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2008 Governor General’s Medals
in Architecture
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House at 4a Wychwood Park |
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 This dwelling for a family with two children involved the replacement of a derelict 1950s bungalow, which sat awkwardly on its sloped site in the heritage-designated neighborhood of Wychwood Park in Toronto. Built within the limits of a prescribed building envelope, the design respects the arts-and-crafts character of the neighbourhood within a modernist idiom. The new dwelling virtually disappears into a newly carved landscape of dry-laid stone walls to create a series of “cozy open spaces” and a variety of spatial experiences: the horizontal, transparent feel of the dining room, the tall but internally focused study, and the double height, linear circulation space that joins them.
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Jury Comment:
This house gives the split-level bungalow type a whole new meaning. The strategy seems to erode and intertwine the domestic structure of street frontage, back yard and neighbouring setbacks within the modest volume of a vintage bungalow, where spaces are brilliantly mined from the site rather than added to the structure. The result is a sequence of compact indoor and outdoor “rooms” that unexpectedly unravel into exquisite grand moments of expansion. |
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Pina Petricone, MRAIC |
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