Architect | Fugere Architecture |
Location | Montréal, Canada |
Photographs | Félix Audette |
At the origin of the project, a ”shoebox”. A modest small one-storey house, built in the 1920s, which has a facade as prosaic as its interior spaces. The main challenge was to transform the house while preserving its heritage. After a trial ideation phase, a design principle was imposed: preserve the main façade and develop the single-family house project around it.
The second principle guiding the design revolves around the optimal use of natural light in indoor spaces. Indeed, the usual constraints of the construction of terraced residence is the lack of daylight in central spaces. The installation of a large skylight in the middle of the house provides plenty of natural light, with a staircase covering the three floors of the house and diffusing light in the rooms, living spaces, and even in the basement.
From two postulates, the functional organization was made quickly, with a games room, a bedroom in the basement, living areas and an office on the ground floor as well as three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the first floor.
For the house facades, the composition and some decorative elements of the original façade were preserved, but the masonry was redone. On the rear facades, burnt wood has been chosen as a coating for its aesthetics and durability.