Paul Raff Studio Wins 2018 CODAworx Award
Paul Raff Studio has won the prestigious 2018 CODAaward for Atmospheric Lens at the Vaughan Metropolitian Centre Transit Station. The CODAworx Awards celebrate public artworks that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces. Atmospheric Lens was commissioned by the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension as part of an official mandate on behalf of the Toronto Transit Commission to recognize the importance of the user’s experience in new infrastructure.
The new station was to use architecturally integrated artwork to elevate commuters’ experience from a typically lackluster one to something poetic and resonant. The artwork delivers an elevated encounter while highlighting and integrating with the station’s unique architecture.
Spanning 16,000 s.f. Atmospheric Lens dissolves the convex ceiling of the above-ground pavilion into a dynamic, cubist collage of reflections of life inside the station. Lined in polished steel mirrors and punctured with solar-aligned skylights augmented by coloured reflectors, the dome sets light and reflection into perpetual motion throughout the day, affecting an artful interior sky. Commuters moving under the ‘lens’ complete the passive kinetic effect by seeing their reflection in the panels, becoming part of the ever-changing atmosphere above.
Sherry Dobbin, Juror and Cultural Director at Futurecity praises the project “as an excellent example of integrated design and collaboration. The entire space is part of the experience and work. It could also be used for temporary events, creating a purposeful series of kaleidoscopic design.”
Photos: Shai Gil
Monument Design Unveiled
Paul Raff Studio is proud to share that we have been commissioned to create a permanent public monument at Queen’s Park, Toronto to honour the service of Correctional Workers in Ontario.
Visiting Mirage at Underpass Park
Have you visited our public artwork Mirage at Underpass Park yet?
Suspended overhead of pedestrians, large scale mirror-like surfaces create an illusory appearance, which bends light rays to produce a displaced image much like a mirage. Made up of 57 reflective polished stainless steel panels fastened to the underside of the overpass, Mirage also makes for the perfect selfie spot (as seen above and shared by a many instagrammers!)
And if you take a picture, please be sure to share it with us and tag us @PaulRaffStudio and hashtag #MiragePublicArt. Happy exploring and photo-taking!
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Counterpoint House Ranked Best Urban House by Azure Magazine
We are starting the new year with a smile carried forth from the last, for our Counterpoint House was among Azure Magazine’s “10 Best Houses of 2015” as the “Best Urban House of 2015.”
Azure says, “Counterpoint House, built in 2014, gains a spot in our 2015 best houses list for its elegant materials, beautifully resolved finishes and ingenious touches. This urban house maximizes light and flow with a large south-facing clerestory window, and an effortless floor plan.
Besides it’s chunky grey-tiled exterior, a metal brise-soleil gives this house its unique presence. Effectively a screen of aluminum slats, it swaths the entire upper level. Inside the slats reflect the sun and create beautiful patterns of light throughout the day.”
We are honoured to say the least!
To view a time lapse video of the Counterpoint House, click here.
Syncopations, an Artfully Designed Fence for the Don Valley Trail
As a result of winning a national call for artists, Paul Raff Studio designed Syncopations, a 1.6 km long fence and low relief sculpture. It is situated between a pedestrian cycling path and railway line, and adjacent to the highway and bridges of Toronto’s Don Valley. Transformations are created by a sequential manipulation of standard fence panels to create a steel fabric that ripples and interacts with sensory interruptions. It transforms “magically” and differently as viewed from cars, trains, bicycles or on foot.
Wavelengths: Surface of Lake Sculpted in Frozen Motion
As part of a large mixed-use urban development including a 46-storey residential tower that occupies a full city block just south of Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market, Paul Raff Studio designed a phenomenal ceiling to its outdoor public passageway. The wave-like relief simulates the surface of Lake Ontario, which ten thousand years ago was as high as the passageway ceiling.
See more here.
Paul Raff Studio Designs Winter Stations
“Although the Beach neighbourhood of Toronto is a summer-long festival of colour and pageant, this is not true of the winter months. No place is this more evident than along the boardwalk of Toronto’s east-end beaches, where vacant utilitarian lifeguard stations stand out as symbols of public space beholden to weather.”
To infuse colour and vibrancy into Toronto’s winter landscape, a new international design competition was launched to transform the Beaches’ lifeguard stations into whimsical art installations.
Paul Raff Studio submitted a straw bale snow fort design entitled “HAY, YOU!” This engaging climbable structure offers the pleasure of elevated lake views to the south, long views of the winter beach to the east and west, and the delight of a quick slide back down to the snowy sand.
The design evokes warmth through movement, play, and cozy repose. A red painted banner beckons boardwalk pedestrians to circle around the big straw cube to the lake side. Scramble up the red bale terrace and survey the ramparts from this grassy belvedere. Take in the long prospect of the snowy shoreline and marvel at the view of the city beyond.
New Public Artwork Commemorates Toronto’s Shoreline
Located in Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence neighbourhood, The Berczy, a boutique collection of urban residences, unveils its new public artwork on Wednesday, December 10th, 2014. Artist and architect Paul Raff will join developers Concert Properties, Ward 28 Councillor Pam McConnell, and The Berczy residents to celebrate the new Shoreline Commemorative.
The artwork’s location, south of Front Street on the west side of Church Street, was the site of Lake Ontario’s shoreline for thousands of years. The artwork has a sculpted limestone base evoking the original topography of the city’s edge. Its focus is a glowing glass orb set on a bronze tripod, which acts as a dense glass rendition of the line separating sky and water. The tripod reminds passerbys of the surveyors’ instrumentation of the line of sight, an important tool in creating the city. The brick wall to the south is inscribed with the text: “For 10,000 years this was the location of Lake Ontario’s shoreline. This brick wall stands where water and land met, with a vista horizon.” These elements, as an ensemble, present a summary of the experience of being on the shoreline with the horizon view open to open water, an experience formerly available at this exact location.
Artist Paul Raff describes, Shoreline Commemorative as “a special addition to the city, a landmark and unique situation for pedestrians to discover in the urban landscape.”
Other noteworthy public artworks by Paul Raff and his studio include Mirage, a large scale mirror-like artwork suspended overhead of pedestrians at Underpass Park, and Regina Gateway, a monumental sculptural public artwork that acts as a gateway into the City of Regina (in collaboration with Jyhling Lee).
Knob Portrait: Mayor Ford
IKEA, the ubiquitous furniture manufacturer teamed up with the Design Exchange and some of Toronto’s best creatives, including Paul Raff Studio, for a unique fundraiser.
Echo House Featured in Globe and Mail
The work of Paul Raff Studio was profiled in The Globe and Mail on Friday, September 6th, 2013. The Echo House was the cover story of the Globe Real Estate section.
“From grumpily Modernist to contemporary cool, Paul Raff transforms a Bridle Path home with glass, warm wood and classic joinery”
“Mr. Raff has fashioned an eloquent contemporary dwelling from the bones of a grumpily modernist one, sparing the usable portions of the old structure and introducing new elements that add up to a coherent, excellent piece of architecture. I can think of only one thing it now needs to be a perfect house, and that is to be lived in.”
-John Bentley Mays, The Globe and Mail
Regina Civic Gateway Permanent Art Installation
A joint collaborative design by Paul Raff Studio and Jyhling Lee, Regina Gateway resonates with the prairie landscape and enriches the sense of identity and arrival in the city.
So Long Chinatown – Hello Koreatown!
12 foot ceilings, an open-web steel joint roof, new diamond-polished concrete floors, and an abundance of natural light make for an excellent new studio space for our creative practice. Come by for a visit! Read more
Sustainability as a Driver of Artistic Innovation
The Bluepoint Residences, a 21 unit luxury residential development, is set on a headland overlooking Pattong Bay and the Andaman Sea. The building’s exterior is treated as a dynamic surface to modulate light, shade, and views. The primary objective is simultaneously to open residences to breathtaking panoramic views while maximizing solar shading and privacy.
“Artistic originality is rarely mentioned in the context of sustainable architecture and construction… I firmly believe, however, that environmentally-responsible thinking can be a fruitful driver of artistic innovation in architecture.” Read more
Latest Projects
Richmond CastleOctober 12, 2017 - 2:29 pm
Madrigal HouseOctober 12, 2017 - 2:30 pm
Vaughan Metropolitan StationOctober 13, 2017 - 6:35 pm