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      Superette models playful cannabis dispensary on Italian deli

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      Green and beige checkerboard flooring, deli props and tomato red hues feature in this marijuana dispensary in Toronto, designed by Superette’s in-house design team.

      Named The Annex after its location within the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, the latest marijuana store by Superette is a 500-square-foot cannabis dispensary-cum-hangout space for local young adults.
      The exterior of The Annex cannabis dispensary has green and beige striped awningsIt sits a few blocks away from two college campuses, the University of Toronto’s St. George campus and George Brown College’s Casa Loma campus.
      For the new space, the company turned to the “convivial spirit” of the college canteen for inspiration, aiming to appeal to the student demographic walking through its doors.

      The same retro colour and pattern theme is continued inside”Taking design cues from the convivial spirit of the college canteen, The Annex offers a one of a kind experience where students aged 19 and above can conveniently purchase and consume cannabis, as well as work and socialize,” said the brand.
      “This highly nostalgic and immersive space is rooted in one of our favourite communities.”
      Marijuana paraphernalia and cool drinks are displayed on lime green shelvesFull of entertaining colours and quirky objects, The Annex’s floors are covered in green and white square tiles which match the awnings on the store’s exterior.
      Marijuana products are displayed on lime green walls and shelves while contrasting splashes of tomato red was used for the stools and hanging pendant lights.
      The designers drew on the nostalgic interiors of a classic Italian deliSuperette is French for mini supermarket and all of the brand’s shops take cues from retro-themed eateries like old school diners and bodegas.
      The Annex takes cues from an Italian deli.

      Superette cannabis dispensary in Toronto resembles a retro grocery store

      A deli counter at the back of the store contains an array of pre-rolled joints and different strains and strengths of cannabis, while stools designed to recall a canteen are positioned next to the windows.
      “All of our shops pay homage to similarly familiar and nostalgic retail environments from diners, bodegas, to flower shops, and subway newsstands,” said the brand.
      They hope that the jovial design attracts local studentsAlongside pre-rolled marijuana joints and cannabis, customers can purchase cannabis paraphernalia including bongs, ashtrays and lighters. They can also peruse a selection of other homeware items such as candles and mugs.
      A slew of dispensaries have cropped up in the city of Toronto following the legalisation of marijuana in Canada.
      Among these is a minimal store by architecture studio StudioAC that has sheets of industrial grating over the product displays and a dispensary with mirrored ceilings by Toronto-based designer Paolo Ferrari.
      The photography is courtesy of Superette.

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      Toronto beach house by Odami resolves “contradictory” context between waterfront and city

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      Canadian studio Odami has completed the interiors of a split-level home in Toronto, using light tones that nod to the nearby beaches of Lake Ontario.

      The Beaches House was completed for a client living near the city’s waterfront, which is lined with long stretches of sandy beaches.
      Odami’s design for the interiors drew inspiration from typical beach homes, while also offering a contemporary living environment in Canada’s largest city.
      The Beaches House takes cues from typical beach homes”Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood presents a peculiar condition within the city,” said the studio, led by Aránzazu González Bernardo and Michael Norman Fohring.
      “To experience the area is to seamlessly transition between a natural and calm landscape, and an urban and lively atmosphere,” they added.

      The split-level home is located in TorontoOdami’s interior palette features typical beach-inspired finishes, such as textured wall panels of varying widths, sand-hued countertops, and plenty of tropical plants throughout the home.
      Throughout the living space, light wooden floors and creamy tones offer a tranquil environment.
      A skylight illuminates the steel-and-wood staircase”Responsible for the interior design, our goal was to create a home which would reflect this contradictory context: a house which would belong as much to the city as it would to a beach far removed from it,” Odami explained.
      At the centre of the house, a skylight illuminates the steel-and-wood staircase, helping to brighten the interiors and draw visitors upstairs as they move through the home.

      Oak staircase links split levels of Canadian house by Omar Gandhi

      “The central staircase, which winds its way up through the split levels of the house, was detailed with thin steel pickets and floating treads, continuing the rhythmic language of the paneling,” said the designers.
      This calmer palette contrasts some darker materials that were used in circulation spaces, such as a grey stone in the entrance hallway, and a bathroom where the walls and floors are lined with a dark terrazzo.
      Odami added dark terrazzo elements to the bathroom”In the bedrooms and bathrooms of the last floor, the sequence comes to rest, as light, repetitive elements give way to moments of stillness, calm, and dense materiality,” the studio explained.
      Odami was founded in 2017 in Toronto. Other projects from the Canadian studio include a collection of wooden furniture that was crafted from the same dying tree, and a restaurant where the walls are lined with roughly troweled plaster.
      The darker tones contrast with the home’s lighter elementsAlso in Toronto, the Winter Stations design competition recently unveiled the pavilions for its 2022 edition.
      The photography is by Doublespace Photography.

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      Green-painted sunroom with cathedral views features in renovated Toronto apartment

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      Canadian studio Odami has redesigned a 1980s apartment in Toronto with bold and rich features like dark quartzite, walnut and green walls. The project, called St Lawrence, involved renovating an apartment that was previously transformed from a parking garage in the 1980s, with finishes that Odami said had now become dull and outdated.

      Odami removed walls to open the kitchen to the skylight-topped dining room
      “[The apartment] came to us completely in its original state: popcorn ceiling; an enclosed and very dated kitchen; mirrored walls; and beige carpeted floors,” the local studio said. “With a new owner, the entire unit was in need of an extensive update.”
      Odami redesigned the 1400-square-foot (130-square-metre) apartment to make the most of two “very theatrical” elements: views of the Cathedral of St James and five level changes that are created by steps between the rooms.

      Dark walnut contrasts with quartzite in the kitchen

      “In general we were really looking for materials that were rich and had a lot of depth to them, which would create a sharp contrast with the white walls throughout,” studio co-founder Michael Norman Fohring told Dezeen.
      “The change of levels and the views make the space naturally very theatrical, and using dramatic material and colour juxtapositions sort of amplified this.”

      A ribbed, black quartzite fireplace features in the living room
      A green sunroom, whose decoration references the Cathedral of St James viewed through the window, is one of the standout spaces.
      “Pulling in the colours and shapes of the nearby Cathedral of St James, the room is painted completely in green, and fitted with a dramatic pendant,” said Odami.

      A black wooden table and chair furnish the space
      “With its warmth and depth this space marks a moment of calm and stillness, perched amidst the steady flow of the condo and the hectic city below,” it added.
      Walnut engineered hardwood flooring runs throughout the apartment and, aside from the sunroom, all the walls in the condo are painted bright white.

      A big window in the sunroom offers views of the Cathedral of St James
      In the kitchen, the studio removed a partial wall and existing cabinets so it could be entirely open to the adjoining, skylight-topped dining room. Particle board cabinets in the kitchen are covered with a dark walnut veneer with solid walnut handles, contrasting the Super White natural quartzite.

      Odami celebrates “earthly minimalism” at Sara restaurant in Toronto

      Walnut steps lead from the kitchen down into the living room. Rich, dark materials continue in the form of a ribbed fireplace made of a dark quartzite, called Diamante Nero, with a matching black wooden table and chair. Wooden logs are stacked in an inlet to the side of the fire.

      Steps lead from the living room down to two bedrooms
      Two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms flank either side of the living room.
      The main bedroom suite was rearranged to include a walk-in wardrobe featuring white wardrobes with black handles. A skylight in the wardrobe floods natural light through a frosted glass wall into the bathroom.

      A translucent glass wall brings natural light into an en-suite bathroom
      Odami is an architectural, interior, and furniture design studio that Canadian designer Fohring founded in 2017 with Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo.
      It has previously completed a restaurant in the city called Sara with curving plaster walls and designed a wood furniture collection made from one dying tree.
      Photography is by Kurtis Chen.

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      Long wooden cabinet runs through slender Borden house by StudioAC

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      Pale woodwork wrapping white-painted walls forms storage to make more space in this 14-foot-wide house in Toronto, which has been overhauled by local firm StudioAC.The Borden project is the renovation of a Victorian-era, three-storey residence in Annex, a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto.

      Like many other properties in the area the house has a “very slender” width measuring 14 foot (4.2 metres) wide, which is approximately half the length of a London bus.

      Focused on the the ground-floor living area and second floor bedroom, StudioAC’s overhaul aimed to emphasise the tall ceilings of the house and give the impression of more space inside.
      It painted the walls and ceilings white and added short wood cabinets, which it describes as “contemporary wainscotting”, to highlight the height of the walls.

      “With soaring ceiling heights, we wanted to articulate the interior in a way that felt intimate while maintaining an open slender floor plan,” StudioAC explained.
      “We utilised a language of wrapping the flooring material up to counter-height to create a nestled feeling throughout the ground floor and the level three bedroom suite.”

      In turn, the cabinetry is also used to conceal storage and functions, making more space in the floor. One of the cabinets stretches the floor length of the ground floor to form the base of a built-in fireplace and kitchen counter. Both the chimney and the oven are built out in white volumes on top.
      The decor of the space, including wood flooring and furniture, and mirrored walls, complements the simple aesthetic. A white couch is placed at the front beneath a large window covered with translucent, white curtains.

      Matching wooden cabinetry continues in the top floor main bedroom, extending around the bed and forming short storage cabinets, and closets.

      StudioAC designs Toronto house “disguised as a gallery”

      “The third floor bedroom suite also has incredible ceiling height,” said the studio. “So the language of the contemporary wainscotting is taken up to the bedroom to carry the thesis from private to public.”

      The woodwork leads towards the en-suite bathroom at the front of the house, whose walls and pitched ceiling is is covered in grey concrete.
      “The wood wrapper cradles the bed and weaves around the closet to direct the eye toward the bathing suite: an intimate room clad in concrete tile with a soaring pitched roof,” it added.

      StudioAC was founded in 2015 by architects Jennifer Kudlats and designer Andrew Hill, who met while working at KPMB Architects in Toronto.
      Other Toronto house renovations by the studio include Candy Loft, Hilton House and Pape Loft that was once a church. In one of its more recent projects it took cues from the work of late American designer Donald Judd to create a home “disguised as a gallery”.
      Photography is by Jeremie Warshafsky.

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      StudioAC designs Toronto house “disguised as a gallery”

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      Canadian architectural practice StudioAC has taken cues from the work of late American designer Donald Judd for fittings inside this Toronto home. Called Shallmar Residence, the two-storey home was renovated by the local studio for a family of five with an impressive collection of Canadian art. It dates back to the 1950s and is located […] More