Diamond Schmitt Architects has received two awards of merit from CODAworx, a global platform to showcase design projects that feature commissioned artwork in interior, architectural, and public spaces. The winning projects are Ryerson Image Centre in the Education category and Public Health Ontario’s Laboratory in the Institutional category. Both projects are in Toronto.
“Our mission for the awards is to celebrate projects that demonstrate the most successful integration of commissioned art into interior, architectural, and public spaces,” says CODAworx co-founder Toni Sikes.
Ryerson Image Centre conducts research and curates public exhibitions about photographic arts. “The design for the facility took inspiration from the source of all photographic arts – namely, light – as a theme to embed in the renovated and expanded building,” says Donald Schmitt, principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects.
A double-skin glass facade encircles all four sides of the upper floor and conceals an LED lighting system. At night, a dynamic display of multi-coloured lights glows in separate panels or in unison, transforming the building into a work of art as a programmable and interactive light installation.
Made Visible is a multi-storey wall installation located within the new headquarters for Public Health Ontario. Comprised of almost 8,000 stainless steel rods and tubes, the installation is an abstraction of the SARS virus as seen across four microscopic scales magnified to monumental size. It is intended to reveal itself gradually as occupants move through the space, alluding to the mission and daily work of the institution, piquing curiosity and encouraging social interaction and personal reflection.
“The installation was conceived as integral to the architecture of the project,” says Peggy Theodore, associate at Diamond Schmitt Architects. “We saw the potential of the continuous wall adjacent to the central stair connecting all four floors to animate and reinforce the coherence of the space.”
A working group including the architects and client representatives met over a year to develop and refine the installation. The group was intrigued by the transformational potential of scaling tiny microbiological organisms, visible only as a consequence of recent advances in microscopy, to a monumental architectural surface. The SARS virus was chosen as it was in response to this outbreak in 2003 that Public Health Ontario was established.
Diamond Schmitt Architects (www.dsai.ca) is a leading full-service architectural firm based in Toronto with an international reputation for design excellence and sustainable design solutions. Current projects include Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver; the National Arts Centre revitalization in Ottawa; Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness in Brampton, Ontario, and the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts in Texas.
ALL ABOUT DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS
Diamond Schmitt Architects (www.dsai.ca) is a leading full-service architectural firm based in Toronto with an international reputation for design excellence and sustainable design solutions. Current projects include Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver; the National Arts Centre revitalization in Ottawa; Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness in Brampton, Ontario, and the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts in Texas.