Project > Design
The Bueckert Infill Home/Studio
A good friend of our, Crystal Bueckert, recently bought a TINY infill lot just around the corner from where both Daren and I live in Caswell Hill. Measuring at just 30' x 60' (1800 sq ft total), it is the remnant of development that happened before the existence of our planning department.
We absolutely love what Crystal and her painter-husband Martin are doing with their home and can't wait to have them as neighbors. They're also helping to add to the tsunami that is becoming known as the Modern UpRising in Caswell Hill.
Viva la revolucion!
Curtis
Urban Infill Live/Work by Crystal Bueckert
A year ago my husband and I purchased a non-conforming site zoned for infill residential development in Caswell Hill. The site's uniqueness at 1800 sq ft initiated a lengthy design process which culminated in a modern house of traditional materials that has been architecturally tailored to meet our needs as artists/designers.
Modern on Traditional:
The house was designed to interface with the existing neighbourhood by taking clues from architectural elements such as the bus barns, the Eaton's warehouse, and the narrow lot houses. By designing within the historical context of our neighborhood and the demands of urban planning by-laws, we were still able to use a contemporary sensibility for our design. The main two-storey structure recalls a small industrial brick warehouse with lead-pane windows which has been "wrapped" with a modern addition of aggregate stucco and clean lines. The result is a home that blurs between the warehouse district of downtown and the domestic modern architecture that is growing in our city. Our efforts to design a home that is both ecologically conscious and reflective of the area will hopefully show that the qualitative aspects of the design override the dimensional restrictions of the site.
Work Where You Live:
We've designed the house to suit our needs as an artist and a designer. Two studio spaces and plenty of presentation space were incorporated into the interior design. Clean lines, gallery walls, and tall spaces give us the type of space in which we need to live and work. In choosing to create an environment where we can work at home, we have made our lives more sustainable.
Design Aspects: Going Green
We have made our house more sustainable by incorporating the following green design elements:
Passive Solar: The south orientation of the lot allowed us to take full advantage of the sun by using windows and interior thermal mass to heat the house passively.
Active Solar: We are using hydronic heat and solar thermal panels to heat the concrete floors. Photovoltaics will be used for 12V lighting and supplement power.
Green Roof: We are replacing our site deficiency by planting a green roof which we'll use to grow herbs and native plants.
Xeriscaping: By using native plants, mulch and gravel it won't be necessary to water our yard with the City's potable water.
Ventilation: The main staircase was designed as a ventilation shaft to avoid using mechanical air conditioning.
Infill properties are a perfect problem for the perfect design solution. We have found that infill sites need to be treated with custom solutions for specific lifestyle needs. Architecturally fitting in with the neighbourhood while acknowledging our contemporary context has given us a design which we hope can be an innovative prototype for urban infill properties.
Please keep up with the progress at http://www.bueckerthouse.blogspot.com/
Crystal Bueckert
www.bueckert.com
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