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LightHouse Table Rock Welcome Centre 6 | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Johnson Chou Inc. P H OTO G R A P H Y BY B EN R A H N /A- F R A M E P H OTO G R A P H Y BY J U N H AO L I U "T he seasons change to teach us the very inevitability of change. Our duty is to adjust our sails and flow with the current of change – adjust and learn, adapt and modify to the newness that life presents from time to time." This quote by writer Sanchita Pandey, perfectly sums up the impression you get when you chat with Johnson Chou, principal of Toronto-based design studio Johnson Chou Inc. "Nothing hones the mind better than following instincts and thinking on one's feet," says Chou. And that's exactly what he did when the pandemic struck in 2020. "Almost immediately after the first lockdown in 2020, all our commercial projects, office, retail, and hospitality – which represented nearly 50 percent of our projects – were either cancelled or postponed. It looked really dire. But within weeks, we were able to obtain several exciting condominium and purpose-built rental projects that virtually regained our normal volume of work. Our multi- disciplinary approach allowed us to weather the ravages of the pandemic." By undertaking a variety of project types and scales, the invariable cross- pollination of project types and ideas added value to Johnson Chou Inc.'s clients. "For example, our hospitality experience influenced our office projects and our office design concepts were assimilated in many private residential and condo/ rental projects," he says. It has been eight years since AWARD first featured Chou as our main profile. Since that time, Chou and partner Silke Stadtmueller have undertaken some amazing feats after nearly doubling the size of their office. He and his team have been involved with several office projects for creative agencies, furniture showrooms, condominiums, purpose-built rental projects, single family homes, and even a public art project. For Chou and his team, finding opportunities to imbue meaning into architecture and design in order to create narratives that engage people on physiological levels of experience has been of utmost importance. "They are narratives we create that are 'portraits' of the clients, be it a private residence or spatial branding for a corporate client. Ritual and metaphor, or movement and form, are a means to activate the narrative, creating emotional and intellectual levels of engagement, to create works that are meaningful to our clients," he says. And there are so many projects that demonstrate this approach. Take Mosaic Chicago, which is located within a five-storey brick and beam building. The client,

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