developed to provide more accommodation for undergraduate students — something that the university’s other colleges (there are 43 in total) have made gains with in recent years. In addition to 94 bedrooms, the building also includes communal study areas, a 105-seat performance auditorium, various facilities for…

SPOUT SIT-TO-STAND TABLE Unlike standard sit–stand desks with two sturdy legs hiding powerful machinery, Herman Miller’s Spout Sit-to-Stand offers a more elevated aesthetic with four slim stems. Plus, with discreet wiring beneath the tabletops and flush to the supports, the sleek — yet still stable — structure can lift up to 181 kilos with barely any noise; it’s also the first product to feature the brand’s new charging technology, Ello Power Access Solutions. It’s available in a range of sizes, colours and finishes — from a walnut veneer top with a black base to a neutral top with an olive base and more — and can be fitted with bag hooks, integrated drawers and other accessories. STUDIO DESK Upgrading a classic with bold materials and refined touches, Danish brand Vipp…

This past March, a luxurious development in Slovenia made the design blog rounds. Arranged in a semicircular configuration facing the lake, its white-washed villas all feature an atrium that appears as a dramatic protrusion on the facade — a modern extrapolation of the timber rizalit structures that constitute a heritage Slovenian vernacular. That the homes’ seamless facades and swooping curves, inside and out, seem decidedly parametric is not surprising: The architect, Tim Fu, is an alumnus of Zaha Hadid Architects who recently branched out to start his own practice. More noteworthy is that the Lake Bled, Slovenia, proposal was touted as the “world’s first fully A.I.-driven architectural project.” And Studio Tim Fu is positioning itself as an A.I. architecture firm, one that integrates machine intelligence into the design-to-construction process from…

Hummingbird Laneway Window placements in laneway projects can require some serious architectural acrobatics — and this Calgary project by Bold Workshop was no exception. “We designed the craziest thing — a wall-to-ceilingto-roof window in a trapezoidal shape along the roofline — in order to get the most beautiful view of the trees,” says principal Kayla Browne. A custom triple-pane solution by Thermal Aluminum & Glass enabled the inventive end result, complete with red frames to match the building’s red exterior. CrystalClear Promote transparency in the workplace with the neutral tone and radical clarity of this Guardian Glass glazing, offered at a lower price point than other lowiron solutions. Choose from thicknesses of six, eight and 10 millimetres, all available with low-E performance coatings. RealTone This electrochromic glass from SageGlass changes…

AFTER OPERATING OUT OF a co-working space for two years, the Toronto branch of EcoVadis — a global platform founded in Paris in 2007 to provide businesses with environmental, social and ethical performance ratings and help them align and improve their supply chains — was looking for a more permanent and personal location. A raw 1,486-square-metre space on the 20th level of a 23-storey tower in the downtown core fit the bill in many ways, but the company needed guidance on how to create an interior that reflected its identity and stayed true to its ethos. That is where Tatiana Soldatova and her team at Syllable Design came in. A champion of sustainability herself, Soldatova prioritizes buying second-hand in both her life and her work, and naturally brought this philosophy…

WITH ITS SOON-TO-BE-CONSTRUCTED headquarters for the Czech National Forestry in the city of Hradec Králové, local architecture firm Chybik+ Kristof (CH+K) aims to deliver more than just a thoughtfully designed space — it hopes to drive legislative change that embraces large-scale timber construction throughout the country. “At the moment, timber buildings in the Czech Republic remain rather a marginal presence, most commonly in the form of houses,” says co-founding architect Ondřej Chybik. “The realization of this scale could serve as a precedent, hopefully helping to streamline regulatory approval processes for future timber buildings.” To reflect its commitment to promoting and supporting Czechia’s domestic forestry industry — which constitutes more than 30 per cent of the country’s land — CH+K applied the Lesy sobĕ (or “forests for themselves”) approach, an ethos…

Three years ago, we were strangers. In 2022, the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction convened emerging practitioners from around the world for a four-day charette in Zurich, later inviting six of us to apply for grant funding. The terms were broad: Working as individuals or in groups, we had to direct our proposals toward built projects — ones embodying both social and environmental paradigms of sustainability — and involve students. From there, the conversations flowed. Over Zoom calls, emails and WhatsApp messages, our group — comprising Andi Subagio, Meriem Chabani, Vedhant Maharaj, Namjoo Kim, Twaha Kyomuhendo and me — eventually settled on a pair of interventions. In Tanzania, Chabani, Maharaj and Kyomuhendo partnered with a local NGO to expand an undersized local healthcare centre with a dedicated maternity clinic; the…

2020–2025 AND BEYOND Read the unabridged 40th anniversary journal, from 1985 to 2025+, at azuremagazine.com Public Space Got Political (Again) When the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily life, cities around the world faced a surreal emptiness, their whisper-quiet streets animated only by the haunting blare of ambulance sirens. Then, when cities gradually allowed entry to parks and public spaces, restrictions and limitations on access brought civic inequities to the fore: As the world reopened, the policing and enforcement of public space took on new and greater scrutiny. While images of white circles painted on grass lawns remain an enduring icon of the COVID-19 era, a very different relic spans two city blocks in Minneapolis: Now officially known as George Floyd Square, a stretch of Chicago Avenue has…

BOOK Jean Prouvé: From Furniture to Architecture BY LAURENCE AND PATRICK SEGUIN Published by Galerie Patrick Seguin Renowned for his innovations in bent sheet steel and aluminum, Jean Prouvé is an icon of 20th-century design. This fully bilingual publication showcases his work over three decades — from rarely seen pieces like the 1939 Saint-Brévin table to the now-prolific “Standard” chair in its many iterations — which hold pride of place in Laurence and Patrick Seguin’s private collection. The French decorative arts dealers have long championed Prouvé’s work, having acquired countless pieces since the late 1980s. “Over the years, Jean Prouvé has established himself as the cornerstone of this collection, because his modernity prefigured many contemporary approaches, and because we live with his creations on a daily basis. There is a…