Architects: The Practice of Everyday Design
Location: Toronto, Canada
Project Team: Antoine Morris, David Long, Melanie Morris
Area 3520.0 ft2
Photography: Arnaud Marthouret, Kim Jeffery
Dunn House is a single-family house designed by The Practice of Everyday Design in collaboration with Melanie Morris. The house is located in Toronto, Canada.
Project description: Our clients purchased a two and a half story historic home in Parkdale, Toronto. As a young married couple, they wished to renovate the house so as to accommodate their future family. The home had been subdivided into three apartments which the new homeowners wanted to convert back into a single family dwelling. The design strategy was to open up the common areas to allow the family to be more connected.
The clients wanted a friendly, open concept house where they could easily entertain in a variety of ways, from dinner parties to sport viewing. A variety of nooks were placed throughout the house in front of windows which serve as both reading and hangout spaces.
The front of the house was left intact aside from small repairs to the brickwork and installing new windows that matched the original design of the house. The interior was completely gutted from ground to roof and a new underpinned basement was dug out. The original rear brick wall of the house was kept with openings cut through it to the new matte black aluminum addition that house the kitchen and master bedroom suite above.
A double height space defines half the second floor with a wood clad rectangle of rooms and a bathroom. Above the rooms is a loft accessible by ladder. The second half of the second floor, beyond the rear brick wall, is the master bedroom and spacious spa-like bathroom.
