Russel Hill Road House by GH3 Architects
GH3 Architects have designed the Russel Hill Road house in Toronto, Canada.
Full description after the photos….
Photography by Ben Rahn of A-Frame Studio
Russel Hill Road House by GH3 Architects
Built in the brutalist style of architecture of the 1970’s, the house was subsequently renovated several times following a more traditional approach to house design especially by converting large open spaces to a more cellular room design. The renovation reopened the ground floor so that it became an open loft-like space from front to back (the house is about 70? long). By installing a new fully glazed wall at the rear garden side of the house, it was possible to extend the sense of the outdoor space through to the interior. This takes advantage of the house’s ravine setting by providing more opportunities to see and experience the natural landscape of the ravine from within the house and yet maintains privacy as the kitchen window is almost 30 feet above the public road.
The interior of the building was stripped back to a more modern tradition of interior. The house becomes a neutral shell punctuated by three sculptural elements – a block of stone that is associated with kitchen elements, a curved stair, and a 20? stone bench/shelf and fireplace wall. Each of these elements is associated with windows, skylights, and double height spaces to enhance the spatial experience of the house. Kitchen working areas and storage for dishes, books and media are organized linearly along the exterior walls and are concealed behind full-height doors.
Interior finishes were chosen for their neutrality. Most surfaces were painted white and other surfaces that would incur more wear were finished with custom fabricated white corian – bathtubs, showers, kitchen and wet room walls, and counters with integral sinks were all designed and fabricated out of white corian. All floor surfaces, including the stairs are wood, stained nearly black. The contrast with the walls also serves to extend and unify the space.
Visit the GH3 Architects website – here.
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Lance on 12 Aug 2009 at 2:27 am #
Swoon! I’m not generally a fan of total white, but the dark floor, sweeping stairs and expanse of glass really make this a standout home. The grey from the marble and the texture of the 1×1 tiles in the bathroom make the bathroom feel as if it’s not the ice cube a lot of “white”, modern bathrooms are. Perfection.
melissa on 12 Aug 2009 at 8:02 am #
lovely. just lovely. stark beauty. my only complaint? that white bag kicking it on the floor in the office shot. quelle horreur.
Los CA on 12 Aug 2009 at 8:11 am #
Agree with Lance, this house is perfection! I f@*kin’ love it! It would also have been cool with white marble floors or white ceramic tile floors, but with the dark wood, it would stay cleaner longer. Not to mention makes it more livable.
Lance on 12 Aug 2009 at 3:26 pm #
Ok, the lottery is up to 145 million… What are architect fees running in Canada these days?
I’d love to turn GH3 loose with a couple million dollar budget.
Stephanie on 13 Aug 2009 at 7:09 am #
wow wow wow. love it.
Bahay Kubo on 13 Aug 2009 at 9:01 am #
Ahhh, black and white. Such beauty.
Zero34 on 13 Aug 2009 at 1:39 pm #
stale, way to stale. it’s painful quite honestly. such nice spaces, killer design on the stairs, but the white on white on white with dark floors only becomes painful. might as well have put them in a hospital. the images are nice, but no way i’d ever be able to live in this. far too stale.
Rudy on 14 Aug 2009 at 8:46 am #
This classy. Absolutely fab stairs. Why don’t we see these more? They can enhance minimal designed interiors in a great way.
White is the most lively color there is providing it receives natural light. We don’t like the hospital or bathroom white because it is often lit by a fluorescent light source. Then it gets washed out and doesn’t show it’s subtle palette of bounced light on it’s surface.
apple on 16 Aug 2009 at 9:57 am #
just fabulous….
Bruce on 17 Aug 2009 at 11:15 pm #
Jacobsen, Cherner, Saarinen, Eames, Yanagi… (I am sure I missed several others) if you associate your architecture with great, classic furniture designs maybe it will become a classic also? In this case I expect that is true.
Mickey Ichiro on 18 Aug 2009 at 6:12 pm #
This is what I want in city living. Leaves all that sensory overload outside the door. Livable save for the sink, which is useful for rinsing a fruit and not much else. I’d add a bonsai for serenity, a mesoptamiam/babylonian sculpture on a pedestal somewhere to contrast with the modernity and echo the sculptural lines of the staircase. The warm woods and textured stones I’d use in a vacation house to balance.
hamilton on 03 Oct 2009 at 7:46 pm #
I have to admit I was surprised at how much I like this. I think the measure for how well concieved this is,is how easily it could not have worked.