Displaying posts labeled "Windows"

I am smitten with the designs of Belgian architect Pieter Vandenhout. Minimal in details but the details he does add (like statement windows and textured walls and wide plank floors) make such a statement. The kitchen below went straight into my inspiration folder. A kitchen that doesn’t look like a kitchen is everything.

Dreaming of lofts as I always do, and this 4700 sq ft 4 story former perfume warehouse in London is an absolutely gorgeous conversion. I am so relieved to see that most of the original architectural details were preserved. The floors and windows are exceptional. And with all that open space your furniture layout options are limitless. I’d spend my weekends thrifting and rearranging everything 🙂 For sale via The Modern House.

In my previous post I mentioned I would want la SHED to design my dream home. They created a dream home here, on a large wooded lot located in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Their goal was to preserve as many trees as possible and I loooooove that they created somewhat of a courtyard for the pool area.

Photos: Maxime Brouillet

I am in complete awe of this project in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood of Montréal. I have decided when I win the lottery I will hire la SHED architecture firm to design my dream house. The massive renovation they designed of this 1916 home and how they maintained and restored some of the original features (the huge window at the end of the dining room and how it is cut right into an opening in the moldings…WHOA!) is mind-blowingly awesome. In addition to a restoration of the front and side facades, the original character has been skilfully preserved with several old details highlighted in a contemporary intervention bringing openness, light and contrasts to a formerly very dark and partitioned space. Great care has been taken to restore and enhance the original features, in contrast with the contemporary and minimalist aspect of the interventions. The old staircase, once partitioned, is now unveiled and spectacularly highlighted, juxtaposed with wooden lath landings that let light filter through to the basement. The imposing staircase was completely dismantled and reassembled to integrate an internal structure making it self-supporting. The rear of the house has been completely reconfigured in order to optimize the sunshine in the courtyard as well as to allow as much natural light to enter on the three levels. The glass extension from the kitchen to the courtyard, surmounted by a typical volume with clean lines, houses the master bedroom. This extension is harmonized in the neighborhood by reinterpreting a traditional typology well present in the alleys of the sector: the covered terrace surmounted by an appendix or a solarium. The basement living spaces, a previously uninviting floor, now benefit from the layout of an English courtyard and a water basin reflecting the light through the full-height glass walls with recessed frames.

Photos: Maxime Brouillet

“A humble, single level living pavilion on the street side draws on the simplicity of surrounding beach houses, many of which were owner built over the years. Connection to the garden and landscape was imperative to the design. Kangaroos literally inhabit the house. The structural system is exposed and honest. Operable screens allow for the control of privacy and when the whole house is opened up it almost disappears, evoking the social mood of camping.”

Open, honest and laid back. Bendalong Beach House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects.

Photography by Robert Walsh