This single-family home just north of downtown Toronto was conceived as a series of living boxes that produced programmatic, acoustic, and formal separation of space that allows for each room to have its own experience and spatial identity, while also playing a part of the cohesive whole.

The main floor has a series of living spaces, each with a clear view of adjacent exterior spaces beyond providing localized vistas and ample natural light.

The upper floor is defined by two cubic masses with subtle hipped roofs that each have a formal ending with large skylights. The children’s bedroom wing fuses with the main circulation space and sees its corresponding skylight located over the main stair, bringing light into the deepest part of the plan. The primary bedroom wing has its skylight located over the bathroom space, again at the deepest part of the plan, and acts as a light sharing element for the vanity, tub, and shower. After passing through an almost maze-like plan to approach this more private space, it is a welcome surprise.

The exterior is clad in locally sourced red brick, which has become part of Toronto’s residential Vernacular over the past century. The upper bedroom wings shift north and south, creating cantilevered conditions across the front of the house and producing a soffit for lighting and canopy at the front door, while the rear cantilever produces a covered outdoor living space. These cantilevers are articulated further with large floor to ceiling windows, diagramming the act of pulling these facades off the ‘pure box’ they tectonically come from.