Collaborations, the popular material-driven IDS installation returned again for this year’s show. Responding to the theme of Colours + Lines, two architecture teams each partnered with a single material and pushed it to its limit within 200 sq ft experiential environments.

CINDY RENDELY ARCHITEXTURE and SEVEN CONTINENTS are experts in the craft of building and the making of beautiful things. Together they have used an ordinary material - anodized aluminum - to create something extraordinary.

The collaborative installation is fabricated from anodized extruded aluminum, anodized sheet aluminum, and shades of grey. The anodizing process provides a consistent reflectivity of light across the entire assembly of forms. The material has been finely detailed to create independent objects that come together as a sculptural whole with machine-like precision.

Cindy Rendely Architexture

Architect, Cindy Rendely, is a craftsperson at heart taking interest in detailing at all scales. In addition to graduating from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Toronto, she is a trained goldsmith, jeweler and metal artist. Her award winning design studio, Cindy Rendely Architexture, regularly collaborates with design professionals and artisans in the development of projects ranging from residential, institutional spaces to product and jewellery design. Recent projects for the firm include the realization of their first public building, a modernist synagogue in Toronto along with the development of a product line called OBJEX which brings an architectural sensibility to the design of jewellery, display systems and objects for the retail environment.

Aluminium

Aluminum is a metal which is found in abundant supply within the earth’s crust. Having an atomic number of lucky 13, this material is lightweight and durable as well as corrosion and fire resistant. An anodizing process provides a protective layer resulting in a consistent reflectivity of light across the entire surface of the material. Anodized aluminum is often specified as structural and surfacing components in airplanes, buildings, cars and electronics. At a smaller scale, this multi-purpose material is used to fabricate furniture, lighting fixtures, decorative hardware and sculptural objects with machine-like precision.

Peacock is a chair made from a single sheet of DuPont™Corian® by a combination of cuts, bends and folds. Through a process of thermoforming and specific pattern cuts, a sheet stretches into three-dimensional forms that resemble the fanning of a peacock tail. Peacock represents DuPont™Corian® infinite possibility of new functionalities, structural and visual effects.

UUfie

In 2009, Irene Gardpoit Chan (previously with Arata Isozaki & Associates) and Eiri Ota (previously with Jun Aoki & Associates) came together to collaborate on a Tokyo-based apartment renovation project. This was the beginning of UUfie. Since then UUfie has realized a wide breadth of work, from product design to large-scale residential projects. With the recent earthquake in Japan, UUfie has found a new passion for environmentally sustainable design. Just as Japan must reconsider the ways in which they live, UUfie has refocused their designs for a future based on a new outlook. This year UUfie will complete their first Canadian project, a cottage by Kawartha Lakes through which they will display their combined experiences locally and abroad. As part of the IDS12 “Collaborations", they will also be working with DuPont™Corian® and RWJ Enterprises for a highly experimental idea with the material.

DuPont™Corian®

Dramatically beautiful DuPont™Corian® offers a durable, practical solid surface with a color palette featuring the most appealing shades and textures. Stunning hues with dramatic flakes and flashes of particles set the colors apart, while providing an aesthetic complementary to both traditional and contemporary spaces. This versatile design material combines natural minerals and acrylic. Available in 140 colours, it can be bent into shapes to create warm exciting designs, through a process called thermoforming. With the smoothness of stone and the workability of wood, DuPont™Corian® ‘s design possibilities are endless.