June 3, 2026
Manitoba’s largest reservation sat 1200 people this past weekend. Location? Unknown until the morning of the dinner. Table for 1200, Storefront Manitoba’s annual fundraiser, offers a unique dining experience at a surprise ‘pop-up’ location in Winnipeg, bringing people together for a shared meal, good conversation, and support for local design.
Storefront Manitoba is a charitable organization dedicated to promoting, exploring, and celebrating design culture in Manitoba. Through public education, research, publications, programming, activities, and tours, they raise awareness and appreciation for local design and the built environment.
Our Winnipeg team sponsored three tables at this year’s event. This year’s centrepiece was designed by Coral Ross (Architectural Intern), Corene Stoski (Interior Designer), Maria Dyson (Interior Designer), and Simranpreet Kaur (Intern Landscape Architect) lead the design with support from Evan McPherson (Intern Landscape Architect), Michael Conway (Regional Design Lead), and Amanda Austin (Regional Marketing Lead).
Our team’s centrepiece brought together reclaimed and natural materials in a layered composition that reflected the evolving story of downtown Winnipeg, a part of our community we feel strongly connected to through our work. Shards of brick masonry salvaged from the dismantling of Portage Place — a site our team is currently transforming with the Health Care Centre of Excellence tower, weathered reclaimed wood, and metal accents have also been foraged from the urban landscape. Each fragment in the centrepiece carried the memory and character of what came before, reimagined into a new experience. Fresh vegetation and flowers emerged from within these elements, appearing to root themselves in the remnants of Winnipeg’s past, and blossom into the future we work together to achieve.
The past is neither erased nor preserved untouched. Instead, it is carried forward and reshaped by those who continue to love the city. The centrepiece was a small expression of that idea, grounded in memory while reflecting the growth and change shaping Winnipeg’s downtown core. Architecture49 is honoured to be part of that revitalization, and to support Storefront Manitoba in creating greater visibility for design in Manitoba.