Montreal firm Natalie Dionne Architecture added a new brick facade to an apartment building in the city to transform it into a light-filled and contemporary home.
Natalie Dionne Architecture overhauled a three-unit apartment in residential neighbourhood Villeray to create the residence called Brick House.

"Montreal is known for its lively neighbourhoods and its traditional streets, lined with two-and-three-story row houses," explained Natalie Dionne Architecture.
"Often built in the first half of the 20th-century, these homes no longer correspond to today's lifestyles," the studio added. "It shows how traditional houses found everywhere in Montreal can be adapted to new realities."
The firm designed the renovation to improve the living space's connection to the exterior, and open up the interiors to the back yard. To do this, it replaced the back wall with a new brick facade featuring plenty of windows.
On the ground floor, two walls of pivoting glass doors allow the kitchen and dining room to extend out into the garden. "The backyard thus becomes an integral part of the home's living spaces, particularly during the long summer nights when family and friends rally around," said the firm.
These openings are separated by an exposed brick column, which used to contain the home's chimney.

"A centrally located chimney, no longer in use, becomes an aesthetical object, which reinforces the composition of the symmetrical facade while...