Robert Sidi is not a fan of tolerance.
"For 25 years, most of my best friends have been architects," says the owner of
Kiosk, the furniture store that just moved its residential location from Dupont and Christie to King and Parliament, "and we sit down and tell stories of frustrations, when so much talent goes to waste, when developers refuse to stray even a little bit from the Home Depot standard. Standard this, standard that. The tolerance for this is 3 inches, the tolerance for that is 6 inches. And I'm saying the tolerance for this is 3mm."
At first, you don't notice much beyond the acute angles, the porous planes that make up the two floors that both divide and join the three floors of the new shop that specializes in four-figure furniture, with the occasional foray into the fives. The floors are white, which is interesting, and the 20,000 square foot space is made both practical and intimate by being organized into staging areas, where scenes are set with various pieces and sets of furniture.
But it's only when you look at the places where the walls meet the floors, and where two walls meet in a corner of the ceiling, that you realize there are no tolerances here. There are no mouldings, no baseboards to hide drywall approximations. Then look at how the sprinklers are centred perfectly above panes of glass, or electrical outlets set flush inside concrete columns, and you'll begin to get a sense that this space is very, very well constructed.
Designed by Vancouver architect
Omer Arbel, with construction overseen by Sidi, who took a seven-month sabbatical to make sure everything was perfect, the shop is a window onto what Toronto might look like if more owners and trades demanded perfection of themselves and each other.
As Sidi says himself, "Who gives a damn about furniture showrooms? Let's have our institutions like this."
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Robert Sidi
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