1110 Kensington

We designed the building in 1986 for a family of merchants to sell high quality design furnishings. The building on the narrow lot established a presence for itself through the careful articulation of massing and glazing patterns on three levels, appropriate to the interior uses on each floor. Interior finishing (concrete block walls, mondo rubber floors, steel tread stairs), was minimalist, industrial, loft-like, in keeping with the spirit of the merchandise and as an expression of a vision of the living space of the ideal clientele.

Thirty years later, the building was sold and the new owners asked us to renovate the building to express a contemporary image that would support new retail and office opportunities. The interior finishing of the original building has proved robust and elegant after 30 years and has been retained. The circulation was redesigned to accommodate separate tenants, and this was manifested with a new glass elevator exposed to the street, adding a level of kinetic energy and exposure to the now iconic form.