Designed for a family of four, the Parallelogram House is located in East St. Paul, a bedroom community just north of Winnipeg. Situated on a typical suburban street, the home stands in quiet and refined contrast to its stucco-clad neighbours. It is characterized by an unorthodox form and unexpected materials that are at once inconspicuous and yet architecturally significant.
Since the neighbourhood was developed 30 years ago, the property has not been touched. It is a remnant site beside a thick stand of existing trees with a public walking and cycling trail beyond. The clients were drawn to the potential of the site as a generous and shaded outdoor sanctuary and a tranquil clearing where they could settle their family and build campfires with their children. While the clients desired a bungalow, they also wanted to ensure that all the rooms had views of the front or backyard. Based on the lot size, setbacks, and the frontage requirements, the program could only fit within a two-storey volume. By skewing of the floor plan into a parallelogram, the window area was increased by almost 1.5 times without increasing the footprint. This strategy opened the home to a panoramic view of the tree preserve and welcomed the southern exposure into the site and home.
On the exterior, the house is clad in naturally stained wood siding that wraps onto the underside of the roof overhang above. The overhang covers open patios and a screened porch, supported by a series of u-shaped Cor-Ten p...