Architecture graduates Nicholas Francoeur and Joel Fontaine Lortie have renovated a steel-clad house in Montreal to include two cut-outs in its floors that fill the basement with sunlight.
Called Park Ex House, the dwelling is positioned on a corner in the Park Extension neighbourhood of Montreal, known by locals as Park Ex.
Park Ex House is named after its neighbourhood
Current architecture interns and friends Francoeur and Fontaine Lortie added another floor and an angled roof to what was previously a one-storey house, in a gut renovation of the property that transformed both its exterior and interior.
The project was completed independently when the pair were finishing their Master's degrees.
The renovated house is clad in vertical corrugated steel Francoeur and Fontaine Lortie replaced Park Ex House's original white horizontal siding with vertical corrugated steel cladding in Cambridge White, which takes cues from Miesian architecture.
"We liked the idea of juxtaposing an industrial material with refined detailing," the graduates told Dezeen.
"The angled roof pays tribute to the original house, as does the fact that we maintained the general proportions of the existing facades."
A porch covers the house's front door
Inside, Francoeur and Fontaine Lortie wanted to introduce more light into the small building. The pair achieved this by adding a hole in the ground floor above the basement, as well as one between the kitchen and second storey.
The voids ...