Toronto Firm Dialogue 38 Creates First-Ever Lighting Showroom for GMECLUX

Bennett Lo had never designed a lighting showroom before. So when his Toronto firm, Dialogue 38, winner of the IIDA’s Will Ching Design Competition category for firms with five or fewer employees, was asked to draw one up, he started at the source: the client. In this case, that was lighting manufacturer GMECLUX, which was looking to showcase its high-end LEDs. Lo and team delivered, fashioning an 800-square-foot suburban storefront that caters uniquely to the business. “We try to accommodate the client’s requirements, wish list, and vision,” Lo says. “Often, they’ll have an idea that will really make their business work.”

Lining the space’s perimeter is a series of display cases with 8-foot-tall apertures. The cases, which each house a single recessed light, are all painted the same shade of white to demonstrate variations in LED warmth and brightness. At the floor’s center, meanwhile, are a pair of yellow-painted MDF display tables. One contains drawers that pull out to double as chairs, ideal for consultations with buyers, many of whom are designers themselves. “This space,” Lo adds, “is catered to the professional.”

Dialogue 38: bennet lo; sonia kim.