Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 930

This is not exactly a new project. The hotel, pictured above, opened in 2016 and was the brand’s second location (their first opened in São Paulo in 2001). But I like the story and how it was executed.

Hotel Emiliano is the work of husband and wife team Gustavo Filgueiras and Andrea Colli Filgueiras. He is a hotelier. And she is a jewelry designer. Both wanted to pay homage to the glory days of Rio’s Copacabana Beach.

Designed by Arthus Casas and Chad Oppenheim – who, by the way, recently built himself a stunning home in the Bahamas – the 90-room hotel is clad in white shutters that can be used to modulate the Brazilian sun. 

On the roof is an infinity pool with a glazed side. Here is a screen grab from the hotel’s website :

And here is an aerial view of the pool taken from Dezeen :

The uniforms for the hotel were designed by Barbara Casasola and a custom jewelry collection was created by Andrea Colli. 

For more photos, check out Dezeen and Wallpaper .

Architectural photography:  Fernando Guerra

I really like what has been put forward for Block 8 in the newly developing West Don Lands neighborhood of Toronto. Here is a rendering looking east from the Distillery District toward the proposed westernmost tower:

It feels like an extension of the Distillery District, which was clearly the intent. The materiality also reminds me of Junction House . Red brick at the base to fit within its context, and a more modern material palette on the upper floors. 

I also like how, in this instance, the building steps out on its south side, as opposed to in. It’s something different. Not every building has to look like a wedding cake, right?

The architecture is by COBE Architects and architectsAlliance . The developers are Dream, Kilmer Group, and Tricon. And the plan is for 756 rental apartments, of which 225 will be affordable and integrated throughout the 3 towers. 

For more information, check out Urban Toronto .

For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you’ll know that I love to snowboard and that I leave Ontario every winter in search of fresh lines. It is an annual tradition that has been going on for over a decade.

One of the things I wish I had been more diligent about is collecting all of the trail maps. I am sure I have a number of old ratty ones in some of my snowboard bags and snow pants, but none of them are probably worth keeping.

That’s why I think this is a terrific Kickstarter campaign by James Niehues . Over the last 30 years, James has researched, photographed, and painted almost every ski map in use across North America. Yes, these maps are all painted by hand. 

If you would like to back James’ project – a hardcover coffee table book of his work – you can do that here .

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orsc/james-niehues-the-man-behind-the-map/widget/video.html