Ontario Science Centre by Diamond + Schmitt Architects, Canada

Located in Toronto, Canada, the Ontario Science Centre was designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects is one of the world’s leading facilities of its kind, welcoming on average a million visitors a year. The Weston Family Innovation Centre is helping to establish a kind of Science Centre experience where visitors are encouraged to use their creativity and imagination. The firm was responsible for the renovation of two components, the first being a comprehensive renovation of all major public service areas including the Great Hall, bridges and the valley escalators. The renovations culminate at a new central orientation room, called the Hot Zone, on the valley floor, which provides access to three new major exhibit halls. This second component is a complete reinterpretation of the Hall of Technology, transforming it into the new Centre for Innovation and Learning. Exhibits incorporate state of the art interactivity with artists, scientists and researchers.

The facilities of the Centre offer an unprecedented opportunity to expand the Ontario Science Centre’s visitor base, establish partnerships with various corporate and research communities and maximize the Centre’s impact on Canada’s education system. The new interactive and flexible exhibit space provide visitors’ with the tools and opportunities to evolve, test new ideas and become creative problem solvers. It is a place where science meets art and where innovative thinking, creativity and problem solving are stimulated – making the Science Centre even more relevant to today’s world. The rest of the Science Centre was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama and the Shoppers Drug Mart® OMNIMAX® Theatre was designed by architect Eberhart Zeidler.

Mark Olson

Mark Olson's photography will be familiar to avid long-time readers of Canadian House & Home. Several photos below are from some of my favourite spreads in the magazine. Stunning!

Mark Olson

Mark Olson's photography will be familiar to avid long-time readers of Canadian House & Home. Several photos below are from some of my favourite spreads in the magazine. Stunning!

Drew Mandel Design - 83A Marlborough Ave

Drew Mandel Design

83A Marlborough Ave

Infill house on a 13ft wide plot, becomes feature residence of the street - Drew Mandel has used every inch of this brownfield (ex 1 car garage & garden) site to create his ideal residence. Influences of Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler eminent in the residence's façade lead to elegant use of wood detailing for the interior.

Overview
Drew, an up and coming Canadian architect snapped up an “interesting” plot, that his colleague at MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, David Miller had on offer. Setting out to create his debut "big time" design, Drew won a number of awards in Toronto and Canada. The house is an impressive example of modern infill, coming in at a modest $182 per ft².

The Lot
Miller and his architect wife, Amy Falkner, had obtained a minor variance allowing them to build to the very edges of the property line without the usual margin of grass or ground cover. (It's only because the houses on each side are set back from the lot line that there is any space at all between the Mandel-Cooper house and its neighbours.) To support development, the municipality had allowed a substantial increase in the floor space, from 908 to more than 1,280 square feet above ground.
Their relatives labelled the plot a bowling lane, Mandel and his wife like to think of it as a lane each.


Design
Focusing on commercial design at work, Drew’s evening efforts on his own house pulled from his designs of multiplexes, community centres, libraries and banks. The main Achilles heel of the plot, the extended walls down either side of the property, led Drew to (as he sometimes reflects) to overcompensate with house glass panels at either end and a large light well at the centre of the build. I disagree; the house is fantastically bright and airy.



Breaking the house away from other designs out there and I believe linking it to his favoured FLW and Rudolf, is the use of patchwork glass rather than a large expanse of industrial like uniform façade. A cute modernist take on the Juliet balcony protrudes from the master bedroom, breaking the rear wall further and allows great views down to the meticulously landscaped garden, that complements the house so well. Adding to the functionality of the glass façade, a large central panel pivots to allow bigger pieces of furniture to be hoisted in.



Bringing in that industrial design know-how resolved the issue of construction methods too. Such a narrow tall design refused traditional frame design used in residential projects, meaning an industrial to balloon framing technique was adopted. Steel supports for the entire 38-foot length of the walls were put up first, and then the floors were locked in afterwards.

Further industrial features of the house include the two ramps from the entrance of the house to the living room and from the master bedroom to the second bedroom, a comfortable alternative to stairs.

Layout
From the semi-subterranean guest room at the front of the house you head south up the ramp to the living room, then north up five stairs to the dining room-kitchen floor, then south again up the house's only full flight of stairs to the master bedroom and bathroom. Finally, completing the layout you head north, up the second ramp to the second bedroom.

The Result
Drew and Denise have blown their relatives away. Despite the restricting plot they've created a house that through it's high ceilings, skylights and maximum glazing at both ends is a bright, spacious and airy home.


Plans

Architect/Designer: Drew Mandel Design
Client: Denise Cooper & Drew Mandel
Completed: 2007
Structural: Blackwell Engineering Ltd. (David Bowick)
Builder: T. Fijalkowski & Associates
Site Plan Approval: David Miller & Amy Falkner
Lot:13' x 115' or 1560 ft²
Costs: $182 per ft²

Information courtesy of: Drew Mandel Design

D'Arcy Jones Design INC - Island House

D'Arcy Jones Design INC
Island House

Canadian based architect D'Arcy Jones has created a wonderful summer retreat here. The house sits low and wide on the land hidden by fur trees and long grass from the water's edge. Horizontal slats and panelling on the house accentuate this width and and divide the immediate surroundings into private courtyards. These slats are laid flat to form benches and stair with floating treads throughout the garden. The rough concrete interior is warmed up by Douglas Fir and open fireplaces.

The covered walkways, large overhands, and separated living and sleeping areas seem to be an inverted/extroverted version of a Japanese courtyard house. Certainly the finishings, pillar endings, rafters and chain link downpipes have that Japanese feel.
Designed for an elderly couple and visiting young relatives there's a separate sleeping wing for guests to the left of the plan. The centre block contains the open plan living, dining and kitchen, with the master wing ahead, closer to the waters edge and far enough away from the guests wing.

I'm sure that the overhangs and breeze ways will prove handy in summer, and the large expanse of glass towards the ocean, will help warm the concrete slabs in winter. I'm also partial to the fact that everything is at ground level, once again allowing you to walk straight out to the beach.

From their site:

Vancouver Island BC
2000-2003
3100 SQ FT

This project was designed as a vacation house for an extended family. Three concrete and glass pavilions are linked with a large heavy-timber roof, connecting the volumes with a breeze way and 6'-0" deep overhangs. The elevation of the house facing the ocean is a continuous wall of full height glass doors, high on a steep bank above the beach. Nestled between a damp forest and a tangle of blackberry-bushes, the house was conceived as a single-level vacation and retirement house, appropriate for ageing clients and their young extended family. The requirement for an extremely robust, durable and quiet house resulted in thick in-situ concrete walls, intentionally left rough and crude. Hovering above, the simple Douglas Fir roof structure was left raw. In-fill materials squeezed between the concrete and timber were chosen for longevity: bleached red cedar, polished concrete, hand-made porcelain tile and smooth Douglas Fir millwork result in a rugged, unpretentious family house.

The modest materials are countered with a range of carefully sculpted spaces, inside and out. All designed outdoor spaces are clearly defined with wall or ground plane articulation on at least two sides. The morning deck is aimed to catch morning sun for reading and yoga, the two-level western terrace is for afternoon tanning or watching sunsets beside an open fire. These outdoor spaces are furnished with native plantings and large earth berms. Within a very hot and dry micro climate, the house's mass, deep overhangs and carefully designed passive ventilation keep the house cool.

The house has a heavy and quiet presence, it's porous edges abutting the surrounding vegetation. Though still quite new, the house is at ease in its setting; its roughness has the appeal of a well-used home with years of patina.

via: D'Arcy Jones Design INC