LIV Design Studio’s 2024 Student Design Challenge, titled The Art of Outdoor Living, aims to bring attention to up-and-coming interior designers from across Canada by providing an opportunity for students to present their work in AR to the interior design community in Toronto and beyond. For this year’s challenge, students are asked to design a 188 square foot outdoor patio space that can be replicated in a multi-residential context.

With IDS celebrating its 25th anniversary, we look to patios as a quintessential part of the Canadian design landscape. Particularly in a post-COVID-19 context and within multi-residential projects, indoor-outdoor spaces and enlarged patios have become a crucial part of our daily routines; not just a boon to our physical health but a sanctuary where days turn seamlessly into nights and every season becomes a reason to celebrate. LIV Design Studio is challenging student designers to imagine patio spaces that facilitate a deeper connection to our surroundings and promotes wellbeing year-round through functional & innovative design.

Three finalists will be chosen by a panel of expert judges to have their designs rendered into hyper-realistic 3D models by LIV Design Studio’s in-house CG team. These will then be viewable through dedicated augmented-reality portals at IDS Toronto 2024, where attendees will be able to interact with and vote for their favourite design. Final placements and a new people’s choice award (voted on by IDS attendees) will be revealed onstage at IDS Toronto 2024, at the event’s conclusion on January 21st.