AZURE

azure

Editor Danny Sinopoli Executive Editor Elizabeth Pagliacolo Managing Editor Kendra Jackson Designer Kari Silver Copy Editor David Dick-Agnew Contributors Petra Appelhof, Veronika Aquila, Helene Binet, Matthew Carbone, Lauren Coleman, Brendan Cormier, Erin Donnelly, Samantha Edwards, Rafael Gamo, Lauren Grieco, Gary He, Michelle Huynh, Edward Kay, Sheila Kim, John Lorinc, Laura May Todd, Eric Mutrie, NAARO, Philam Nguyen, Anthony Paletta, Alana Paterson, Carolyn Pioro, Mike Sinclair, David Sokol, Dave Southwood, Edmund Sumner, Yuki Sumner, Jaclyn Tersigni, Paul Vu, Luke Walker, Maarten Willemstein, Bianca Wylie Creative Direction and Design Frontier Paddy Harrington, Founder Tristan Marantos, Senior Designer Nicholas Hanlon, Designer Samantha Tomlinson, Designer Editorial Director/Chief Content Officer Nelda Rodger Senior Account Managers Jeffrey Bakazias (416) 203-9674 x238 jeffrey@azureonline.com Neil Young (416) 203-9674 x230 neil@azureonline.com Director Integrated Production Alessandro Cancian Digital Development Manager Francesco Sgaramella Web Editor Stefan Novakovic Digital Designer Marielle Tolentino Director Marketing & Partnerships Mahasti Eslahjou Audience Marketing Manager Amanda Beattie AZ Awards Development Manager Stephanie Galt Administration Olga Chernyak, Elena Zaralieva Magazines Canada Fellow Sharine Taylor Publisher/Chief Executive Officer Sergio Sgaramella…

innovation now

Earlier this year I had occasion to swing through Kansas City, the Midwestern U.S. hub whose metro area straddles the border between Missouri and Kansas. Beyond its jazz history and top-notch barbecue, I didn’t have much of a picture of the place before alighting there. As it turns out, KC is a stealth architectural hotbed, serving as the main or regional base of a bevy of A-list firms (including HOK, BNIM, Helix and DRAW) and dominating the field of stadium design (category leader Populous is also headquartered there). In addition, the relatively small city of just under half a million people has become both a fabrication powerhouse (local institution Zahner, a metal company founded in 1897, today helps everyone from Frank Gehry to Bjarke Ingels realize their fantastic visions) and…

we asked…

October The Innovators Issue What new building has most impressed you recently? STEFAN NOVAKOVIC Azure’s Web Editor England’s Nevill Holt Opera, designed by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, is a Leicestershire barn repurposed as a theatre (pictured). It’s an extraordinarily inventive example of adaptive reuse. The building has no foyer, so a simple lawn is now a sort of grand lobby for operagoers. What a transformation. Who do you consider the most innovative designers working today? NAARO Photographers, “Making Light Fall” (page 78) Zaha Hadid Architects. They’re still among the big leaders when it comes to architectural innovation, in large part because of their capacity to test and implement their design and technological research in actual buildings and objects. What recent technological innovation do you feel holds the most promise? BIANCA WYLIE Writer, “The Many Sides of Sidewalk Toronto” (page 60) The Internet.…

first + foremost

Explorer Table While Jaime Hayon’s Explorer side tables for BD Barcelona Design are sure to add a playful touch of colour to any interior, be warned: The collection might also invoke a serious hankering for sweets. The Spanish designer picked up a little inspiration from the candy store for this series, balancing rounded tabletops on capsule-shaped legs that mimic jelly beans. He also suggests the idea of a space vessel about to launch as another influence, which explains the moniker. Exhibiting Hayon’s trademark blend of elegance and whimsy, Explorer – one of three new collaborations with the Barcelona furniture brand – combines matte and glossy finishes and a triptych of components: painted glass top, cylindrical lacquered-fibreglass base and four solid turned-wood legs. Various multicolour iterations are available, in warm neutrals or vibrant…

5 things we learned from molo

When Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen established their Vancouver design and manufacturing studio in 2003, the open-concept office was still a novelty. But as start-ups arrived on the real estate scene, Molo’s Softwall room dividers emerged as a perfect solution for the continuously evolving 21stcentury workspace. Earlier this year, the duo introduced an aluminum version of Softwall (pictured top right), made from a textile with a micro-coating of the flexible metal. The dynamic sheen that it affords their classic product reinforced the strengths of an iterative process for MacAllen, who shared other time-tested takeaways with Azure. 1 The most effective design is often background design. Stephanie and I are interested in things that aren’t the front-and-centre stars of a space. Our walls tend to be more of a backdrop. Highlighting an environment,…

battery fuelled

_Battery Park _Cape Town, South Africa _dhk Architects Hot on the heels of 2017’s Zeitz MOCAA/Silo Hotel complex – Heatherwick Studio’s globally lauded repurposing of decommissioned grain silos in Cape Town, South Africa – comes another ambitious waterfront project in the city: Battery Park, a 1.2-hectare canalside oasis by local firm dhk Architects, whose mandate could be regarded as even more daunting than that of Heatherwick. In addition to serving as a key entry point to the V&A Waterfront, one of Cape Town’s most visited tourist destinations, Battery Park also had to camouflage a 1,206-spot parking garage, reinvigorate its underused Canal District location with new attractions and amenities, serve as a link to surrounding neighbourhoods and do justice to its historic precursor: the Amsterdam Battery, a one-time fort and then prison erected…