Share to
Shift House
By : Dubbeldam Architecture + Design
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Residential Building / Private House > 2 000 pi2 (> 185 m2) : Gold Certification
Featuring 3,000 square feet spread over two storeys, the house is designed for a family of runners, all of whom are constantly engaged with nature during their athletic pursuits. Through formal spatial manipulation, the design of the house responds to their desire for a considered relationship with the outdoors. Exploring how internal program influences the form of a building, six volumes of program within a rectilinear grid have been shifted to expand interior spaces. On the exterior, this play of solids and voids creates opportunities for corner windows, generous roof overhangs, green roofs and two balconies on the second floor that provide access to outdoor space. Transparency is a dominant theme – the porosity of the front façade is a friendly gesture to the street, and a glazed rear elevation connects the family to the surrounding environment, blurring the boundary between interior and exterior space. A rear deck that stretches almost the entire width of the house effectively doubles the living/dining area in temperate months, becoming a generous outdoor room for dining, reading and relaxation.
Occupying the central core of the house is a double-height atrium connecting the kitchen, dining, and living space, with views to the mature trees populating the neighbourhood. This expansive volume features a sculptural staircase defined by a balustrade of white oak and Baltic birch; its scissor configuration in the double-height space forms a compelling three-dimensional geometric composition animated by the procession of figures as they ascent and descent. The warmth and grain of the oak stair and flooring, as well as the varying blue contrasting walls, are a nod to the clients’ love of Scandinavian-inspired design and colour. These material contrasts further serve to demarcate thresholds between shifted volumes in the grid, acting as deliberate gestures that demonstrate the intentionality of each spatial move.