Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

A steeply sloping site and a narrow plot may not be the ideal recipe for a unique contemporary home, but they were the starting ingredients for a growing Toronto family when they reached out to local architecture firm Reigo & Bauer.

The homeowners—two professionals who work locally—inherited the property, which had a lot going for it: a convenient location in The Beaches neighborhood within walking distance to Lake Ontario’s public shores, a mature deciduous forest behind it creating a lush green backdrop, and the placement on a cul-de-sac with a quiet, neighborhoody feel.

However, the bungalow was too small for the expanding family, who were expecting their first child by the time the design process started with the firm’s founders, Merike and Stephen Bauer. They had a second by the time the project wrapped up! “The homeowners wanted to create a comfortable space for living with their daughters that reflected their appreciation for contemporary design,” says Merike. An expansion or renovation of the bungalow wouldn’t give them what they were looking for, so they designed a new home for the plot.

Reigo & Bauer looked to the site for initial inspiration. “The steeply pitched forested site was a starting point for the primary concepts for the design of the house,” Merike notes. They developed a design that employed tall and narrow proportions for both the overall form of the house as well as for the windows on the front elevation; the narrow, floor-to-ceiling windows achieve privacy while still allowing in daylight. At the rear, the stacked windows and doors were designed to enable views up into the forest.

The overall form of the house resulted from daylight studies that brought natural light into the center of the home—typically a challenge for lots that are long and narrow, and a common theme in Reigo & Bauer’s work. With its ridge beam (the primary structural member of the roof) placed diagonally to maximize sunlight, the roof became a dynamic shape that is distinct at the front and rear facades.

The entry to the home was created by carving into the front facade and creating a recessed entry for a set of steps up to the front door. Unlike the rest of the facade, which is characterized by sharp, acute angles, the entry is curved and forms a half arch, welcoming visitors and residents.

This curved entry area is further distinguished from the rest of the facade by crisp, horizontal white cement board cladding, in contrast to the rest of the home which is clad in gray diamond-shaped cement board tiles. These tiles flow “from the walls over the garage door to the roof, so the building reads as a coherent volume,” Merike says.

The resulting 2,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home is unquestionably different from nearby older, more traditional homes, but its gabled roof, overall scale, and use of repeating materials make it sympathetic to its neighbors. As Merike says: “A contemporary structure need not be at odds with its surroundings.”

How they pulled it off: The asymmetrical facade

Both the roof and wall are constructed using a rain-screen cladding system covered in SVK Ardent Fiber Cement Slate tiles and the south-facing side wall and arc of the entry are faced with KØL High Density Fiber Cement panels.
A continuous layer of compressed mineral wool insulation covers the exterior shell of the building, while the wall and roof assemblies are conventionally insulated from within.
Because of the geometries of the roof and the diamond shape of the tile, careful planning and execution was required in close collaboration with the exceptionally skilled carpenters on-site.
The windows and doors are Alumilex ALX 2066 series.

Project Credits:

Architecture & Interior Design: Reigo & Bauer / @reigoandbauer

Structural Engineer: Blackwell

Cabinetry Design/Installation: David O’Sullivan Millwork

Hardwood Flooring: Moncer

Photography: Doublespace Photography

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How They Pulled It Off: An Asymmetrical Facade Clad in Diamond-Shaped Tiles