Riptide House

This house, like its namesake implies, is a powerful oppositional force against the standard housing stock seen in all neighbourhoods across the nation. Riptide House is a case study to do better. The clients wanted to build a home for themselves. A home that fits in with their established urban neighbourhood while simultaneously addressing the environmental issues our society is facing. Stocked with an understanding of the historic neighbourhood vernacular, modern architecture, and Passive House design and detailing principles, our task was to marry these three components into one cohesive design. We carefully studied the scale and formal elements of the surrounding homes and used this as a basis of design in which to develop the clean, modern form of the house; modernization of the deep-rooted wooden gable typology of homes on the Atlantic coast. The resultant design is a modest 123 square metre three-bedroom home with a potential secondary basement suite to encourage urban density.

The home’s urban site is critical to the success of the project. The home is situated in one of the city’s most desirable school districts, steps away from downtown Dartmouth and several of the city’s most popular paddling clubs, and directly across the street from the community recreation centre.

The simple gable provides a primary form to hold the served spaces of the house (open concept living room, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms upstairs), with a secondary smaller gable form to house the service spaces (laundry room, washrooms, and stairs). The traditional form was modernized through tight eave detailing and a clean material palette. The area where the shift occurs makes way for a covered front entry to the street, and a back entry mudroom to the private south-facing courtyard.