Credits
From eba architecture
Diamond-shaped windows connect new and old in duplex addition by eba.
Architecture firm eba has used traditional fish scale metal cladding to create a vaporous addition to a Québec City century-old brick building.
The project was designed to host the family of a young doctor wanting to live just above his beloved brother and his own family. Both families share the yard where cousins play while parents garden. Hence the project name proposed by the client: a true chicken coop!
The duplex is located in the Montcalm neighborhood, known for its Frederick Todd urban parc and OMA’s national art museum. One of the brothers mandated eba to design a two-story apartment completed with a new private terrace and direct access to the common back yard. The client’s demand involved transforming the existing second floor and adding a complete third story.
From a busy urban boulevard, the family enters a long and obscure stairway leading to a double height dining room. The space is lighten-up by a 5 meters high window facing a peaceful alley. Heart of the project, rooms and circulations are distributed from this sunny central space. From the industrial-style stainless steel kitchen the household can take an exterior helicoidal stair to feast and barbecue with brother, sister-in-law and cousins in the common back yard.
On the top floor, a small lounge opens toward a terrace shaded by a mid-century-inspired wooden pergola. A small office and a music room profits from the constellation of diamond-shaped windows.
The triangular pediment of the existing brick façade offered the inspiration for the lozenge windows. The fish scale pattern of the shiny steel cladding prolongs the oblique lines of the windows, granting lightness and limpidity to the elevation. The simple volume of the addition, minimal and uniform, allows for a clear reading of the contemporary roof-top extension.
The project recently won a Mérites d’architecture de la ville de Québec, a distinction offered by the city for the architectural excellence of built projects.
Architect: eba architecture (Eric Boucher architect)
Engineer: Olivier Lantier ing., Douglas Consultants
Photography: Joël Gingras, Apy-D