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Building Envelope
July 20, 2006
An Open Book
richardjohnson.ca
The interior design of McClelland & Stewart’s new office blends heritage and modern elements.
Can’t judge book by its cover: this interior renovation sparkles
TORONTO
Canadian publishing giant McClelland & Stewart Ltd. celebrated its 100th anniversary with not only a revamping of its logo and corporate colours but also a move into new quarters on downtown Sherbourne Street.
“The Sherbourne Street building was full of character,” says Beverly Horii, director of interior design at Bregman Hamann, which redesigned the space.
“We wanted to reinforce the quality of the space by adding some clean, fresh elements that would contrast against the original building.”
The building, a former piano factory just blocks from the publishing company’s first offices on Adelaide Street West, boasted original hardwood floors, exposed brick and windows that open.
Bregman Hamann’s design vision embraced the building’s heritage character while adding modern elements to reinforce the publishing company’s illustrious history and confidence in the future.
The designers created a number of unique features intended to highlight McClelland & Stewart’s most important asset: its authors.
One of these features is a set of so-called cabins — semi-enclosed spaces with metallic walls, ideal for hanging magnetic posters that can be changed rapidly to accommodate book launches.
The 11,500-square-foot space was renovated by contractor GovanBrown at an estimated cost of $250,000.
Horii, who joined Bregman Hamann in 2004 as interior design director and was made a senior associate the following May, said major design challenges included “working around the existing infrastructure” such as the kitchen, boardroom and a large glass wall.
Existing lighting was relocated.
In addition, the space had to be reconfigured to accommodate different divisions of the company.
“We also had to come up with something (an interior design) that would feel like McClelland & Stewart and also meet the particular challenges of book publishing,” Horii said.
The renovation was completed last September after a six-week construction period.
richardjohnson.ca
Magnetic posters can be mounted on the metallic walls of these semi-enclosed spaces.
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