Everden Residence

Studio AC

ARCHITECTS
StudioAC

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Blackwell Structural Engineers

DESIGN TEAM
Madeline Planer, Shasha Wang, Jonathan Miura, Audrey Liang, Jennifer Kudlats, Andrew Hill

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Whitaker Construction

PHOTOGRAPHS
Doublespace Photography

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Toronto, Canada

CATEGORY
Houses

StudioAC introduces Everden, its newly built construction of a single-family residence.

The brief was to create a home that felt unique and personal to the homeowners, unapologetically contemporary, while still having cues to the traditional ideas of “house”.

What followed was a three-story form, reading as stacked boxes, carrying the motif of “house” throughout the interior.

While a gabled roof is one of the quintessential icons of “house”, the Studio was interested in elevating this phenomenon beyond motif to a spatial experience that defined a narrative throughout the project.

A gabled space on Level 3 relates to the roofline, however, a decision was made that the ground floor, often relegated to cubic space, should be provided with a gable extrusion as well to enhance the sense of ‘house’ across the shared living spaces.

This combined a planimetric and material direction that would emphasize a three-dimensional stacking and staggering that plays with the definition between form, space, and motif.

The Everden house places much of its emphasis on the experience of space, allowing for flexibility with material expression.

This approach was integral to working with the clients' budget strategy and thesis: to create an impactful project without being indulgent. The house features an exterior cladding of corrugated metal - durable, affordable, and familiar.

The material is elevated through the precise detailing of levels and parapets to create the illusion of stacked boxes.

Similarly, the interior focuses on one critical move: the peaked ceiling scape. This allowed other details to become secondary and, in doing so, more cost-effective.