As a first-time visitor to Toronto, I found the host city of IIDEXCanada to be charmingly rainy when I arrived Tuesday evening. Despite a foggy landing that almost sent me detouring to Montreal, I landed safely near the Toronto Harbourfront. The sun eventually came out during the show on Wednesday, and cheery vibes prevailed everywhere I wandered.
IIDEXCanada, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, seems to exist as a perfect middle ground between the gargantuan NeoCon and smaller regional trade shows in the U.S. such as NeoCon East and METROCON. As I made my way around the show, I noticed such a balance of people attending seminars, doing business and checking out booths, and attending the larger keynote and summit events.
I was also happy to find that the show declared clear themes and actually delivered on them by gearing its programming to those topics. In contrast to NeoCon, which almost seems to promise to be everything to everyone by choosing extremely broad themes, IIDEXCanada provides a few overarching themes that are having a significant impact on future work for its country’s designers, architects, building owners and real estate professionals.
Granted, part of the reason for broad themes at NeoCon is the fact that it is very much an international show, so catering to one country would be troublesome. And there is something to be said for enabling the manufacturers to be the voice of the show more so than the show itself. Not to mention the easy marketability a super broad theme provides leading up to the show…nevertheless, I found IIDEXCanada’s clear direction and supporting content to be a refreshing winter reset.
From an attendee perspective, the core themes that IIDEXCanada presented – inclusive design and accessibility, wellness, and healthcare – resulted in a more grounding experience as I walked away. The show promised to deliver thoughtful, inspiring experiences in each of these three topics by way of three “National Summits,” in addition to keynote speakers and seminars geared toward the same topics.
“We wanted to offer attendees something longer than one hour on each of these topics,” said Tracy Bowie, VP of IIDEXCanada. “Many designers and architects don’t often have the opportunity to meet the top people in these fields, and the summits, which are free to attend, enable them to do that.”
Wednesday morning was jam-packed with key show events: The IDC/IIDA Leaders Breakfast, International Architectural Roundtable, and the Canadian premiere of the film “Inclusive,” which kicked off the first of the three national summits, on accessibility.
“It is a common human trait to be excluded,” said Jutta Treviranus, director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre at OCAD University, who introduced the film and led a discussion on inclusive design after. “We seem to think diversity is a problem, but we don’t recognize it for the treasure it is. Diversity is our biggest asset, and inclusiveness is our biggest challenge. How do we design to meet all of our human needs? It’s not about designing one thing that can somehow work for all people; it’s designing many things in one space to meet the needs of all the individuals. Your design really can’t solve just one problem.”
Belén Moneo of Moneo Brock Studio and the father-son architecture practice of Luiz Eduardo Indio Da Costa & Guto Indio Da Costa delivered presentations full of inspiring architecture and interiors projects, as did Canadian architect Todd Saunders in a conversation with Jean-François Légaré, Air Canada enRoute Editor-in-chief, including insights into the making of the Fogo Island project, a five star inn for the Shorefast Foundation on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada.
L.A.-based architect Clive Wilkinson and biophilic design leader Bill Browning each drew big crowds with timely topics. Mr. Wilkinson offered a mix of projects and design theory, and Mr. Browning spoke about the impact of biophilic design on climate, culture and business. His inspiring presentation did an excellent job of laying out very specific, tangible benefits that biophilic design principles can offer interior designers and architects.
“We already know nature has a powerful positive effect on us as humans,” said Mr. Browning. “Biophilic design is an exploration of something we already know, but it then applies science to figure out why those places in nature feel so good, and how we can inject that into our environments.”
A 2016 and Beyond: State of the Industry panel on Wednesday afternoon was moderated by Susan Wiggins, CEO of the Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) and included panelists Aandra Currie Shearer, IDC president; Samuel Oghale Oboh, RAIC president; Randal Froebelius, BOMA Canada chair; and Craig Smith, NAIOP president. All of the panelists seemed to agree that building and development projects in Canada were moving in an optimistic, positive direction. The groups represented by the panelists seem to work together closely on many projects, and this will continue to be the case in 2016. Key focuses in the new year will be sustainability (including the continued promotion of the WELL Building Standard and goals toward carbon-neutral development), resiliency and mass transit.
The discussion also touched on the new “Quality-Based Selection (QBS) initiative, which is a system that is a system that chooses an architect on the basis of professional qualifications and competence. For more information on QBS, visit https://raic.org/raic/qualifications-based-selection-qbs.
Cryptically described before the show as a “transformative installation on the future of workplace incorporating sight, sound, scent and interaction,” the GOAWAY! Best of Workplace special exhibit designed by Quadrangle, was fun to walk through. The 2,000 square foot space consisted of four separate “experiences,” each sponsored by a large furniture manufacturer: Haworth, Keilhauer, Steelcase and Teknion. Each vignette featured furniture from the manufacturer, lighting, and large scale wall graphics. Upon first walk-through, “transformative” sounds and smells were not noticed, but the new feature was a great way for attendees to experience the furniture in a different context. The space was also intended as a place for attendees to rest, relax and recharge.
IIDEXCanada’s ArchDaily + IIDEXCanada Virtual Spaces Exhibition was a perfectly timed feature to include this year. Virtual reality, and its practical use, is about to have its first of many official moments in the sun in 2016. As a special exhibit, the booth enabled attendees to try out virtual reality technology, often for the first time. The feature included the first ArchDaily + IIDEXCanada Virtual Awards, the result of a competition in which the exhibit sponsors (IIDEXCanada, Invent Dev and ArchDaily) invited designers and architects to submit un-built and fantasy projects, which were then brought to virtual reality life. All IIDEXCanada attendees had the chance to experience the two winning projects – by Aysu Aysoy, of Turkey, and Roman Hajtmanek, of Slovakia – along with a third more workplace design project. It was fun to watch attendees put on the headset to experience virtual reality tech for the first time; many came away with a “wow!” expression.
The virtual reality exhibit was accompanied by an excellent seminar titled, “Market and Sell Your Development Using 3D Interactive Technology,” led by David Payne, CEO of interactive 3D marketing company Invent Dev. Johane Deignan, director of marketing, conference and sponsorship at IIDEXCanada, noted that next year’s show will continue to expand its focus on virtual reality and 3D technologies.
One of my favorite special exhibits, although I’m not sure how many shared my excitement, was Canada House. The exhibit displayed the nuts and bolts of the redevelopment of historic Canada House in London. The Canada House project presented the best of Canada’s design and manufacturing industries, showcased the versatility of wood, one of Canada’s most important natural resources, and featured the best of Canadian art, crafts and furniture, both contemporary and historical, all under one roof at Canada House. IIDEX attendees who took the time to walk through the Canada House space were treated to all of the inspiring details of a fantastic project packed with the best of Canadian culture, design and history.
Other notables at the show were:
>The seventh iteration of theTHINK: Material exhibit, in which the show curates a special selection of the most current materials available to architects and designers today.
The3rd Annual IIDEX Woodshop, also known as just the coolest thing ever.
The3rd Annual IIDEX Woodshop, also known as just the coolest thing ever. If you didn’t get a chance to read our IIDEX show preview a few weeks ago, check out the 2015 IIDEX Woodshop winners here: http://www.iidexcanada.com/2015/features/3rd-annual-iidex-woodshop. I bet you’ll want to carve something after. IIDEX Woodshop is a traveling exhibit and will appear in six locations across Canada. It is heading to the TO DO design festival at city hall in Toronto.
>Passive House Pavilion was a booth detailing the “Passive House” initiative, a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, reducing its ecological footprint. This year IIDEXCanada included four Passive House seminars, where attendees could learn more about the Passive House concept and its solutions, from humble low tech solutions such as the urban straw bale home to novel high tech building solutions like warming slabs.
TheInclusive Design Hackathon, where attendees of all experience levels and abilities could learn about inclusive design, exercise their creativity, collaborate with talented team members, and apply team skills to address urgent accessibility challenges. The hackathon presented attendees with the chance to help to shape services such as UBER and AirBNB to make sure these emerging practices are designed to benefit everyone.
A special exhibit featuring the2015 StopGap Revamp Ramp Student Design Competition.
And, of course, the upper portion of North America does know how to get down. An opening night party on the showroom floor Wednesday evening gave way to after parties of all flavors (hosted by Steelcase, TTMAC, Augustus Jones, and the Carpenter’s District Council of Ontario, to name a few) on both Wednesday and Thursday.
To check out full competition results and award recipient information, visit http://www.iidexcanada.com/2015/media/iidex-news. Stay tuned in 2016 for more in-depth coverage of the top keynotes and events at IIDEXCanada 2015!