Out(side)In House, Greater Toronto Area Real Estate, Ontario Home, Canadian Interior Architecture Photos

Out(side)In House near Scarborough Bluffs

16 Sep 2021

Architecture: Atelier RZLBD

Location: Scarborough Bluffs, Ontario, Canada

Out(side)In House in Ontario

As nature seeps through a crack of a stone, or as from a wound of one’s heart blooms a new, unforeseen joy and peace, a nameless empty room becomes a sanctuary, a small universe, whereone’s soul can truly rest. Located near Scarborough Bluffs, the panoramic horizon of Lake Ontario, Out(side)In House offers a void that leads the inhabitants to see the inner horizon, suggesting life inits deeper meaning.

The house is broken indentedly at its center into two volumes, which are pulled apart and shuffled sothat the breakages face the outside and the exterior walls face the central void. In this double-heightatrium, natural light falls from the sky through a series of stepped clearstories, oriented to south(towards the lake) and north.

At the southern end stands the hearth or the fireplace with a sunkenground as the gathering place; at the northern end a triple-height light shaft travels from the skylightall the way down to the basement, where a large planter suggests the possibility of a tall tree growing.

Circulating east-west between rooms, the direction of “utility”, one is always abrupted by a raisedplatform of the atrium and the suspended bridge on the second floor, entering which one meets amoment of pause and is reoriented to south-north, the direction of “poetry”.

Finished in bricks andtiles, the hardness on one’s foot and hand as well as rough grains catching the rays of the sun evokesa sense of exteriority, as if between two distinct buildings. Like in a sanctuary, the atrium erases thememory of the outside world and offers a womb once more, nurturing one’s body, mind, and soul.

If the atrium was a main sanctuary, the cocoon is a side chapel. Located on the second floor, acrossthe bridge over the atrium, at the end of the long corridor, adjacent to the master bedroom—thefarthest place from the entry—the cocoon is a dark, quiet, small confined space where one can trulybe alone. At the center of the room, a small skylight gives out a very restrained illumination, and asmall window, located at one corner at the sitting eye level, is the only connection to the outsideworld.

Covered in fabric on all surfaces, with no distinction between floor, ceiling, and walls, the roomis surreal visually, tactilely, and acoustically, with outside noise almost entirely absorbed in itssoftness. Being able to be truly alone with oneself, the space becomes an extension of one’s body,boundless in one’s mind.

From the outside, the façade showing the indented breakages is reminiscent of the origin of beingonce one and of the clean rectilinear void inside. In defining what House is, Out(side)In Housechallenges the norm, in which it is cluttered with utilitarian programs, questioning what the purpose ofHouse and living is, in the emptiness of its space.

Out(side)In House in Ontario, Canada – Building Information

Architects: Atelier RZLBD

Client: Private
Budget: Withheld

Project Lead: Reza Aliabadi
Project team: Arman Azar, James Chungwon Park, Raisa Nekhaeva
Structure: Egberts Engineering
Mechanical: Atava Design Inc.
Construction Management: Jordyn Development

Location: Ontario, Toronto, Scarborough
Basics: Two-storey wood & steel structure
Lot: 14300 sqft / 1330 m2
Living Area (GFA): 3120 sqft / 290 m2
Design: 2017 – 2018
Completion: Summer 2021

Architectural Photography: Borzu Talaie

Out(side)In House, Scarborough Bluffs Ontario images / information received 160921

Location: District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada

Ontario Homes

Botfield House, Etobicoke
Botfield House

Mackay Laneway House
Mackay Laneway House

Toronto Building Designs

Ontario Architecture Designs – chronological list

Toronto Architecture Designs

Therme Canada | Ontario Place, West Island
Design: Diamond Schmitt

image courtesy of Diamond Schmitt
Therme Canada Ontario Place

Edition, 764 St. Clair West, Wychwood-Cedarvale neighbourhood, Midtown
Architecture: StudioAC

photograph : Double Space Photo
Edition’s Second Location