In Canada, a bright-red townhouse, a bunker-like art studio, and this playful family pad show us how homes with personality can still respect their contexts.

When Idir Saïdani and Mélanie Labrosse asked La Shed Architecture to design their future home in Montreal, the firm was immediately taken by the playful eclecticism of their mood board. “They didn’t want a perfect, clean thing,” says founding partner Sébastien Parent. “There were vintage elements, there were super modern elements.... It had a patchwork quality.”

The firm helped the couple find a downtrodden duplex in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighborhood and drew up plans to rebuild it from scratch as a 2,750-square-foot, two-and-a-half-story home with common areas on the ground floor and bedrooms above. The clients collaborated with the architects closely on the design, suggesting playful details that would support family life with their three sons. “During construction, when I saw the house rising, I said, ‘We will need an intercom to talk to each other!’” recalls Mélanie. “The plumber heard me and said, ‘Yes, this can be done.’” Now, a pipe hidden in the wall has an opening at each floor to transmit their voices.

A central atrium also connects the family members with one another—and the outdoors. The space is anchored by the kitchen island, in accordance with Quebec’s cultural tradition of placing the kitchen at the core of the house. The space is daylit so that “on a sunny day, we can feel when a cloud passes by,” says Mélanie.

The compact lot, typical of the dense urban neighborhood, provided little outdoor space—but La Shed found ways to connect the home to nature. On the ground floor, a small planted backyard with a bicycle “carport” opens to the back alley. The third floor is smaller to free up room for roof terraces—one with views of Mount Royal and one off the primary bedroom that holds a squirrel-protected vegetable garden. There, the couple can see bees pollinating their future meals.

But the family’s favorite space is the ground-floor playroom. Here, a circular table lifts from the floor to reveal a sitting area, and movable lace curtains can create a puppet stage, a projection screen, or a cozy fort for kids and adults alike. “When the house was completed, Idir and Mélanie invited everyone who had worked on the project over,” says Parent. “At two in the morning, we were all playing games in that room, with even the contractors sitting on the floor.”

The playroom is separated from the kitchen by a bookcase backed in frosted glass, and a porthole lets the parents check in on the kids while cooking. As Mélanie points out, tiny details like this help them feel truly connected to their children as they grow: “We’ve been able to take so many photos of the kids playing without feeling like we’re disturbing them in their moment.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: La Shed Architecture / @lashedarchitecture

Builder: CBT

Structural Engineering: Geniex

Landscape Design: Friche Atelier

Lighting: Jacques & Anna

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