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Partisans (architectural firm)

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PARTISANS
Company typePrivate
IndustryArchitecture
Founded
Founders
  • Alex Josephson
  • Pooya Baktash
Key people
Alex Josephson, CEO & President
Services
Number of employees
11-50
Websitehttps://partisans.com

PARTISANS is an internationally-recognized architecture firm known for its future-forward approach to design and technology, civic advocacy, and cultural engagement.[1] Based in Toronto, Canada, the firm was founded in 2012 and is currently led by Alex Josephson.[2] PARTISANS designs architecture, cities, concepts, and even ideas, with projects that range from furniture, houses, skyscrapers, to masterplans. As a diverse group of architects, thinkers, and storytellers, PARTISANS works for and has completed projects for a variety of clients, spanning from acclaimed restauranteurs, real estate trusts, and Fortune 500 companies. The name PARTISANS represent the firm's interest in collective action and architecture as a political force for social and cultural good.[3][4]

Contribution to Canadian Architecture

File:Bar Raval.jpg
Bar Raval, Toronto, ON, Canada

PARTISANS has contributed significantly to Canadian architecture through its unique style and approach to architecture as a collective and political act.[5] PARTISANS specializes not only in design but also in rhetoric and activism. Within twelve years, the firm has worked up a varied portfolio: houses, furniture, industrial pieces, restaurant interiors, sculptural lighting, books, and public interventions that border on performance art."[6]

In 2020 the firm was recognized with the Emerging Architectural Practice Award by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. According to the 2020 jury, “The firm’s projects are original, powerful and evocative. The team is capable of thinking at all scales from interiors to city planning; the works speak to a vision for the future that is free-minded and innovative. As outspoken advocates for the quality of architecture as a social vehicle, their success is evidenced by the beloved spaces they have crafted.”[5] PARTISANS embodies a "bold and expansive vision of architecture as an art form and a profession engaged with the biggest cultural questions."[7][8]

History

PARTISANS began in 2012 will small commissions. Early on, the firm began attaining larger projects. In 2014, PARTISANS gained international recognition for their celebrated wood sculptural projects, The Grotto Sauna and Bar Raval, where PARTISANS exhibited an uncanny ability to master materiality. Embodying a next-generation approach in pushing the discipline's boundaries, PARTISANS continues to break the norms of standard practices. In 2013, PARTISANS won the commission to redevelop and expand the commercial real estate of Toronto's historic Union Station. After the success of leveraging Union Station's identity as a major transit hub to create a pioneering culinary and retail hub, PARTISANS successfully ushered in signature projects for large-scale real estate developments and urban masterplans including the high-rises 55 Yonge, 69 Yonge, Elm St, and the Innisfil Orbit Masterplan.

Founded by Alex Josephson and Pooya Baktash, PARTISANS was born out of the belief or breaking the norms. The two met while completing their Master of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, and decided to start the practice after realizing larger firms did not offer the creativity and innovation they valued. As a native of Toronto, Alex Josephson worked for the architect Massimiliano Fuksas in Rome before returning to Canada on a mission to bring a strong creative vision to Toronto and across the globe. In 2013, Alex Josephson was awarded the Globe & Mail 2013 Catalyst Award for PARTISANS' innovations to public and cultural engagement. Jonathan Friedman, an architect with over a decade's experience in Ontario, joined PARTISANS as a third partner in 2014. Currently as of 2024, PARTISANS is led by Alex Josephson.

Publications

Graphic Novel

In 2014, Partisans published a graphic novel called "Suburbabylonia", a part manifesto, part satire novel.[9] The book has the appearance of dreamy images and truth-seeking spaceman hero, but beneath the surface, the authors aim to mock an off-kilter version of a Toronto-like metropolis, destroyed by unchecked building boom and ineptitude of municipal politicians.[9]

Book

In 2016, Hans Ibelings along with Partisans co-wrote a book called "Rise and Sprawl: The Condominiumization of Toronto".[2] Together they tackle the criticism of Toronto's current skyline, and how the rapid growth of downtown as well as the condominium development has changed Toronto.[2]

Recognition

  • 2020 - RAIC Emerging Architectural Practice

Notable Projects & Awards

  • Current: 1925 Victoria Park Ave[10]
    1. 2023 - Holcim Gold Medal, North America
  • Current: 55 Yonge[11]
    1. 2022 - Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award, Skyscrapers & High-rises
  • 2023: Canvas House[12]
  • 2021: Vela
    1. 2021 - Azure Magazine's Top 10 Interiors of the Year
  • 2020: Gusto501
    1. 2023 - Toronto Urban Design Award
    2. 2020 - International Masonry Institute JBC Masonry Innovation Competition
    3. 2020 - IES Illumination Award
  • 2019: Innisfil Orbit Masterplan, Garden City Plan for 50,000 new homes in Ontario
    1. 2022 - Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award, Urban Planning
    2. 2021 - AZ Awards: Urban Design Visions Finalist
    3. 2021 - International Property Awards: Best Landscape Architecture Canada & Ontario
  • 2019: Toronto Biennial of Art
  • 2018: Quetzal
    1. 2022 - Michelin Star
    2. 2019 - Canada's 100 Best Restaurants: Best Restaurant Design
    3. 2019 - Canadian Interiors, Best of Canada, Hospitality
  • 2018: Fold House
    1. 2021 - WAF House & Villa (Rural/Nature) Finalist
  • 2018: Union Station, Toronto's central train terminal, Interior Fit-Out[13]
  • 2017: Yeoui-Naru Han Gang Wishbone Ferry Terminal
    1. American Architecture Prize: Winner in Architectural Design & Transportation
  • 2016: Luminato Festival of the Arts at The Hearn
    1. 2017 - Toronto Urban Design Awards, Special Jury Award for Urban Activation
  • 2015: Bar Raval
    1. 2016 - MCHAP Emerging Architecture, 2016 Nominee
    2. 2016 - American Architecture Prize, Gold in Hospitality Interior Design
    3. 2016 - AIA International Region Merit Award
    4. 2015 - Architect Magazine R+D Awards, Special Mention
    5. 2015 - Canadian Interiors Magazine, 18th Annual Best of Canada Design Competition
    6. 2015 - Ontario Wood WORKS! Interior Design Award
  • 2014: Grotto Sauna[14]
    1. 2015 - OAA Design Excellence[15]
    2. 2015 - WAF World Building of the Year Shortlist[16]
    3. 2015 - BOY, Best in 10: Beauty/Spa[17]
    4. 2015 - Architizer A+ Healthcare & Wellness Popular Choice Winner[18]
    5. 2014 - Interior Design "2014 BOY Winner: Spa"[19]
    6. 2014 - AIA International Honor Award[20]
    7. 2014 - Interior Design Magazine Award, Best of 2014[21]
    8. 2014 - Ontario Wood WORKS! 2014 Wood Design Award[22]
  • 2014: Gweilo[23]
    1. 2018 - Wallpaper* Design Awards, Lighting
    2. 2017 - European Product Design Awards, Silver for Illumination/Floor Lamps
    3. 2016 - Azure Magazine AZ Awards, Best Lighting Installation
    4. 2015 - Architizer A+ Awards, Architectural Lighting
    5. 2015 - LAMP, Lighting Award

References

  1. ^ "Toronto's Next Generation: Partisans". Azure Magazine. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Partisans". www.partisans.com. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Designers You Should Know: PARTISANS". Contract Design. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Architecture Firm Partisans Asks, "WTF?"". Designlines Magazine. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Emerging Architectural Practice Award - 2020 Recipient". raic.org. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  6. ^ Lewsen, Simon (19 July 2018). "Who Says Canadian Architecture Is Boring?". The Walrus. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  7. ^ "A trailblazer and a troublemaker honoured with Canadian architecture awards". Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Rising Studio PARTISANS Reflects the Triumphs and Challenges of Building in Toronto". Metropolis. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Suburbabylonia - Partisans Pens Graphic Novel About Toronto". Designlines Magazine. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  10. ^ "1925 Victoria Park | A prototype for sustainable apartment living". www.1925vicpark.com. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  11. ^ "55 Yonge". www.55yonge.ca. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Canvas House / Partisans". ArchDaily. 12 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  13. ^ Lam, Elsa (10 June 2019). "Things are Looking Up: Union Station Food Court, Toronto, Ontario". Canadian Architect. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Partisans' lakeside Grotto takes the edge off traditional sauna design". 24 November 2014.
  15. ^ oaa.on.ca https://oaa.on.ca/whats-on/awards/past-oaa-award-winners. Retrieved 22 November 2023. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ "World Building of the Year 2015 shortlist announced". Dezeen. 22 June 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Best of Year 2015: Project Winners". Interior Design. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  18. ^ "2015 Typology Winners - Architizer A+Awards". winners.architizer.com. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  19. ^ "2014 Best of Year Awards - Projects Winners". Interior Design. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  20. ^ "2014 Winners". AIA INTERNATIONAL. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  21. ^ "2014 Best of Year Awards - Projects Winners". Interior Design. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  22. ^ Architect, Canadian (18 November 2014). "Winners of the Ontario Wood WORKS! 2014 Wood Design Awards announced". Canadian Architect. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  23. ^ "Gweilo". Parachilna. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
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