Conestoga College Centre for Culinary and Hospitality Innovation

The Centre for Culinary and Hospitality Innovation is part of a major renovation and expansion of Conestoga College’s North Campus in Waterloo, Ontario. The design of the school, led by Gow Hastings in association with Moriyama & Teshima Architects, extends beyond typical mandates for durability, flexibility, and universal access: Bake, Culinary, Mixology and Butchery Labs, a 99-seat lecture theater, and demonstration cooking space are fully adaptable for classroom instruction or formal events. With a desire to make each culinary space easily identifiable, the designers created colorful, herringbone-patterned backsplashes to add interest to an otherwise technical, utilitarian space. The extensive color range of I Colori by CE.SI allowed for the creation of separate aesthetics while the tiles’ fire-resistant, stain-resistant, and easy-to-clean traits made them a sustainable surface material for hard-wearing culinary labs.