Denegri Bessai Studio — the Toronto-based firm of Daniels Faculty Instructor Maria Denegri and Assistant Professor Tom Bessai — was featured in the summer issue of Designlines magazine.

Writes Mike Doherty:

When renovating houses, the husband-and-wife team often convinces clients to embrace abstract forms that are generated via mathematical formulas and computational scripts. The architects stress efficiency and material performance, but their work succeeds, says Denegri, because “people respond to delight and beauty.”

She and Bessai both teach at U of T, and they consider themselves “translators” who bring ideas from academia into the domestic sphere. Their Annex studio features a fabrication laboratory (nicknamed the FabLab) full of quizzical objects that recall boomerangs, paper planes and alien artefacts. The pair tests their prototypes – all constructed by hand, 3-D printer or laser cutter – under real-life constraints. The successful forms are then scanned, digitized and fabricated in the GTA, and when installed in homes their effect is practical and harmonious.

For the full article, visit the Designlines website.