The first floor is a bright, open expanse from entrance to the back garden door, with only the functional entrance hallway and mudroom being harboured discreetly along the south wall. The chef’s performance is separated from guests by nothing other than the monolithic concrete-decked island and its integrated wood cutting boards.
Wavell
Ottawa
Ottawa’s McKellar Park, developed in the 1950s, has emerged as a highly desired inner suburb with mature trees, green parks and a pleasant, but eclectic, mix of primarily two-storey homes.
The design brief for the Wavell Residence required replacing a couple’s long time, but structurally problematic, home with a new build reflecting the individuality of the neighbourhood’s houses, without imposing a major jolt.
Design Insight
Built to Entertain
Frequent dinner events fill the calendar at the residence. Its core had to be its kitchen. The home’s interior lines lure the eye along horizontally and vertically, creating a space that is simultaneously comforting and freeing.
Palette of Light
The kitchen is perched below a generous open office loft. The living room vaults to two full storeys and channels beams streaming through a well-positioned skylight.
Design Insight - Sunlight
A canvas of a window greets the morning sun on the street side also frames the home as a gracious participant in the community, rather than shying from it. A very ample garden-facing west window pulls late afternoon and evening light into the main living area.
Project Facts
104
Linear feet of Boston Ivy - ground to roof!
16x4
The dimensions of the concrete kitchen island
26
Feet Stuv freestanding stove pipe
“It came in on time and on budget and there is nothing we would change.”
Victoria Engelberts & Rob Woyzbun
Fresh and Playful
The house’s height and width corresponds in harmony with its neighbours. Its contrasting, flat roofline combines with a mix of vertical and horizontal lines in stained and unstained cedar volumes playfully. The house's own unique Modernist credentials are clearly established.
Collaborators
Builder: The Lake Partnership
Concrete craftsman: Bill Riesborough
Photographer: Doublespace Photography