When you’re a master of your craft, you recognise the same ability in others. Grammy-winning producer and Drake’s close collaborator Noah ‘40’ Shebib knew he couldn’t design his own home. Instead, he asked Trevor Wallace of Toronto firm Reflect Architecture to do it for him: no brief, no boundaries, no interference.
Trevor recalls him saying, ‘I don’t do architecture or design, I do music.’ Originally, Trevor was asked to design a cottage outside the city. ‘We were midway through when Noah decided to press pause on the project,’ he recalls. ‘I was disappointed, but then he said, “Oh shit, I totally forgot to tell you I bought this hilarious penthouse that was used as Harvey Specter’s place in Suits.”’
Sitting atop a nine-storey condo in Toronto’s King West neighbourhood, the apartment initially looked like a film set, complete with fake brick on the walls. Trevor stripped it back to bare concrete and started from scratch. Despite the creative free rein, there were some specific requirements. ‘Noah has to sleep in the daytime if they’re recording late at night and, because he has MS, he has a real sensitivity to heat,’ the designer explains. Now, at the touch of a button, solar shading screens the huge windows, while the temperature can be precisely controlled.
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The home’s L-shaped footprint includes public areas for Noah’s team to work, plus a private ‘atelier’ with everything he needs to start the day, from a coffee machine to a sun terrace. A granite plinth circling the perimeter creates the impression of sunken living spaces, and plentiful storage keeps things uncluttered. ‘I keep joking with people that I walk in and I’m forced to look in a mirror. I have to just exist,’ Noah laughs.
Noah’s desire for a restful sanctuary required a subtle approach, focusing on materials, detailing and craftsmanship, while quietly pushing boundaries. He’s ‘a big nerd who’s not into the hip-hop, rap party culture’, says Trevor. ‘What’s important about him is one of the reasons for Drake’s success: the music and its production is so avant-garde,’ Trevor explains. ‘So this idea of the space feeling at the edge of culture was the driving force.’
Inspiration was found everywhere, from Grace Jones’s style to the lighting at Studio 54. ‘We thought of Sammy Davis Jr in the 1960s, spinning a turntable in the corner of a very sexy cocktail party. We drew on the aesthetic of Rick Owens,’ continues Trevor, adding: ‘At all times, though, we opted for subtlety and abstraction rather than being overly literal.’
Toronto is one of the world’s most multicultural cities, embodied by Noah’s Lebanese-European heritage; a global mix of furniture combined with pieces from talent closer to home reflects that diversity.
The most fascinating part of this design, however, is driven by Trevor’s insight into Noah’s character. ‘When someone is that successful, they don’t leave work at 5:30pm, come home and crack a beer and watch the game,’ he explains. ‘Music is embedded in their entire existence.’
For that reason, the decision was made to turn the apartment into one giant musical instrument, with speakers hidden in the walls and abundant ethernet points linking Noah to his studio. ‘The second he strikes a key, you hear it throughout the entire suite,’ marvels Trevor. ‘He can play instruments and compose from bed, from the kitchen island, from the couch.’
Trevor can’t believe how lucky he got in his exacting, empowering client. ‘He entrusted us with delivering something as progressive as his music and his beliefs,’ he says. Noah’s reward for that trust? A home that sings to his own tune. reflectarchitecture.com
