Situated in an affluent area of mid-town Toronto this modern house serves to celebrate the clients’ love of nature and their desire to live an active and engaged urban lifestyle. 

The clients were a forward thinking couple with a drive to create a house with clean spaces and simple detailing. Using the Incite Method, the design process progressed through collaborative engagement directly with the clients to ensure that the house was tailored to achieve their objectives and enabled them to live their desired lifestyle.

Although the surrounding neighborhood is made up of predominantly traditional houses, this modern design respects the eave lines, porch lines and building massing of the neighboring houses.  The clients had a firm desire to maintain the mature trees on the site. Through extensive landscaping and a lush green roof the house successfully blends into the existing tree-lined streetscape that is characteristic of its neighborhood. 

Through in depth consultation the solution converged to a 1½ story living space with a direct view and connection to the rear garden.  Large windows bring light deep into the central living space.  The kitchen, dining, den, bedrooms and washrooms wrap around two sides of the main living space, allowing the them to benefit from natural light and views to the garden while creating a buffer from the street to enable privacy. Windows on the ground and second floor are arranged to optimize views of the green spaces while minimizing views to neighboring houses. A second floor circulation corridor lined with glazing on one side provides expansive views overlooking the green roof to the mature trees in the rear yard.

Dining and entertaining were very important to the clients and we were able to maximize the functionality and grandeur of these spaces. The kitchen opens directly to both the main living space as well as the dining room. It was designed with a large central island and ample circulation for guests to mingle.  Sliding doors, folding walls and diaphanous millwork shelving units define a flexible dining space that maintains a connection to both the main living area and the kitchen with the possibility of modulating these connections as required.

Interiors are open and light.  Significant thought was put into the details to help define each space as unique while maintaining consistency throughout. Rich wood flooring provides a base for mostly neutral walls with feature colors highlighting several important areas. Innovative use of materials and clean details achieved a modern feel that is also warm and homey, without straying beyond the project budget. The clients were thrilled with the final result, which realized their vision and enhanced their lifestyles.

Project Completed: 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada