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Project posted by Lebel & Bouliane
Editor’s Pick

Relmar Houses

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Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Year
2015
Style
Modern
In the larger of the two houses, a personalized kitchen was designed for the owners' forever home.
In the larger of the two houses, a personalized kitchen was designed for the owners' forever home.
Generous volumes of open space allow day light from the third floor skylights to penetrate deep into the house, creating a bright, light-filled interior.
Generous volumes of open space allow day light from the third floor skylights to penetrate deep into the house, creating a bright, light-filled interior.
Similar in design language, the smaller of the two homes was built to be sold after construction.
Similar in design language, the smaller of the two homes was built to be sold after construction.
The kitchen in the income-property features a custom wood shelving unit and integrated storage.
The kitchen in the income-property features a custom wood shelving unit and integrated storage.
Daylight from the third floor skylights reach deep into one of the Relmar Houses by Lebel & Bouliane, creating a bright, light-filled interior.
Daylight from the third floor skylights reach deep into one of the Relmar Houses by Lebel & Bouliane, creating a bright, light-filled interior.

From Lebel & Bouliane

Just to the east of the Cedarvale Ravine, behind the bustling Forest Hill Village on Spadina Road in Toronto, are the Relmar Houses; two slim semi-detached dwellings squeezed into a narrow lot originally occupied by a single family home.
This project is a complex organism, responding to two different sets of priorities. One half is a space articulated and responsive to the specific nuances of a couple seeking their dream retirement home, while the other half is broader and more strategic in its intent: a development intended for sale upon completion of construction. It is a fine balance of space and economy. Responding to the constraints of the immediate context (access to daylight is limited by a large multi-unit residential building to the immediate south and a bustling commercial strip to the west and fenestration in general is limited by the density of the development and adjacency to site boundaries) the project is inextricably introverted, but productively so.
The most significant innovation of the project is the atrium space within each side of the complex. It underscores the primary request for the maximization of natural light, while simultaneously instigating and augmenting natural ventilation. Capped at the top by a large bank of operable skylights and a private third floor courtyard garden, it becomes the central armature around which activities of varying intimacy are actuated.