Inverting conventional notions of home and garden, the project is a balancing act between natural and built, inside and outside, heavy and light. Where once stood a typical brick Toronto centenarian, strategic incisions and green interventions transform the cramped spaces into a light-filled oasis.

The design evolved in concert with the homeowners, one being an avid gardener and the other having a strong preference for low maintenance monolithic surfaces, resulting in a parti of concrete massing moulded to hold planted elements with wood filigree details. In the front, concrete landforms raise the garden and bring it right up to the entry door and windows such that it can be enjoyed from an interior sitting area. In the middle, a double-height lightwell is inserted into the existing house, complete with a concrete table emerging out of the concrete floor to hold a tall indoor tree that reaches up to a new skylight. And in the rear, the addition is lowered to garden level to promote indoor-outdoor living, with full width doors to maximize light, views, and flow.