2nd Avenue Residence / Structure Microclimat
2nd Avenue Residence / Structure Microclimat © Adrien Williams + 21 Share Share Fb Twitter
2nd Avenue Residence / Structure Microclimat
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Textual content description offered by the architects. The 2nd Avenue house resides within the jap a part of the Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie neighbourhood, in Montreal—a working class district the place urbanization was marked by the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway and plenty of different industries settling right here within the twentieth century. In a similar way to how the railway has change into a gem of a linear playground, this whole neighbourhood now adapts and values its heritage to translate it into a gorgeous place for Montrealers to stay.
Context. On the finish of an prolonged keep spent lounging alongside a suburban poolside, Jean-Yves’ choice was made to return to the town. After getting his palms on one of many uncommon empty heaps within the sector—the previous car parking zone of an adjoining home—he contacted Microclimat to discover the chances that offered themselves for this underused area. Marked by each alternatives and constraints, the architectural exploration aimed to create a convivial and versatile homestay with a design that may additionally defy the passing of time.
The results of the 2nd Avenue undertaking: a three-storey 2,500 sq. ft. home that borrows quite a few advantages from suburban buildings, whereas housing just a little impartial studio within the basement. This house harmoniously connects completely different volumes that merely nestle themselves into the neighborhood, all whereas assuming its modern strains.
Challenges. Eager to take a position themselves of their new adopted neighbourhood, Jean-Yves and his household needed to be discreet and to settle in a respectful house design that may humbly insert itself into the panorama—a collection of red-ochre plexes and single-family properties. The consumer additionally projected himself in decidedly open areas that spilled onto the outside with no compromise on intimacy.
With a notable distinction between the road and lot ranges on the again alley aspect, completely different vertical group methods had been imagined to facilitate transitions and guarantee most density. The creation of a cushty basement area allowed for the mixing of a small street-facing studio, and the concealment of a storage with an alleyway entry. These underground areas additionally animate the yard landscapes that playfully intrude with each other on all ranges.
Juggling these specificities and the inherent liberty of a brand new building, the Microclimat workforce got here up with a tiered house design the place the sliding volumes create completely different environments. Livable platforms and the paths they create provide a number of day by day residing experiences—each indoors and open air.
Challenge. In the principle residence, the kitchen, eating room, and lounge open generously onto each other, and onto the yard through an ample fenestration. These residing areas occupy the again portion of the bottom flooring, which is barely raised by just a few steps from the bottom, and provide a direct hyperlink to a big terrace perched atop the storage. Surrounded by a low brick wall, this terrace presents itself as a promontory onto the again alley, in addition to a protected area.
The truth is, it’s from this area in the back of the house {that a} intelligent association of volumes reveals itself, with some volumes projecting ahead and others pulling again to attract the attention and to a bleacher-style panorama. The modulation of this brick facade, articulating itself each in respect to the encircling buildings and in response to the restricted daylight situations, additionally turns into an intimacy technique.
The huge low partitions of the terrace, together with a light-weight cantilever, help the discretion of actions within the kitchen and lounge, whereas an necessary volumetric recoil maintains the intimate character of the rooms uncovered to the massive curtain wall. Seen from the yard, the opening created by this huge glass wall plunges onto an English-style courtyard populated with ferns and different perennials that accompany gentle and nature into the downstairs workplace.
The extra intimate areas of the principle residence are located on the second flooring, together with two huge bedrooms, a shared lavatory, and a multifunctional room for all makes use of. This dual-aspect area, which can evolve with the household’s wants, additionally vertically connects areas from all ranges due to its beneficiant double top and capping skylight. Enveloped in a heat palette of white oak and greige matte lacquer that deploys onto all ranges, this area turns into a type of platform the place one will be carried away onto the town and thru time.
Exemplary options. The architectural duality of the entrance and back-facing of city blocks is an integral a part of the riches of Montreal’s central sectors; as a lot as a demultiplication of facades that enhances the town’s constructed heritage unfolds on the road, the again alleys abound with volumetric and materials explorations of all eras.
The 2nd Avenue residence embraces this custom: whereas its entrance facade aligns, dissimulates, and simplifies itself, the rear facade opens, initiatives, retracts, and cuts itself out. In a single unified materials endeavour, two very distinct interfaces emerge—one which establishes a coherent city construction and protects our collective architectural reminiscence, and one other that lets life shine with modern concerns that commemorate our present methods to create.
