A structural wood lattice wraps a solarium addition to a Calgary home. Designed to provide year-round warmth, the space includes a built-in fireplace, tiered seating and low-maintenance plants.
TEXT Blair Marsden
PHOTO Studio North
When you meet the two principals of Calgary-based design-build firm Studio North, it is immediately apparent that they love what they do. Matthew Kennedy and Mark Erickson are committed to studio practice in ways that many would find daunting. Like many younger practitioners, they?re not afraid to get their hands dirty: to practice, they believe, is to simultaneously create. Engagement in practice is a direct means through which to flush out or frame an idea. Practice is not the mere repetition of something already encoded; there is an element of discovery in the doing. One of the duo?s favourite projects to date is a series of additions to a bungalow in the inner-city neighbourhood of Albert Park. The firm was graced with a remarkable client as a catalyst?a worldly, 21st century polymath who wanted to adapt his existing 1950s house so that friends, family and work colleagues could visit and sojourn for short periods of time. To this end, Studio North gradually reconfigured and renovated the main floor, basement and garage to create three discrete, compact dwellings that share a common solarium and courtyard.
On the surface, the project is deceptively modest. The centrepiece is the solarium, which includes a terraced deck and integrated planters,...