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Architects: Atelier Moderno
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:Stéphane Groleau
Text description provided by the architects. Under the guidance of director and president Jean-Guy Chabauty (APDIQ, ADIQ), Atelier Moderno is a full-service design firm, delivering a finished product that incarnates a synthesis of architecture, interior design, and industrial design. The mandate of this project was simple and honest - to create a residence for a young couple who were ready to grow their family. The response led to the development of a reticent and spacious environment, refined at every scale of planning, architecture, and detail. A topography of volumes and materials affirms itself throughout, changing its presence and effect as one circulates within the home.
The house pivots around a custom designed stair - the lone metallic object in an otherwise ethereal and pure universe. The rail is composed of repeated steel elements with alternating dimensions, creating a vibrating effect as one ascends or descends. Upon entry the visitor is promptly orientated by this sculptural feature. While slyly revealing the kitchen between its steps, one is lured inherently into the living room through a chromatic decompression.
The main living space is closed on one end by the suddenly opaque surface of the stair segment. The room is divided longitudinally by a suspended volume that is pierced from below by a hearth that emerges from the floor. The dining room is tucked into the resulting intimate space on the reverse side of the block. From this perspective the stair landing appears weightless, and interacts with the graphic presence of the hearth.
The kitchen is detached from this main living area, yet the walnut mass of the island establishes a visual connection with the base of the hearth in the living room, also clad in walnut. Furthermore, the transparency of the stair along this axis permits visual contact with the rest of the main level.
The basement becomes a natural extension of the main floor due to the large central opening that houses the stair. On the upper level, a master bathroom extends from the bedroom of the couple. The long plan of the bathroom is segmented by usage, exuding a clinical-clean and soft-healing sentiment respectively.
An arrangement of furniture, designed primarily by Atelier Moderno, completes the living environment.
