Toronto Modern Homes

Designed in 1960, the house was originally a lodge to accommodate horse trails. Throughout the years, the house has expanded with various additions and renovations.

The kids room is outfitted with built-in bunk beds.

While there are some windows facing the street, the majority of the light comes through the more exposed side of the house. The exterior is clad in Hardie Board siding and features Ridley windows. The structure has zero setback from three of its four property lines, a potential fire hazard according to the building department. In order to build as close to the edges as possible, the team had to introduce a commercial sprinkler system to ensure that flames could be contained.

In need of more room for their growing brood, Eric and Emma Gimon, with Luc, Paul, baby Louise, and their dog, Nefi, asked for a private space to accompany the house designed for Eric’s great-aunt.

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.

Like the pavilion holding the public spaces, the structure containing the bedrooms is clad in glass on the interior sides facing the courtyard, allowing a constant connection to the outside. Rodriguez (with dog Lupe) designed the steel stairs leading from the mezzanine-level home office to the master bedroom below. The stairs were fabricated by Austin-based Steel House MFG.

The upper two levels of the home are set back from the street, increasing privacy and allowing light to flow uninhibited from the front clerestory window into the communal living spaces. On the top floor, the children's bedrooms are strategically veiled from the street by the slatted reflector screen.

For the outdoor dining room, interior designer Damon Liss selected a Soho pendant lamp by Joan Gaspar, Trennza chairs from Janus et Cie, and the Portica outdoor table from Room & Board. The sliding glass doors are by Arcadia.

The semi-closed entryway contains a white cabinet for storing coats and scarves. The LED ceiling lights are from Contrast Lighting.

Wood is used throughout the home, as in a sculptural staircase designed by TACT.

The upper level of the 5,300-square-foot space is accessed via a slender stair with reclaimed-wood treads.

Where once there was a timeworn 1950s bungalow in the Metropolitan Green Belt south of London, there now stands a dynamic house whose two volumes are joined by a glass atrium. The project was designed by Grant Freeman of OB Architecture.

Outside, the couple clad the house with a rain screen of 1.5-by-1.5-inch strips of spruce to create a “modern rustic barn.” The extra-deep sills of the first-floor window become a bench on the outside and a shelf on the inside.

The Mt. Buller Home of Andrew and Tiffany Percy and Family via the Design Files.

Mark Word Design did the landscaping, with an emphasis on water conservation. "It's about usage levels, but it's also about the way we treat storm water and runoff since it all goes back into our supply at the end of the cycle," designer Sarah Carr says. Word and his team chose plants that help reduce erosion, require little watering, and allow storm water to percolate. Mulch and living ground covers—including Big Blue liriope, marsilea, and Palisades zoysia turf—keep moisture within the soil and lower the temperature of the soil, protecting the roots of the live oak trees.

Alterstudio Architecture of Austin designed this house in the Texas capital for a young family of four.

Churtichaga and de la Quadra-Salcedo purchased a parcel of former farmland to build their vacation home twelve years ago but only recently completed the house—a timber-clad minimalist structure expertly designed to disappear into the scenic landscape.

A consistent wood palette makes the interior feel cohesive.

The modern fireplace is located at the original chimney stack of the building. Robb Studio created a sculptural fireplace using exposed concrete, steel, and shou sugi ban wood for the hearth seat.