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211071 Residence

211071 Residence

Lethbridge, Canada

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Other Projects by 010110 | Architecture + Urbanism

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211071 Residence

Lethbridge, Canada

Firm

010110 | Architecture + Urbanism

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Under Construction

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

BUDGET

Undisclosed

The project comprises the development of a new multi-generational single detached home for a family of six situated at the east urban fringe of Lethbridge, Alberta. The project’s numbered moniker, 211071, is the county road address where the home resides on nearly 15 acres of semi-rural land where the family has lived for several years. As a result, the progressing construction of the new residence has unfolded before family occupant’s eyes, through living room fenestration facing the build site.

Modern family life interacts not only on the breadth and quality of relationships we participate (in social, recreational and intimate exchanges) but also in how effectively our settings parlay meaningful attributes of community, place and architectural program into cognitive moments of “connective serendipity”: even as you simply wake up and leave your bedroom, navigate processional spaces, eat, dwell and commune with family or contemplate privately under an ephemeral prairie sky or starry firmament.

The substance of the 211071 residence addresses patterns of connectedness and tension - between encroaching urbanism and pastoral living; dynamic individual and family relationships; and the interactions that facilitate making family ties to a unique place of habitation - at everyday frequency.

Context + Site

In contrast to larger Alberta cities like Calgary and Edmonton, Lethbridge experiences a sunnier and drier climate due to consistent warm temperatures brought about by chinook winds. Historically a conservative agri-business and farming based community, southern Alberta and specifically Lethbridge is known for its increasingly diverse and stable economy.

With a few obvious exceptions, Lethbridge is less known for it’s interesting stock of modern houses (most built since 1950) and a spirit of punctuated modernism within the city’s urban neighborhoods, affronting public parks, such as Henderson Lake, and in other emerging fringe acreages and subdivisions.

The site of this project is an existing acreage east of the city containing a barn-like two storey dwelling, several small functional out-buildings (chicken houses & storage sheds), a clear water ‘dug-out’ used frequently for recreational swimming in hot summer months and a mix of earth berms scattered like moguls at all corners of the property among open areas. Approximately eight acres of land to the west are pastured to cattle for weed control. Behind a barbed wire fence line, mature deciduous trees define the entrance road approach dividing grazing land from other acreage uses. Additional deciduous and coniferous trees punctuate the gravel drive lane and property which loops in front of the existing dwelling and returns back to the existing access road.

Just to the south, the land offers future uses for numerous complimentary small projects envisioned by the owner. Currently an single seat airplane re-build is ongoing under a temporary light-weight structure. A more robust accessory building is anticipated to be constructed in a subsequent phase. In general, the children explore their surroundings and have even devised a racing circuit with small jumps (from the cut-offs of glu-laminated beams) throughout the home after construction hours when trades have gone.

A shallow irrigation trench fed by a nearby canal runs along the east edge of the property crossing neighboring fields north and south, providing a source of water for farming, cattle and other livestock. Here, access to such a resource conveniently maintains the watered grounds and reservoir ‘dug-out’ itself, which is cleared off for pond hockey in winter.

Physical Organization + Form

Situated in a part of Canada known for its spirited climatic seasons and persistent wind, the home is stretched horizontally just above grade, in part to make accessibility easy well into twilight years, but also in reverence to the ephemeral expanse of the prairie sky above. The residence’s sequence of arrival and spatial organization is purposely devised to create legible thresholds that beckon or invite, reveal landscapes or shift to maintain
privacy and isolate simultaneous activities of dwelling.

The new residence is organized as a series single storey wings in a hub-and-spoke plan grouped in a pinwheel-like form according to domestic uses. Despite it’s program area, the bulk of form is carefully managed as a carved horizontal composition beneath a level floating roof line that turns back on itself and rises above the central space. All circulation pathways in the home converge to the kitchen and central living spaces.

This physical organization aligns primary circulation corridors with floor to ceiling controlled views to all sides of the house. All movement ends consistently on points of daylight with a focus toward the horizon or immediate pocket garden areas in the foreground shaped by the exterior of the home. The entrance hall guides the arrival experience of visitors first along a thrusted roof monitor bisecting the plan and giving way to widened southern views of open prairie below a spatially dynamic timber roof. The heightened roofs shelter the central gathering place of living spaces and grand kitchen convergence point. Two ‘push-out’ corridors are compressed lower in height and contrast the larger vaulted common areas where time is most encouraged
to be spent. A breezeway separates ‘back-of-house’ functions from the garage entrance while providing unobstructed glimpses toward outdoor terraces and
exterior faces while moving to and from the north side of the residence.

The form of the residence also creates unique outdoor spaces in the negative spaces around the home - nooks and pocket gardens - surprises designed to accommodate visual interest in daily living through seasonal and climatic changes. A significant benefit of the plan shape is that larger spaces can
respond programmatically to the protection offered from Lethbridge’s strong wind and winter chinooks and extend the seasons outdoors onto patio and
terrace extensions of the house. The east patio is covered by a large cantilevering roof constructed to extend the dining experience outdoors or
to converse adjacently while seated intimately around a fire in a smaller group. A timber armature reaches further out into the landscape to facilitate
outdoor activities at the swimming hole, foot rinse shower and sunning area or winter conversations around an outdoor spa gazing to the south east.

The children’s wing can be partitioned off while simultaneously entertaining or holding performances amidst the simultaneous activities of family life. Each floor
area of the bedroom wing is more or less equitable in terms of accommodation and convenience - detailed to the tastes of the sons and daughters grouped by floor. A skylight over the central stair case and large basement windows provide natural daylight across the basement floor plate.

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211071 Residence

Lethbridge, Canada

Other Projects by 010110 | Architecture + Urbanism

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Hillside House

Ito-Eco Bioclimatic Residence

Market at Crossings

Graham Residence

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211071 Residence

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Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team

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211071 Residence

Lethbridge, Canada

Other Projects by 010110 | Architecture + Urbanism

W-House

Hillside House

Ito-Eco Bioclimatic Residence

Market at Crossings

Graham Residence

OR1 / OR-1R

Treetop House

211071 Residence

Lethbridge, Canada

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team