Michelle Biggar, OMB

The custom Fazioli piano that is featured in the lobby at Shangri-La Toronto was designed to fit seamlessly into both the hotel’s lobby and restaurant concepts. The hotel lobby was designed to complement Bosk, the elegant restaurant at the base of the hotel. We designed the two spaces together, so each would have its own identity while maintaining continuity of the aesthetic language and material palette. The lobby features travertine stone surfaces with accents of oak wood, while Bosk uses the wood to define the restaurant with a dramatic and dense application. Both designs express the Shangri-La’s timeless and understated aesthetic and its subtle Asian-inspired theme. Made of white oak, the piano was intended to be cohesive with the overall lobby design featuring oak wood accents. It was also important to us to that the piano’s design reflected its Canadian context, so with Joni Mitchell’s blessing, we introduced lyrics from her song, My Old Man, etched into the interior wood surface of the Fazioli’s top board.