Entrance Exhibit

RAW, in collaboration with Mark Tholen, seduced IDS show-goers with a dramatic felt-strip curtain entryway that doubled as a digital projection screen for visitors to interact with. The sheer volume of felt piqued curiosity and invited guests to lose themselves as they transitioned into the show.

Strip Tease

Preparing visitors to be seduced by ideas, RAW envisioned a dramatic curtain entryway made from felt strips.

Draped from the atrium ceiling, this highly tactile blanket acted as mass screen for digital projections which guests also interacted with.

While piquing curiosity, the sheer volume of felt invites guests to lose themselves as they transition into the show.

Founded in 2007, RAW is one of Toronto’s fastest growing architecture studios. Since being named Best Emerging Practice by the OAA in 2009, the firm and its portfolio has expanded exponentially to cover a diverse range of projects throughout the GTA, Canada, and internationally.

Taking a completely open-minded approach to architecture by encouraging a fluid and collaborative design process, RAW’s work varies from quirky small-scale urban infill developments to a large mixed-use and commercial environments covering entire city blocks. Notable projects include Bellefair Kew Beach Residences, which adapts a former church into a mixed-use boutique residential address in the heart of The Beach, as well as MINI Downtown, Canada’s first flagship MINI dealership with a bold playful design that has been featured in design magazines across the globe.

RAW’s work on the Tannery District in Kitchener, Ont. recently won the 2011 CUI Brownie Award for Best Overall Project. Cleaning up and revitalizing a former industrial site of over 300,000 sq. ft. in downtown Kitchener, RAW transformed a turn of the century leather factory into a high tech office and community space that has become a magnet for economic and industry growth.

The studio’s principal, Roland Rom Colthoff is distinguished by his individual reputation for fresh ideas and clear thinking.