M house is a transformation of a duplex into a single-family residence. The new owners, a couple with 3 childrens, have chosen to live in an urban, comfortable and friendly living environment.

By observing the tumult of everyday life as well as the incessant back and forth driven by the energy of young children, the conceptual work of the project focused on the notion of threshold/limit. By using spatial difference and finishing materials, the project emphasizes the relationship between the opening/closing of spaces, the transition between interior/exterior, between one space and another, between the family/ personal, between the neighborhood/ family unit. This work aims to provide a healthy, fulfilling family environment.

The full-length sliding door that runs the entire width of the facade makes possible to bring the courtyard into the house and conversely to bring the house out to the outside garden. The integration of the shed at the back of the courtyard becomes the real physical limit of the house. On sunny days, the garden serves as a living room and outdoor meeting place between families and friends; on more boring days, it serves as a contemplative space allowing the gaze to project itself to the outside in order to be able to capture some of the restful atmosphere that can emerge from rainy or snowy days.

The backyard is magnified daily by its evocation of nature, despite the urban context. This space is reappropriated as to its vocation of parking or storage too often observed, dedicated to a secondary use often dominated by a “clean” mineral surface and impervious to water and plants. The development of the courtyard speaks to our senses, reconciles us with our own inner garden, our child's heart and our feeling of well-being outside which counterbalances our hectic daily life.