Strategic site planning and smart technology help the 3,200-square-foot Great Gulf Active House achieve hyper-efficiency. The Toronto-based architecture firm, superkül, used triple-glazed windows; a solar hot water system; zoned heating; a fully automated HVAC system, skylights, and roller shades; LED lights; and spray foam insulation, among other green strategies.
“We didn’t want panel-formed, smooth-like-glass concrete; we wanted texture,” Fleetwood says. A cast-resin piece by DeWain Valentine sits at the foot of the sculpted walnut stairs.
The new volume houses the dining area, which includes stairs to the bedrooms. The table is from Blake Avenue and the walnut chairs are from Room & Board. “You don’t want bright colors to take away from that relationship between the interior and the exterior,” Walker says.
Wooten handpicked every piece in the house, such as the 1955 Medea chair by Vittorio Nobili, near which he placed an abandoned bird’s nest he found on the property.
Magid selected lively Whitby wallpaper by Mini Moderns for Linus’s room, along with Oeuf’s Perch bunk bed. The homeowner found the light-up rocket-ship mobile on a trip to Mexico City.
Mark Fekete and Viviana de Loera of MARK+VIVI transformed a former tire shop in the Verdun borough of Montreal into a welcoming home-office, exposing beams on the ground floor and making liberal use of locally sourced Canadian plywood.
By acting as both the designer and general contractor, MARK+VIVI was able to complete the renovation for just $150 per square foot.
Whether your home office consists of a designated room or a tight corner in your kitchen, there are certain key strategies for making the most of it.
Booker McConnell Head Office
Completed in 1980, this interior overhaul was one of many Zeev Aram & Associates interior design projects.
The pair of desks that Paul and Shoko work at in the office space look directly onto the courtyard. The concept for the design was to be able to see the sky from your seat at the desk.
Whether you’re battling noise or are short on space, these guides can turn your office into a distraction-free zone.
The study features floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that bring the outdoors in. Space-saving custom walnut desks are accented by a Pixo Optical LED Table Lamp, an AJ table lamp, and a 1958 Eames Management Chair.
Mike's second-floor office features locally-sourced cabinetry.
Photo credit: Dale Christopher Lang PhD AIAP
Concrete is used for the walls and ceiling and stone for the floors to maintain an urban, industrial feeling.
An office nook and library can participate in the open plan or disappear behind pocket doors.