Trends in Design : Night 5

Last Thursday was the last night of the Trends in Design series and this time it was hosted by Elaine Cecconi of Cecconi Simone, a renowned interior design firm based in Toronto. If you're an "HGTV connoisseur", you might have seen her and/or partner Anna Simone in Design Interns (amazing show). They also appeared in other shows such as Designer Superstar Challenge and Big City Broker.

Cecconi Simone are well known for their innovative and unique design and have done many condominium projects. During the lecture, Elaine gave an overview of how condo's have evolved over the past couple years, and the various innovative solutions they came up with to maximize the use of the available cubic feet (as opposed to square footage). She showed some beautiful examples such as the possibility of completely closing off your kitchen in the Tableau project in Toronto, a clever use of storage where the backsplash would be in a kitchen and their signature candle fireplaces for condos.






She also showed us some really neat amenity rooms such as the the video-game room and spa room. I'm glad she like my idea of the workshop room (allowing condo dwellers to have a space to do little projects such as painting a piece of furniture). It will be interesting to see if they integrate it in a future condo project.



All in all it was a great night. The room was packed, the conversation/question period was interesting. I'm a bit sad that this was the last presentation from this series, I really enjoyed them. Hopefully there will be more to come. David Wex, from Urban Capital, is considering doing this again in two years.


Photos : Urban Capital | Tableau condos | MOOT |

Turn-key modern homes in Ottawa

Ever heard of Hidden City Design? It's a group of building professionals specializing in turn key green and modern homes in the Ottawa/Gatineau region. They basically design and build modern homes from scratch that you can buy.

The first time I heard about this concept was through the Cassels Avenue project by Reigo and Bauer in Toronto. I just love the way they integrated a modern minimalist home in a traditional neighborhood, as shown below.




I'm glad we have that here too. Check out the beautiful kitchen of the Carruthers project, a semi-detached home in Mechanicsville, which includes several eco-friendly features such as tank-less hot water heaters, renewable bamboo floors, energy efficient equipments and organic paint.



Next on their list is the Keyworth Collection project,three modern single family homes individually designed for buyers looking to live in an environmentally responsible way. This project features several eco-conscious items such as radiant floor heating throughout the houses, integrated garbage and recycling units and rain collectors. Looks like this project is well underway based on the latest Google Street view.




I'll definitely keep an eye on them to see what else the come up with.

Photos: Hidden City Design | Reigo and Bauer