British architect David Chipperfield’s first project on Canadian soil, for example, is an unabashedly austere showroom in Montreal, the first bricks-and-mortar flagship for online fashion retailer SSense. Featuring a restrained material palette of concrete, stainless steel and glass, the neo-brutalist shop is a physical representation of the brand’s ethos and aesthetic.

Taking a different yet no less stunning approach, Ciszak Dalmas and Matteo Ferrari Studio applied unorthodox materials – including a custom-blended clay composite, yards of leather and handmade bricks – to transform a former Madrid auction house into a warm, textured outlet for the Spanish leather goods and accessories brand Malababa.

In Taiwan, meanwhile, Waterform Design converted a cavernous steel-shed warehouse into a free-flowing workspace flooded with light and curated hits of colour for a manufacturer of water dispensers. It was all done on a tight budget and with the structural integrity needed to withstand the typhoons and earthquakes that periodically happen on the island.

And for a new restaurant in Toronto, local architecture studio Partisans reinterpreted tarp-covered Mexican markets to create a sinuous – and scene-stealing – ceiling that epitomizes the firm’s exuberant style. Underneath its undulating crown, Quetzal signals a new wave in restaurant design, complete with a 7.3-meter-long wood-fired grill, rich Canadian maple furnishings and a crisp two-tone palette.

Plus: Kengo Kuma’s sharply angled V&A building in Scotland; behind the scenes at Holland’s Why Factory, the most radical design school on the planet; and a purposely disorienting addition to a Tasmanian museum.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

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