The client request was unusual ‘ensure me freedom in my advanced years’. The design response notably establishes spatial fluidity and universal functionality throughout. A smooth level surface connects street, ground floor living areas, and outdoor patio-pool -garden yard.
Nestled between adjoining row houses, the architecture promotes a new equilibrium that both challenges and respects the Montréal heritage housing created a century ago for industrial workers and their families.
New relationships are proposed between the solid brick envelope and the transparent glass surfaces to define a timeless elegance where the interior and the exterior smoothly bend together as one.
The essence of architectural materials pervades throughout to define the spirit and experience of the living environment. Glass suspensions on the street façade reference the nordicity that speaks of Montreal’s climate, culture, and the tradesmen who culled ice on the nearby St-Lawrence River in a former era.
For further information, please visit www.indesigninc.com.
PROJECT Ice Shore House (Berge des Glaces)
ARCHITECT Conrath Architecte Indesign
LOCATION Montréal, Canada
YEAR 2019
LEAD ARCHITECT Gary Michael Conrath
PHOTO Marc Cramer
