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Project posted by Abigail Van Den Broek

House 95

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Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Structure
House (Single Residence)
Style
Modern
Massive frameless windows create a treehouse vibe throughout the home. This is the first application of frameless windows in Toronto - only recently engineered to withstand the harsh winter climate. The frames are concealed within the walls, so that you only see glass. This is quite technically complicated - the water drains into the walls and needs to be designed out of the house. Particularly difficult because of Toronto’s wet/cold seasons, especially as snow is melting in the spring. Each window needed trace electrical in the bottom to prevent ice from forming in the walls in the winter.
Massive frameless windows create a treehouse vibe throughout the home. This is the first application of frameless windows in Toronto - only recently engineered to withstand the harsh winter climate. The frames are concealed within the walls, so that you only see glass. This is quite technically complicated - the water drains into the walls and needs to be designed out of the house. Particularly difficult because of Toronto’s wet/cold seasons, especially as snow is melting in the spring. Each window needed trace electrical in the bottom to prevent ice from forming in the walls in the winter.
To create a sense of integrity between the exterior and interior architecture, the same weightlessness is infused into the home’s overall massing. From the street, at grade, the main entrance and the garage are seamlessly integrated into the surrounding wall of Neolith porcelain slabs so as to virtually disappear into the front elevation (something that many installers told us was impossible yet we managed to carefully detail anyway). Above grade, the second and third floors cantilever overhead and are clad in Indiana limestone. The contrast in the materials makes the upper volumes appear to be defying gravity, an effect that wasn’t stipulated in the given building permits but which makes the final house more special than the original plans. The porcelain slabs are coated in PURETi, which is self-cleaning and air purifying.
To create a sense of integrity between the exterior and interior architecture, the same weightlessness is infused into the home’s overall massing. From the street, at grade, the main entrance and the garage are seamlessly integrated into the surrounding wall of Neolith porcelain slabs so as to virtually disappear into the front elevation (something that many installers told us was impossible yet we managed to carefully detail anyway). Above grade, the second and third floors cantilever overhead and are clad in Indiana limestone. The contrast in the materials makes the upper volumes appear to be defying gravity, an effect that wasn’t stipulated in the given building permits but which makes the final house more special than the original plans. The porcelain slabs are coated in PURETi, which is self-cleaning and air purifying.
Frameless windows, warm white oak ceilings and polished, heated concrete floors combine to create a serene, calm, urban oasis.
Frameless windows, warm white oak ceilings and polished, heated concrete floors combine to create a serene, calm, urban oasis.
Frameless windows wrapping around a corner in the dining room are particularly sublime, making the spot feel more like an outdoor porch than an inside room.
Frameless windows wrapping around a corner in the dining room are particularly sublime, making the spot feel more like an outdoor porch than an inside room.
The home's sense of weightlessness is echoed in the origami-thin white oak and black steel staircase. The stairs appear to float up the wall, with heavy steel infrastructure hidden inside the walls.
The home's sense of weightlessness is echoed in the origami-thin white oak and black steel staircase. The stairs appear to float up the wall, with heavy steel infrastructure hidden inside the walls.
Glass rails are nestled within sleek black steel channels, which features similar black steel channels as handrails, avoiding the heavy, ubiquitous steel buttons seen in most contemporary homes, and maintaining the effortless design.
Glass rails are nestled within sleek black steel channels, which features similar black steel channels as handrails, avoiding the heavy, ubiquitous steel buttons seen in most contemporary homes, and maintaining the effortless design.
Each time a material touches another material, there is a beautiful design transition, resulting in a meticulously detailed home that feels completely effortless.
Each time a material touches another material, there is a beautiful design transition, resulting in a meticulously detailed home that feels completely effortless.
It's impossible to tell from inside the home that there are close neighbours.
It's impossible to tell from inside the home that there are close neighbours.
Creating completely flush exterior and garage doors using the porcelain panels was deemed nearly impossible by builders, but executed perfectly by the Izen Architecture team. This seamless integration maintains the sense of simple, luxurious design throughout the interior.
Creating completely flush exterior and garage doors using the porcelain panels was deemed nearly impossible by builders, but executed perfectly by the Izen Architecture team. This seamless integration maintains the sense of simple, luxurious design throughout the interior.

Details

Square Feet
2000

Credits

From Abigail Van Den Broek

Turning a generic, builder-basic design into a beautiful, comfortable home is no easy task.
It requires finding and developing the potential for warmth and wonder in otherwise perfunctory spaces. Such was the challenge with House 95.

When the clients approached Toronto's buzzy, all-female firm Izen Architecture, they had bought a 25-foot-wide lot from a developer. Though the lot was vacant, the purchase came with many restrictions: the developer had already secured city-approved building permits stipulating the footprint, height, general layout and elevations. Changes to the overall scheme would have caused costly delays and tied the project up with the committee of adjustments.

Instead of re-designing from the ground up, we found every opportunity within the existing parameters for humanity and joy. A key part of our approach was to infuse the interiors with as much natural sunshine as possible. To do that, we used PanoramAh! frameless windows from Atlas Meridian Glass. More typically used in temperate climates (Los Angeles, Vancouver), and only recently engineered to withstand harsh Toronto winters, the design minimizes the casings around the glass, resulting in a near-perfect sense that the interiors flow unimpeded to outside.

At House 95 the effect is particularly sublime in dining room banquette area, where the frameless window wraps a corner. This makes the inside room feel more like an exterior porch. Another set of frameless windows, past the kitchen, look out to the backyard’s tree canopy. The result is living spaces that feel more like a rural nature retreat than an urban Toronto abode. This tree house sensibility is heightened by the use of white oak engineered hardwood flooring on the ceiling, as well as polished concrete floors that amplify natural light.

Beyond the frameless windows, we used similarly innovative details that reinforce the effortless, airy aesthetic. The stairs, for example, are supported by heavy steel framing hidden in the wall, but appear to be origami-thin, folding planes of white oak that float from floor to floor. Instead of cluttering the look with heavy hardware, like the ubiquitous steel buttons common in many contemporary homes, the glass rails sit in sleek, black steel channels on the ground and are capped with similar, black steel channels that act as hand-grips.

To create a sense of integrity between the exterior and interior architecture, the same weightlessness is infused into the home’s overall massing. From the street, at grade, the main entrance and the garage are seamlessly integrated into the surrounding wall of porcelain slabs so as to virtually disappear into the front elevation (something that many installers told us was impossible yet we managed to carefully detail anyway). Above grade, the second and third floors cantilever overhead and are clad in Indiana limestone. The contrast in the materials makes the upper volumes appear to be defying gravity, an effect that wasn’t stipulated in the given building permits but which makes the final house more special than the original plans.