Cedar cladding

The project involved the demolition of a small 1920’s bungalow with a new contemporary three-bedroom house. The site backs on to Flatropers Wood Nature reserve and is surrounded by woodland to the east but with views across open countryside to the west. The main consideration of the design was to make best use of the site, which is a long narrow triangular wedge.   The existing cottage was very dark and felt very enclosed because of the high, dense boundary hedging. A key move in the proposals was to remove the hedging and in doing so, open up uninterrupted views across the adjoining countryside and wood. This also vastly improves on the natural light getting into the site. The new house has been designed to read as a cluster... More

A contemporary look for a long-established forest parkThe name, Opeongo, derives from the Anishnaabe wordopeauwingauk (sandy narrows); it refers to Canada’s Indigenous people and their deep love for nature. The Opeongo Pavilion is located in Parc du Mont-Orford, a true gem amid lakes, mountains, and forest, an hour drive from Montréal. The park is run by the SÉPAQ (Société des établissements de plein air du Québec), which is responsible for Québec’s extensive park network. In the early 2010s, SÉPAQ went through major changes, favouring contemporary rather than traditional approaches for its new buildings. Several firms were hired, among them the firm of Anne Carrier architecture, which was mandated to design three new service buil... More

The Two-in-One House is a calm piece of architecture resting on the steep and dynamic landscape of Ekeberglia in Oslo. Its slender and rectangular form is manifested at the top of the sloping landscape. From a concrete base, the building grows with a wooden clad body forming relation with the omnipresence of broadleaf trees surrounding the building and topped with a light glass structure.The building provides inviting homes to two families, as well as an independent apartment. The main task was for the project to appear as a unify house despite its duality, and still ensure the privacy of both units. The ground floor integrates the main public functions of the homes and elegant windows frame the landscape scenery and invite nature into the... More

Bordering a state park on the Kona Coast, the house is designed as variations on a theme: assembly.  The owners wanted the house to encourage interaction while maintaining privacy.  This was accomplished by taking the Hawaiian building vernacular of pavilions and dividing the program into public and private spaces.  The public pavilions (living/dining/kitchen, media, outdoor dining, garage, guest living/dining/kitchen, and tennis) are gathering places, while the private pavilions (master, children’s, guest, offices, and spa) serve as retreats.  Each pavilion, whether public or private, incorporates into its construction the public/private language created to deal with the scope of the project. The assemblage of pavi... More

Five years after Hurricane Sandy devastated the cooperative beachfront community of Breezy Point, Queens, the project built upon a lot that had been reduced to sand is complete. Houses in Breezy Point are set close together and linked by pedestrian paths; cars are confined to lots at the periphery. The client’s site was unusually wide, with 68 feet of south-facing beach frontage. Flood regulations required building at least six feet off of the ground, while co-op regulations put the maximum building height at 28 feet. The co-op also required a setback from the lot line of 32 feet at the lot’s widest point.   The resulting building envelope was much shallower than wide, allowing nearly every room to have an ocean view. One of the primary des... More

The project was to refurbish and extend a 1920’s semi-detached cottage in Cambridge. A fairly straight forward brief, but because of the particular site and house we were able to extend to the front as well as back and loft.   This transformed the original cottage into a much more refined and spacious house. In addition the entire house was insulated to bring the house close to new build standards.   Who are the clients and what's interesting about them? The client is a consultant doctor working in Cambridge. She has a particular eye for what design and wanted something out of the ordinary. She owned a flat nearby and purchased the house which was un-modernised. She contacted us after seeing a completed job which had been published and want... More

There is something poetic seeing a temporary settlement on Powder Mountain made up from simple white tents. A tent is a basic structure, a thin cloth pitched to create a habitable space and offer basic protection from the weather. The whole architecture of the tent is integrated within that thin cloth and it gives the whole structure a lightness and unmistakable pure functional appeal.   The architecture of this proposal is based on a notion that a tent like feeling should be preserved while making a permanent habitable structure. To emphasize the lightness of the structure, a thin skin (1.5' thick) made from cross laminated wooden prefabricated panels is being folded over several times to crate interior space of the cabin. The missing side... More

ESPACE VITAL architecture is proud to announce the completion of a new residence located in the Township of Potton. Perched up high near the edge of a steep slope, this contemporary dwelling creates a contrast and a duality between opaque areas hidden from sight and living areas bathed in light. An ideal getaway for resourcing oneself in intimacy, this house is a perfect representation of ESPACE VITALs trademarks with its minimalist design, balanced with warmth and its aerial roof overhang.   Nested on a site overlooking Lake Memphrémagog, near Owl’s Head ski resort, this property represented the ideal location for the owners. The couple, living in Montreal, were looking for such a piece of paradise near the mountains and the lake to enjoy... More

Programmes of this type are notorious for producing mundane buildings devoid of interest at best, and often outright urbicide. Our vision goes beyond the mere cosmetic upgrade of the decorated shed, asking: How can the designers of a supermarket quietly succeed in weaving part of the urban fabric?   Situated in the middle of an elongated 180m long and largely paved city block, the project aims to improve the quality and permeability of the site, both for users of the building and for residents of the area.   In order to create a new public pedestrian crossing which splits the block, the existing building which was due for demolition is relocated to the edge of the plot. The new building helps to upscale a difficult zone, enclo... More

The Nook is a new-build four bedroom family house set in a secluded valley in Monmouthshire. Planning permission for the 250m2 home was granted to replace a utilitarian 1960’s bungalow that had previously occupied a corner of the 1 acre Wye Valley site.    The design adopts the simple, confident massing evident in the region’s agricultural structures, where both traditional stone barns and the spare steel-framed modern structures now used by farmers tend to possess a visual clarity and generosity of scale absent from most rural dwellings. A rectangular floor plan provided efficiency, flexibility and economy. The adoption of a steel frame enabled significant spans to cater for large openings in the building eleva... More

Glebe Red is a major alterations and additions to a large Victorian terrace house in inner city Sydney. It includes new living spaces, kitchen, courtyard and garden studio. The brief asked to turn a large old terrace house into a place for family life that would provide for both current and future generations. Tom Ferguson The project strategically transforms a previously dilapidated house into a landscaped body of space for the family. The courtyard is centripetal to the project, a combination of carefully selected elements that deliberates a place of gathering. An amphitheatre, a pond, a planter box and a platform, are rustled together to provide for an evolving variety of family activities. This landscape moulds the internal s... More

One North is an innovative commercial development that Portland-based Holst Architecture designed with a clear set of values involving community, environment, and resiliency. The project provides office and retail space on a brownfield site, with a focus on maximizing energy efficiency, reducing waste and consumption, and sharing resources with the community. Coupled with a strong commitment to neighborhood values and collaboration, One North represents an entirely different approach to commercial buildings. Composed of three mixed-use office buildings with ground-floor retail, the development surrounds a new 14,000 square feet courtyard intended to create a vibrant community space for use by both tenants and the neighborhood. Purpose-... More

As a prototype building that demonstrates how infrastructural refuse can be salvaged and reused, the structural system for this house is comprised of steel and concrete discarded from Boston’s Big Dig. Utilizing over 600,000 pounds of materials from elevated portions of the dismantled I-93 highway, the reassembly of the materials was planned as if it were a pre-fabricated system, able to take on many configurations. The materials are capable of carrying much higher loads than standard structure, easily allowing the integration of large scale roof gardens and other programmatic inventions. Although not formally an example of ‘precycling,’ the project demonstrates an untapped potential for the public realm: Through front-end planning for a ma... More

Simplicity and openness define the experience of being in this modestly sized, yet perfectly proportioned modern home. To the river, a continuous wall of glass spans the living, dining and kitchen space allowing a full panorama of the passing seasons.Away from the water the view is framed and edited by a simple porch. The porch roof has been opened to create space from nature, a single Japanese maple which is inserted as a foil to the simple black stained cedar cladding of the house. The garage volume is differentiated from the house by a cladding of grey cement board.To the river, the simple cantilevered form of the deck is surrounded by frameless glass. The porch and deck, occurring opposite each other, stretch the space of the living roo... More