Smart & Biggar LLP

Steven Tsai

• Architecten

Smart & Biggar is immersed in both present day social issues and the anticipation of future trends. But they are also a company that is more than a century old, so their work rests upon a proud history. It is this grounded position, demanding views both forward and backward looking, that informs SDI’s design of their Toronto home.

The firm wished to provide a more modern, open environment for their clients than traditional legal offices. The “front of house” area was designed to be spacious and flowing, with a generous reception area moving transparently into a café space that is shared by both staff and visitors. This transparency permits the interior reception area to borrow ample daylight from the perimeter windows, and it allows clients to feel welcomed into the Smart & Biggar family home. Several spacious meeting spaces are also accessed from reception and the waiting area provides room for several distinct groups in a lounge-like atmosphere.

While the back-of-house follows a more traditional legal office approach to space arrangements, care has been given to ensure that staff have access to daylight and generous break-out, lounge, meeting and reference areas.

At the time when Smart & Biggar was founded, Canada was in the process of being carved out of the rocks and trees that are native to our country. Those historic and geographic references form a conceptual foundation for the development of the design vocabulary for the new office. Naturally, for a business that is as focussed on today and tomorrow as it is on its past the design must avoid overwrought cliché, so these concepts are interpreted and rendered into an appropriately sophisticated and contemporary vocabulary.

Material Used :
1. Flooring – Carpet – Shaw Contract – Drift – Recharge
2. Flooring – Carpet – Shaw Contract – Shapetile – Outlook/Distance
3. Flooring – Carpet – Shaw Contract – Dyelab – Logwood
4. Flooring – Carpet – Shaw Contract – Dyelab – Indigo
5. Flooring – Carpet – Shaw Contract – Dyelab – Woad
6. Flooring – Carpet – Shaw Contract – Scepter II 50521 – Vivid 43491
7. Flooring – Vinyl Composite Tle – Armstrong – Rave Standard Excelon – 57518 White Out
8. Flooring – Wood – The Sullivan Sources Inc. – Winston Wood WP Stripe – Fumed Oak
9. Flooring – Wood – By Contrator – Wood Block to Match WC-1 Wood Statin Finish
10. Flooring – Wood – The Sullivan Sources Inc. – Winston Wood WIP 4100 Herringbone – Fumed Oak
11. Flooring – Base – Shaw Contract – 4“ High Carpet Base – Shapetile – Outlook/Distance
12. Flooring – Base – Johnsonite – 50 White W
13. Flooring – Base – MDF Base – 4“ MDF Base painted to match wall colour
14. Flooring – Base – 4“ Poplar Base – Painted to be PT-7 – for WD-1 and WC-3
15. Flooring – Base – 4“ Poplar Base – painted to be PT-8 – For WC-2
16. Flooring – Base – 4“ Poplar Base – painted to be PT-9 – For WC-1
17. Flooring – Base – Stone Tile – 4“ High Tile Base to Match T-7 -
18. Flooring – Tile – Ciot – Magnum – Marble Grey
19. Flooring – Tile – Stole Tile – Ascot Focus – Natural Grey
20. Flooring – Tile – Olympia Tile – Le Terre 12“ Hexagon - White
21. Flooring – Tile – Ciot – Staturaio - Bianco
22. Flooring – Tile – Stone Tile – Laminam Fokos - Pimbo
23. Flooring – Tile – Ceragres – Lanka Bloc – White R1010M/RM01
24. Flooring – Tile – Stone Tile – Solid Porcelain – Ash Matte
25. Flooring – Tile – Stone Tile – Sold Porcelain – Ash Natural
26. Flooring – Transition Strip – Jolly AGC AGC 60 – Polish Chrome
27. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Extra White – SW 7006 – Eggshell
28. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Iron Ore – SW 7069 – Eggshell
29. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Purple Lotus 2072-30 – Eggshell
30. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Black Magic SW 6991 – Glossy
31. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Oceanside SW 6496 – Eggshell
32. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Regatta SW6517 – Eggshell
33. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Sable SW6083 – Eggshell
34. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Porpoise SW7047 – Eggshell
35. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Craft Paper SW 6125 – Eggshell
36. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Bee SW 6583 – Eggshell
37. Walls – Paint – Serwin Williams – Orange Orange SW6890 – Eggshell
38. Walls – Wall Covering – Metro – Maya Ramanoff Ajiro Chevron - Walnut
39. Walls – Wall Covering – Levey – Restoration Elements Hard Rock - Slate
40. Walls – Wall Covering – Levey – Sanfoot Pro Natural Wood Veneer Wall Covering –00417 Stain to Match
41. Walls – Back Painted Glass – To be painted PT-3
42. Millwork – Plastic Laminate – Tafisa – Tanners Lane Tecture Origen
43. Millwork – Plastic Laminate – Tafisa – Northern Plain Texture Urbana
44. Millwork – Plastic Laminate – Tafisa – Slate Texture Crystalite
45. Millwork – Plastic Laminate – Formica – New White Gloss Finsh
46. Millwork – Plastic Laminate – Formica – New White Matte Finish
47. Millwork – Stain – Stain to Match WD-1
48. Millwork – Stone – Olympia Tile – Slab Division Aspen – Venatino White
49. Millwork – Stone –Caesarstone – Blizzard 2141
50. Millwork Upholstry – Design Tex – Swayed all over 2689-412 – Prussian Blue
51. Glazing – Film – Film Detail by Maxxit