The project is a single family house for a surgeon and a scientist with three young children. The clients’ express desire for a house that embodied simplicity, material warmth, and above all, a rational and authentic composition was the origin of the design concept.
The site is on the Red River near downtown Winnipeg in an established neighbourhood. The shape of the river channel in this location is straight, and the road that accesses the lot runs parallel to it. The long sides of the lot are parallel to each other, but meet the street and the river at acute angles of approximately 23 degrees. The build-able area of the lot is a parallelogram 40’ wide by 60’ long. Extruding the parallelogram to accommodate two floors of house allows for the optimizing of views, access to natural light, and retention of privacy. At the same time, the shape allows the house to be a good neighbour that does not block anyone else’s view or access to light.
The design resolves this family’s domestic program in a straight forward manner. “Public” rooms are grouped on the river side in an open and minimal space that maximizes views of the river. A central two storey volume with clerestory windows, encourages passive ventilation from all of the rooms. The centrally located stair straddles the two halves of the house and the landing supports extensive bookshelves for this learned family. The shelves are designed to be accessed from either landing or floor, preventing the need for a ladder. “Private” spaces are located on the second floor. The parents’ bedroom, screen room and terrace overlook the river, while the three childrens‘ bedrooms overlook the street.materials usedglue laminated fir beams and columns with Timberlinx steel connectors
solid fir treads/risers/landings
solid fir and fir plywood bookshelves on stair landings
cedar ‘v’ joint vertical exterior siding
cedar clad screen room and terrace
conventional wood framing of most wallsC.I.P. interior concrete wallThe use of wood components in the construction of this house was fundamental to the conception of the design. The diagonal of the site, set by the river intersecting with the lot lines, approximates the angle produced by the diagonal bisection of a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood. An underlying grid of full and bisected 4’ x 8’ modules regulates the plan. A white, cast-in-place concrete wall divides the house into riverside and street side. A glue laminated timber frame of Doug Fir supports the floors on the river side of the wall. An aesthetic desire for simplicity led to the use of timberlinx fasteners for the members.The owners expressed a strong desire for an uncluttered and easily cleanable, allergen-free zone to live in. This objective led to the use of smooth and hard surfaces such as terrazzo flooring and quartz composite countertops. Radiant heating in the floors and the judicious use of Doug Fir, both in the exposed structure and in the hand-crafted stairs, landings, and bookshelves, help to create a feeling of warmth. The play of authentic material textures, form coarse to fine, busy to plain, and transparent to opaque, was composed to produce an effect both stimulating and serene. The use of Doug Fir was also a nod to one of the client’s west coast upbringing.