Interior Motives
The Way We Live Now
What is a condominium? it is only slightly slightly irreverent to say that it's a hole in the sky, which you proceed to make your own.
And what is involved in making it your own? Nothing but your own sense of comfort, style and ease.
If you are now – or are about to be – the lucky owner of a condominium unit within the highly evolved, highly sophisticated 210 Simcoe Street project, at the heart of downtown Toronto, you are doubtless possessed already by a strongly held sense of design, style, elegance, personal comfort and a pleasurable sense of smooth functionality.
All that remains – moving from the abstract and the theoretical to the concrete and particularized – is to personalize the space that you have now chosen to be yours.
210 Simcoe Street's principal architect, Sol Wassermuhl, has remarked on something that seems, at first, rather surprising: namely, that the needs and desires of condo clients – and this includes their tastes and preferences in the style and interior design of their condos – vary quite substantially from area to area within the city. What this comes to, in essence, is that tastes and design preferences are not merely a matter of personal, random, chaotic, impulsive promptings, but are, by contrast, informed, considered and decisive. By and large, people know what they want, what pleases them, what excites them, what fulfils them.
Dan Menchions knows all of this supremely well. Dan Menchions is the co-founder, with his partner, Keith Rushbrook, of the highly successful, Toronto-based, internationally renowned II BY IV Design Associates – now appointed the interior designers for
210 Simcoe Street.
II BY IV, which has come to be recognized as one of the world's top 50 design organizations, was founded in 1990, and during the past two decades has generated a remarkable number of ambitious, superbly conceived and realized, award-winning design schemes that have lent an unforgettable aura of glamour and sensuous vitality to some very high profile projects – including, recently, the remarkably opulent and seductively escapist, resort-like South Beach condo complex in Toronto, and the city's glittering new Trump International Hotel and Tower.
Drawing delightedly upon world design culture, to which he often folds in a witty and affectionate nod to the design of the great hotels of the 1930s and 40s, Menchions brings an international dazzle to his work – which has often featured the glisten of European marbles (Menchions loves epic expanses of white marble) and what might be referred to as time-honoured textures and finishes (polished metals, burnished bronzes).
"In design, you want to create a sense of adventure," Menchions told the magazine, Dolce Vita, recently. "When you go to Europe, a lot of those beautiful palazzos and buildings have an eclectic mix of wonderful marbles... that mix together like patchwork..."
But mixed marbles notwithstanding, Menchions is also highly aware that patchwork amalgams of stimulating materials and textures, while undeniably exciting on a large scale (hotels, offices), must – in designing for smaller spaces – be kept under control. "By and large, the units in today's condo market are not large," he notes. By which he means they are not large in comparison to, say, a football field or Buckingham Palace. And the most obvious, most efficient, most creative way to keep smaller, condo-sized spaces feeling open, airy and integrated, is to pull back on the importing of jostling, radically juxtaposed materials and textures, and work, instead, towards the use of an essentially monochromatic environment which, as he points out, "expands the space."
To that end, Menchions and II BY IV Design have devised what he refers to as "a neutral palette" for the 210 Simcoe units. 210 Simcoe is "an intimately scaled building," he points out. "A sort of condo equivalent to a boutique hotel." The building, he adds, can be characterized as a social building – inherently about communication, inter-relationships, networking. It is for this reason, that Menchions has concentrated a good deal of his design energy on the generously-scaled third-floor amenities area that architect Sol Wassermuhl and his team have built at the core of the building.
"The amenities level," notes Menchions "will offer a private dining room and meeting rooms (with an adjoining caterer's kitchen), a library wall and workstation task/desk for the use of 210 residents." There is also a gallery wall which, he adds, will act as a thoroughfare and which will have full visibility onto the spacious, oasis-like landscaped terrace. There is also to be a large fitness facility "with all the state of the art exercise equipment anyone could ask for – a second fitness studio for private use (pilates, yoga, etc.), as well as (of course) lockers, change rooms and showers."
"The beauty of the amenities level," says Menchions "is that all of the amenities areas will have visual as well as physical access to a beautifully landscaped terrace (designed by Ted Merrick, Senior Associate of the Toronto-based Landscape Architecture firm of
Ferris + Associates). The terrace, Menchions notes, "is on the south face of the building and will have sun all afternoon and into the evening."
As for the design of individual 210 Simcoe condo units – moving back into the building now – it's clear that while the selection of individual furniture and design objects (chairs, sofas, pictures, etc.) is obviously up to the individual owners – though Menchions has suggestions to offer and recommendations to make in these areas, if the client so desires – the workaday, backdrop surfaces of the units, the flooring, the cabinetry, the countertops, backsplashes, shower walls and so on, have all been carefully and very subtly coordinated, both as colour and texture, to work together to lend a beautiful, calming, authority and sense of deliberation to each unit – a deliberation that will read, in the end, not as imposition but rather as resolution.
Nothing unifies a space more effectively – or more pleasingly – than a clearly experienced, coordinated design scheme. "For the units within 210 Simcoe," notes Menchions, "we have created four different neutral palettes of interrelated colours, tones and textures, all involving – in varying degrees of depth and intensity – warm earth tones, greys, creams, bleached woods and so on." One of the four palettes shows a sample arrangement of exquisitely allied hues and materials (honey-coloured flooring, cabinet material of lacquer on wood, shower stall cladding of subway tile, ingenious employment of sandy-coloured Caesarstone from Israel – "which," says Menchions, "is impervious to stains," – glass tile for all backsplash surfaces and porcelain tile for all wet areas). The other three palettes offer denser greys, shinier blacks, darker woods for flooring and so on.
There is a great deal of choice, in other words, offered to each client from within II BY IV's design schemes, which modulate in tone from light to dark (creams, bleached wood, greys, browns), each of which is designed to provide the solace of a relaxing, comforting, essentially earth-toned environment. And it is against the allover softness of this quiet, humane environment that the client can then provide the punctuation of personal decisions about furniture, art and accessories.
About the acquiring of furniture and decorative objects, Dan Menchions has some useful, fundamental suggestions. His first suggestion is an exceedingly sensible one (though sometimes difficult to effect): "don't buy everything at once." It takes time – and living – to come to understand how objects, shapes, colours and textures come together into a satisfying whole – or don't. It's better to acquire a few good central, focal pieces at first – and then decide, over time, how they might be extended, enhanced, adjusted, modified.
The great enemy of integrated design is clutter. The fact is, every object – a red throw pillow, grandma's photograph in a silver frame, the Sunday New York Times – possesses a certain visual energy of its own which, even though you may not feel it consciously, demands your visual attention. Too many of these insistent attention-getters, and you start to feel weary and on edge.
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But suppose the space you're looking at is, by contrast, relatively smooth and uninflected by detail. The same visual energy you expended upon all this former detail is now suddenly free to pick up the room's larger shapes, masses and atmospheres. The result is a greatly deepened calming, exciting, viscerally felt enjoyment of the space you're standing in. Whereas clutter enslaves us, clarity makes you feel as if you are the one in charge. Which is wonderfully exhilarating!
There are certain steps you can take towards smoothing, streamlining, functionalizing a space, to create what Dan Menchions calls "breathing space." Basic to that aim, there is, first of all, the basic outright design-gift, at 210 Simcoe, for example, of an array of state-of-the-art appliances, smoothly and sleekly integrated into the space of each condo unit.
This kind of object-integration informs the further design use of built-ins: shelves, for example, that are part of a wall, rather than big bulky objects that lean against it. Another is the acquisition of furniture objects that conceal the secret storage space they offer. For example, Toronto's Style Garage – one of Menchions' recommended sources for clean, functional furniture objects – offers the Blythe Flip-Lid Ottoman, which yawns open to receive much of the stuff that might otherwise be sitting all over the place, making you feel chaotic. They also carry a big line of sleek, nodular credenzas – which create more space than they take up.
"People tend to buy too much really BIG furniture," Menchions notes. "I think it's because they're buying it on the basis of what they think is its comfort level." Now obviously, it is not his intention to deprive anyone of comfort. But the fact is, in the realm of contemporary furniture design, comfort is no longer to be equated with the amount of stuffing that goes into a thing.
And there are many retail sources, recommended by II BY IV, that can offer old-fashioned comfort and a pleasing compactness all in the same cunningly designed package. West Elm's Tillary Modular Seating objects offer luxurious seating in a format so slim and sheer you hardly notice the object's presence. Same with Gus Modern's handsome Atwood Sectional and its Spencer Loft Bi-Sectional: wonderfully adaptable post-sofa seating arrangements that give you big comfort without bulk, and – in the rich creams, whites, greys and earth-tones they all come in – an integrated style that looks virtually built-in, and thus can be imported almost invisibly into any condo unit and immediately come to look as if they'd always been there.
What about tables? Mirrors (mirrors cannot but make spaces look bigger)? Vases of flowers? Photographs and paintings? Well, this is all growing more and more personal. But...instead of sweating the small stuff (small stuff is the road to clutter), Crate & Barrel has delightfully straightforward carpets, earthy baskets (for holding what would otherwise be clutter) and nice stark glass vases. Structube has good severe wall clocks and unembarrassingly patterned cushions. Elte Lighting has some exquisitely clean wall-mounted lamps (why take up floor space?) – like their fine Won Ton fixture.
And there are many more. Dan Menchions' list of recommendations is twice as long as the outlets mentioned here (see sidebar) – all of them purveyors of just the kind of furniture and accessories that will amplify the sleek uncluttered interiors being designed by II BY IV Design Associates for 210 Simcoe.
What about art for your condo's walls? It's matter of taste, desire, experience, emotional and intellectual need – and nobody would want to second guess all that. But what Dan Menchions said about furniture also applies to works of art:
a) don't buy it too quickly and b) don't buy it for the comfort level it initially seems to provide. You don't want art to wear off. You want it to wear ON.
II By IV Approved Shops
- Casalife
- Commute Home
- Crate & Barrel
- DWR (Design Within Reach)
- Elte Lighting
- Gus Modern
- Kiosk
- Shelter
- Style Garage
- Urban Mode
- West Elm
Noteworthy
- Top 10
Must Have
Interior Design
Magazines
For 2011 - Architectural Digest
- Better Homes & Gardens
- Do-It-Yourself
- Dwell Magazine
- Elle Décor
- Garden Design
- House Beautiful
- Metropolitan Home
- NY Spaces
- Veranda
But suppose the space you're looking at is, by contrast, relatively smooth and uninflected by detail. The same visual energy you expended upon all this former detail is now suddenly free to pick up the room's larger shapes, masses and atmospheres. The result is a greatly deepened calming, exciting, viscerally felt enjoyment of the space you're standing in. Whereas clutter enslaves us, clarity makes you feel as if you are the one in charge. Which is wonderfully exhilarating!
There are certain steps you can take towards smoothing, streamlining, functionalizing a space, to create what Dan Menchions calls "breathing space." Basic to that aim, there is, first of all, the basic outright design-gift, at 210 Simcoe, for example, of an array of state-of-the-art appliances, smoothly and sleekly integrated into the space of each condo unit.
This kind of object-integration informs the further design use of built-ins: shelves, for example, that are part of a wall, rather than big bulky objects that lean against it. Another is the acquisition of furniture objects that conceal the secret storage space they offer. For example, Toronto's Style Garage – one of Menchions' recommended sources for clean, functional furniture objects – offers the Blythe Flip-Lid Ottoman, which yawns open to receive much of the stuff that might otherwise be sitting all over the place, making you feel chaotic. They also carry a big line of sleek, nodular credenzas – which create more space than they take up.
"People tend to buy too much really BIG furniture," Menchions notes. "I think it's because they're buying it on the basis of what they think is its comfort level." Now obviously, it is not his intention to deprive anyone of comfort. But the fact is, in the realm of contemporary furniture design, comfort is no longer to be equated with the amount of stuffing that goes into a thing.
And there are many retail sources, recommended by II BY IV, that can offer old-fashioned comfort and a pleasing compactness all in the same cunningly designed package. West Elm's Tillary Modular Seating objects offer luxurious seating in a format so slim and sheer you hardly notice the object's presence. Same with Gus Modern's handsome Atwood Sectional and its Spencer Loft Bi-Sectional: wonderfully adaptable post-sofa seating arrangements that give you big comfort without bulk, and – in the rich creams, whites, greys and earth-tones they all come in – an integrated style that looks virtually built-in, and thus can be imported almost invisibly into any condo unit and immediately come to look as if they'd always been there.
What about tables? Mirrors (mirrors cannot but make spaces look bigger)? Vases of flowers? Photographs and paintings? Well, this is all growing more and more personal. But...instead of sweating the small stuff (small stuff is the road to clutter), Crate & Barrel has delightfully straightforward carpets, earthy baskets (for holding what would otherwise be clutter) and nice stark glass vases. Structube has good severe wall clocks and unembarrassingly patterned cushions. Elte Lighting has some exquisitely clean wall-mounted lamps (why take up floor space?) – like their fine Won Ton fixture.
And there are many more. Dan Menchions' list of recommendations is twice as long as the outlets mentioned here (see sidebar) – all of them purveyors of just the kind of furniture and accessories that will amplify the sleek uncluttered interiors being designed by II BY IV Design Associates for 210 Simcoe.
What about art for your condo's walls? It's matter of taste, desire, experience, emotional and intellectual need – and nobody would want to second guess all that. But what Dan Menchions said about furniture also applies to works of art:
a) don't buy it too quickly and b) don't buy it for the comfort level it initially seems to provide. You don't want art to wear off. You want it to wear ON.
All renderings are artist's concept only.
