Toronto's High Park Residence reinvents the traditional suburban house
A new project by Batay-Csorba Architects, High Park Residence, radically reimagines the suburban house archetype in Toronto

Doublespace
This new project by Batay-Csorba Architects (B-CA) takes a radical approach to a suburban house archetype, slotting into a red brick architecture context with a design that inverts the conventional structure of the home. Designed for an Italian couple, the house addresses the street with a modern interpretation of an ancient vault, with a car port carved out of the monolithic Flemish bond brick façade. This avoids the pitfalls of car-centric design, as the sheltered space gives architectural weight and proportion to the entire house, as does the lantern-like dormer window on the upper floor.
The vault continues through the ground floor living area, with three lightwells punched through the plan to set up powerful contrasts of light and shadow between these curved elements. Set alongside this long, vaulted room are the circulation and service spaces, allowing the main living rooms to flow freely from the front door through to the garden.
Accommodation is arranged across three floors, starting with a self-contained basement apartment complete with its own entrance. An open-plan kitchen, dining and living area occupies the entire ground floor, with two self-contained bedroom suites on the first floor, alongside a study and utility room, all connected by bridges beside the lightwells.
The beautifully built façade helps the suburban house sit happily within its 19th century context, with the textured brick modulated by changing light throughout the year. The cuts and breaks in the vault break up the interior space into natural division, allowing the kitchen – in the heart of the floorplan – to receive natural light.
The architects cite the vaulted elements as a reference to ancient Italian architecture, especially in the way that atmosphere and natural light create a sanctuary space that is a home away from home for their retired clients. ‘In carrying sacred content from the homeowner’s past into the present they are transported into another time and place, full of stories, meaning, and memories that become their refuge,’ they say.
Batay-Csorba Architects was set up by Andrew and Jodi Batay-Csorba in 2012, bringing together the duo's previous experience working for Frank Gehry, Morphosis and Predock Frane, amongst others. Based in Toronto, (B-CA) combines research with practice with a special focus on context and historical reference.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Our favourite note-taking device just shrank – introducing the reMarkable Paper Pro Move
The new Paper Pro Move doesn’t just scale down the cult e-ink writing device, but it also introduces a host of sharing and editing tools into the reMarkable eco-system
-
Can this perfume really make you more attractive?
Vyrao’s two new fragrances use neuroscience to enhance feelings of attraction
-
This tiny church in Denmark is a fresh take on sacred space
Tiny Church Tolvkanten by Julius Nielsen and Dinesen unifies tradition with modernity in its raw and simple design, demonstrating how the church can remain relevant today
-
La Maison de la Baie de l’Ours melds modernism into the shores of a Québécois lake
ACDF Architecture’s grand family retreat in Quebec offers a series of flowing living spaces and private bedrooms beneath a monumental wooden roof
-
Peel back maple branches to reveal this cosy midcentury Vancouver gem
Osler House, a midcentury Vancouver home, has been refreshed by Scott & Scott Architects, who wanted to pay tribute to the building's 20th-century modernist roots
-
A spectacular waterside house in Canada results from a radical overhaul
Splyce Design’s Shoreline House occupies an idyllic site in British Columbia. Refurbished and updated, the structure has been transformed into a waterside retreat
-
Hilborn House, one of Arthur Erickson’s few residential projects, is now on the market
The home, first sketched on an envelope at Montreal Airport, feels like a museum of modernist shapes, natural materials and indoor-outdoor living
-
This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coast
Bishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
-
In Canada, The Nest is a three-dimensional puzzle redefining remote living
On a wooded site on the country’s West Coast, this prefabricated retreat designed by Daria Sheina Studio is a nurturing space for low-impact living
-
Discover Canadian modernist Daniel Evan White’s pitch-perfect homes
Canadian architect Daniel Evan White (1933-2012) had a gift for using the landscape to create extraordinary homes; revisit his story in an article from the Wallpaper* archives (first published in 2011)
-
A new Québec house blends open-plan living with far-reaching views
The Mountainside Residence is anchored into its sloping site by a concrete plinth, above which sits a main living space with tall ceilings and walls of glass