| PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE
Dear Members
and Friends,
November was a whirlwind of activities at the DX - with many
activites including the DXAs, a design charrette in Chicago
with Bruce Mau and some great news!
At the end of the month,
Paola Poletto, our director of programming, and I were invited
to Hong Kong as guests of the Hong Kong Trade Commission to
participate in a roundtable of design leaders across the world.
It was interesting meeting our counterparts from Italy, Finland,
Spain, Thailand, Singapore, and India – amongst others.
The roundtable was accompanied by one of the world’s
largest design expos, SME and innovation tradeshows. Hong
Kong invests millions of dollars in design and views design
as a competitive advantage. In fact, as the Chinese manufacturing
economy grows and China proceeds with the building of 1,000
design schools, what strategy will Canada develop to not only
compete with China, but to export to China’s growing
middle class of 80M people?
It was a first-time trip for
me to China and I was amazed at the energy and vibrancy of
the economy. Their commitment to design is overwhelming. In
fact, the Design Centre in HK receives over 12M US per year
in support. Incubating companies is their top priority. We
should be doing the same.
Feds - are you listening?
Good News.
The DX will be opening a cafe
in the spring. Make plans to join us for lunch or cocktails.
Stay tuned!
Heart Warming News!
Enville catering is a great
friend of the DX. As a special suprise to their President,
Geoffrey Johnson (an extraordinary do-gooder), we have arranged
for a donation of 7,000 socks to the Friendship Centre in
downtown Toronto. Geoffrey is on the board of directors for
this wonderful shelter. The socks were generously donated
by The Great Canadian SOX company. They make socks guaranteed
to keep your feet warm in the cold. Please look for socks
made by The Great Canadian SOX company (JB Fields, Exteme,
Icelandic, Second Skin, amongst other labels) when your are
shopping for stocking stuffers.
Everyone here at the DX wishes
you the happiest of holidays. In 2007, we look forward to
seeing you here.
Sam
DX
BOARD MEMBER PROFILE
EBERHARD
H. ZEIDLER
Eb
was elected to the Design Exchange Board of Directors
in the spring of 2002. He is well-known as the founding
Partner and Partner-in-Charge of Design for Zeidler Grinnell
Partnership/Architects, one of North America’s leading
architectural firms, internationally renowned for excellence
in architectural design and urban planning. Born in Germany
and trained at the Bauhaus until 1948, he emigrated to
Canada in 1951 where he continued his architectural career
as Associate-in-Charge of Design and later as Partner
of Blackwell, Craig & Zeidler, which evolved into
the present firm. From 1953 to 1956, he was a lecturer
in the School of Architecture, University of Toronto,
and returned to U of T, to serve as Adjunct Professor
of Architectural Design from 1984 to 1999. He has been
an active member of Toronto’s architectural community,
serving as a member of the City of Toronto Planning Board
from January 1972 to December 1975, and as a Director
of the Toronto Harbourfront Corporation (1978-79). Mr.
Zeidler’s innovative work spans three continents
and includes virtually every project type. His work has
garnered recognition in international media and has received
countless industry awards. Eberhard Zeidler is a frequent
keynote speaker, guest lecturer and jury member throughout
the world. His guidance as a member of our board has been
invaluable and we are proud to count such a distinguished
member of the design community as one of our board members.
|
Bruce Mau
Design and the
Institute without Boundaries
MASSIVE CHANGE
It's not about the world of design.
It's about the design of the world. |
CHICAGO
DESIGN CHARRETTE
At
the beginning of the month the DX created a learning
opportunity in Chicago – in the spirit of Massive
Change – an exhibit by the Institute Without Boundaries
and Bruce Mau. The charrette was organized by the DX,
City of Toronto, City of Chicago and the Design Institute
of Chicago. The DX took 6 students from George Brown
College’s Institute Without Boundaries and they
were joined by 6 students from Illinois.
The
teams of two were a mixture of landscape architecture,
architecture and urban design students. We focused on
redeveloping a priority neighbourhood in Chicago using
the Massive Change economies as inspiration. Ideas included
developing a manufacturing economy by branding home-based
and incubator businesses as a collective and creating
a sustainable economy by planting numerous empty lots
with sellable bushes, shrubs and trees for use in Chicago
neighborhoods.
Students
were also treated to the Massive Change Symposium –
a day of conversations between experts on energy and
biomimicry, information, and economics. As well, Bruce
Mau critiqued the student’s work at the mid-point
of the charrette and gave advice and inspiration for
visual communication and big-picture thinking. The results
will be on display at the DX in the spring.
|
| NOW
ON DISPLAY AT THE DESIGN EXCHANGE
WINNERS OF THE 2006 DESIGN EXCHANGE AWARDS
Presented by
The
extraordinary results of this year's Design Exchange
Awards, our annual national design competition are ON
DISPLAY UNTIL JANUARY 21st 2007. Winners are across
in all disciplines - architecture, interior design,
fashion, visual communications, urban design and industrial
design. Congratulations to all the winners!
Sponsored
by
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 |
Canada
in the Making
This exhibition features
the DX Permanent Collection, and showcases the most
important Canadian developments in modern design history.
Free Admission.
Supported by the Peter Munk Charitable
Foundation
and the McLean Foundation. |
.  |
Japanese
Design Today
Featuring
over one hundred of the best in contemporary Japanese
design from the past two decades.
Co-presented
with The Japan Foundation.
Presenting sponsor
|
Welcome
New Members!
The Design Exchange would like
to welcome the following as our newest Corporate Members!
Core Architects, Powerstream, Bruce Mau Inc. and
Stantec Architecture Ltd.
Thank you for
your support and we look forward to seeing you at our upcoming
events in 2007!
Is your company
a corporate member? We have great benefits. Email Rosa at
membership@dx.org to find
out more.
| ATTENTION
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS! The DX wants
your participation.
The
DX National High School Competition
invites students from across Canada to submit entries
in the category of their choice.
DEADLINE: MARCH 30, 2007.
For
information visit National
High School Competition.
Presenting Sponsor
ATTENTION
POST-SECONDARY STUDENTS! Check
out this Great Opportunity.
You could win cash bursaries
of up to $5,000! There are design challenges from Canadian
Tire, Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation and CMHC.
DEADLINE MARCH 30, 2007. For full details on
the competitions visit CONNECT
online.
Keep your eye on DX
Education Online for all of the details on our many
Education Programs! |
|
IDEAL CITIES AND THE ROLE OF
DESIGN IN REMAKING URBAN SPACE
Dates: June 14-16, 2007
This interdisciplinary
conference, the second presented by the Design Exchange,
Canada’s National Design Centre, explores the
varied and future states of cities - more specifically
the economic, social and cultural lives of societies.
This conference invites papers that explore such topics
as the architectural, design and material culture of
cities, densification, urban renewal, branding, zoning,
adaptive re-use, gentrification and historic preservation.
Similarly, papers are invited that address such related
and relevant topics as green space in cities, infrastructure,
technology, environmentalism and sustainability, brown-site
rehabilitation, climate change, exurban growth, public
transportation, universal design, street furnishings
and disaster preparedness. It is the purpose of this
conference to examine both the historical and contemporary
cultures and contours of urban experience and the status
and promise of the post-millennial, post-industrial
urban fabric. What is our future?
Conference Streams
Mass Media
Sustainability
Transportation and Movement
Technology
Infrastructure
Deadline for abstracts
and registration: March
1, 2007
Deadline for papers May 7, 2007
Full details on conference registration and pricing
coming in early January.
For inquiries regarding
abstracts contact Daniela
Bryson, Professional Development Coordinator
Sponsorship opportunities available – contact
Samantha
Sannella, President and CEO, 416.216.2145
|
This
Season - Give the Gift of Design!
Suprise
your friends with free exhibits anytime of the year! Do you
know someone who would enjoy preferred prices on Gala tickets
- someone who loves design. Why not give
them a DX Membership? There's still time to purchase a gift
membership - just call our Membership Coordinator Rosa Ricci
now at 416-216-2127 or email membership@dx.org.
| |
IN
FOCUS
Linda Lundstrom
Toward the end of the month, the DX celebrated
the DXA awards. Winners were from across Canada and
across all design disciplines. A special recognition
was given to Linda Lundstrom for her commitment to the
triple bottom line of design – social, environmental
and economic sustainability. Not only does Linda manufacture
locally in a 40,000 SF state of the art facility, she
is a proponent of the lean manufacturing process, reuses
off-cuts to create new products and uses non-polluting
fabrics. She has created a social network of ‘authentic’
women, who subscribe to the theory that all women are
beautiful regardless of shape or size. Linda designs
clothes for ‘real women’ with real time
constraints and family pressures and makes looking beautiful
easy. She also donates overages to women’s shelters.
Lundstrom supports the First Nations community through
donations and the use of native trappers.
In 1988, Linda Lundström established
the KIISHIK fund. KIISHIK in Ojibway means "light",
and carries out initiatives to shed light on and create
awareness of Native culture and heritage in the classrooms
and the community of the Red Lake, Ontario district.
|
| |
PLAN
YOUR AGM NOW!
It's year-end, and you may be planning
your annual general meeting
for spring 2007. Why not consider the Design Exchange?
The DX features the original TSE Trading Floor, a spectacular
art modern space featuring Charles Comfort's murals heralding
the economic drivers of the 1930s. The DX is a splendid
space for such meetings, large enough to accommodate several
hundred stakeholders. We offer in-house audio visual services
for every need and to ensure that your presentation has
maximum impact. Our Meeting & Event Services would
be happy to assist you, so please do not hesitate to contact
us at: 416-216-2140 or Meeting
& Event Services |
INTERIOR
DESIGN SHOW 2007 - REGISTER NOW!
Dates: February 22-25, 2007
Location: Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition
Place, Toronto
STORE
DESIGN COMPETITION FOR STUDENTS
Freedom Clothing Collective is holding a competition to redesign
their store interior and work room. They are inviting students
in interior design, architecture or other related programs
to present their ideas.
For full details on submitting, and to obtain an application
form contact Freedom
Clothing or phone: 416-912-3867
CURATOR'S
CHAT
Michael J. Prokopow Ph. D., DX Adjunct Curator
Recently,
in my capacity as curator at the Design Exchange, I was invited
to give lectures at the University of Lethbridge and the University
of Manitoba’s School of Architecture. In each case,
my hosts gave me a wide berth in terms of my subject matter.
I was, of course, expected to talk about Canadian design but
I was quite free to do whatever I thought best. In terms of
my visit to Lethbridge, I was asked to lecture in a popular
course titled “Art and Design Now.” Please
click here to read the rest of the article.
COLLECTION
NEWS
The Design Exchange is pleased to announce
the recent acquisition of an important Electrohome Stereo
(picture at right, above). Designed by Gordon Duern (d. 1998)
in 1967, the 701 stereo represented that moment in design
culture where phonographic technology was housed in a case
good or cabinet and made to look like furniture. Acknowledging
the work of American designer George Nelson and in particular
the Action Office series of 1964 for Herman Miller, Duern’s
stereo, with its cantilevered base and low-slung profile,
was reminiscent of any number of designs at the time that
sought to employ architectural metaphors in their industrial
designs. Interested in ideas of suspension and engineering,
Duern elevated the large massed volume of the stereo on rather
attenuated legs. The result is striking and what with its
luxurious walnut veneer, its sophisticated tambour door and
its considerable storage capacity, the 701 made both an elegant
and implicitly swinging statement in any living room. The
stereo will be under consideration for our permanent collection.
Designer: Gordon Duern
Manufacturer: Electrohome, Kitchener, Ontario
Date: 1967
VOLUNTEER
YOUR TIME AND LEARN ABOUT DESIGN!
The DX has programs, lectures and many
activities for the public, and we need your help! We are always
looking for new people to join our volunteer corps. Whether
it's working on an event, graphic or web design, or assisting
in our admin. office, you can be sure your time and help will
make a difference! Your energy and imagination will help us
deliver our programs! So visit the
DX Volunteer Program and find out how to register
- or send your information to
Volunteer
Coordinator Daniela Mason.
SUPPLIERS
AND VENDORS, CONTRIBUTE IN-KIND TO THE DX!
Calling all design suppliers!
The DX is looking for suppliers and vendors to help keep our
facility on the leading edge of interior design. If you have
products that you would like to showcase, we can help each
other! We are always looking to update our areas with the
newest products - carpeting, flooring, paint, lighting, equipment,
furniture, signage, etc. Over 250,000 people see our spaces
each year so this is a great opportunity for you. As well,
we can promote you via this Express newsletter and on our
website. If you are interested, please don't hesitate to call
Samantha Sannella @ 416.216.2145.
| |
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|
NATHAN
PHILLIPS SQUARE REVITALIZATION
DESIGN COMPETITION FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!
Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, Toronto,
with VLAN Paysages (landscape architect, Montreal); Halcrow
Yolles (structural engineer, Toronto); Cobalt Engineering
(mechanical engineer, Toronto); and Mulvey & Banani International
Inc. (electrical engineer, Toronto)
Plant Architect Inc., Toronto, with Shore
Tilbe Irwin & Partners (architect, Toronto); Peter Lindsay
Schaudt Landscape Architecture, Inc. (landscape architect,
Chicago); Adrian Blackwell (design collaborator, Toronto);
Blackwell Bowick Partnership Limited (structural engineer,
Toronto); and Crossey Engineering Ltd. (mechanical and electrical
engineers, Toronto)
Rogers Marvel Architects, New York, with
Ken Smith Landscape Architect (landscape architect, New York)
and Buro Happold (structural, mechanical and electrical engineers,
New York)
Zeidler Partnership Architects, Toronto,
with Group Signes (landscape architect, Paris, France); Halcrow
Yolles (structural engineer, Toronto); and Hidi Rae (mechanical
and electrical engineers, Toronto)
The
Competition Jury is chaired by Eric Haldenby,
architect and Director of the University of Waterloo School
of Architecture. Other jury members are: Dinu Bumbaru,
internationally recognized heritage architect from Montreal;
David Crombie, former Mayor of Toronto and
President and CEO of The Canadian Urban Institute; Frances
Halsband, architect and partner in the New York firm
of R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects; Cornelia
Oberlander, distinguished landscape architect from
Vancouver; and Michael Ondaatje, world-renowned
author and resident of Toronto.
For
more information visit Nathan
Phillips Square Competition.
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