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Editor Danny Sinopoli Executive Editor Elizabeth Pagliacolo Managing Editor Kendra Jackson Assistant Art Director Kari Silver Copy Editor David Dick-Agnew Contributors Veronika Aquila, Tom Arban, Andrea Avezzù, Will Boase, Hartmut Bösener, Alex Bozikovic, Marco Cappelletti, Sara Cunningham, Ana Domínguez Siemens, Giovanna Dunmall, David Dworkind, Adrian Gaut, Sandra K. Johnson, Haris Kenjar, Charlotte King, Simon Lewsen, Laura May Todd, Thomas Meyer, Jenny Morgan, Eric Mutrie, Alexandre Parent, Amrit Phull, Carolyn Pioro, Corinna Reeves, Garrett Rowland, Sam Scales, Delfino Sisto Legnani, Catherine Sweeney, Steve Tsai, Matthijs van der Burgt, Adrien Williams, David Zarzoso Magazines Canada Fellow Sharine Taylor Creative Direction and Design Frontier Paddy Harrington, Founder Tristan Marantos, Senior Designer Nicholas Hanlon, Designer Director of Operations Jacqueline LaRonde 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 Web Assistant Daniella Viggiani Director Marketing & Partnerships Mahasti Eslahjou Audience Marketing Manager Amanda Beattie AZ Awards Development Manager Stephanie…

considered design

I was telling a colleague recently about how grateful I always am when, after settling onto an unfamiliar barstool in an unfamiliar bar, there’s a tiny hook under the lip of the bar on which to hang my tote or coat. “Oh, that’s considered,” my colleague said. “Did you say considerate?” I said. “Well, it’s that, too,” she replied. “But I said considered.” What she meant was that someone – a designer or manufacturer – had gone to the trouble of putting those hooks under that bar lip, had considered the likely needs of the patrons sidling up to it and outfitted the bar accordingly. As a frequent traveller (and, er, barfly), I am always appreciative of the design gestures – big and small – that make the experiences of…

we asked…

Which hotel or restaurant project has blown you away of late? GIOVANNA DUNMALL Writer, “Haus Proud” (page 38) Sketch, in the Mayfair district of London. Its much-Instagrammed Gallery tearoom has a monochromatic pink interior by Paris-based India Mahdavi. Another highlight there is the toilet. Its cubicles resemble giant dinosaur eggs! What do you think distinguishes a great retail or hospitality space? ALEX BOZIKOVIC Writer, “A New Template” (page 70) A sense of place. A great retail or hospitality project embodies some quality of its locale and expertly distills it. Your Feedback Our September cover story on U.S. architect Jennifer Bonner’s distinctive Atlanta home (“Pattern Test,” page 64) generated a lot of buzz, especially over her liberal use of cross-laminated timber. Readers Steen and Charlene Petersen, of Nanaimo, B.C., wondered about CLT’s fire rating. “How safe is it,” they asked,…

first + foremost

Niki Knobs and Pulls In architecture, as in fashion, accessories cinch the look. Consider the latest incarnations of Niki, a seductively streamlined collection of door and cabinet knobs from Melbourne-based hardware company Designer Doorware. The solid brass disks, ranging in diameter from 50 to 70 millimetres, offer oomph and variety in equal measure. Among the options available are flat or concave faces and circles with stepped, grooved perimeters. Half-moon pulls round out the line, which comes in a host of standard and special finishes, from a powder-coated satin white and hard-wearing gunmetal black (both shown) to an unlacquered polished brass. Whatever the final combo, though, one thing is certain: Pulling off instant room style couldn’t be easier.…

5 things we learned from tamassociati

TAMassociati exists on a completely different plane from starchitecture. The Venice firm first caught the world’s attention in 2016, when it curated the Italian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Under the theme of Taking Care, it launched a crowdfunding campaign to design and build a series of mobile facilities, including a not-for-profit medical clinic and a library. Now the studio – whose portfolio also includes Indian director Mira Nair’s Maisha film school in Kampala, Uganda (pictured top right) and a car-free co-housing development in Treviso, Italy – is garnering praise for its pro bono projects with Italian NGO Emergency. It has created permanent hospitals and surgery centres in places such as Sudan and Afghanistan and is completing a hospital in Uganda with Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Earlier this year, principal…

a jewel restored

_Hotel Birks _Montreal, Quebec _Neuf Architects Forgive the obvious metaphor, but to describe the building now housing Montreal’s Hotel Birks as a one-time diamond in the rough couldn’t be more apt. For decades the edifice hid in plain sight, its magnificent 19th-century facade attracting a few admiring if fleeting glances from the passersby who noticed it as they hurried along bustling Saint Catherine Street. Yes, it did and continues to contain the namesake jewellery chain’s beautiful local flagship store, but the majority of the building was relegated to office, manufacturing and shipping functions, hidden from public view. And it did very little to animate elegant yet forlorn Phillips Square right next to it. What a difference two years and a $20-million renovation make. After hotelier Jean Salette acquired the building in 2016,…