House in High Park is a Toronto home to be discovered slowly
House in High Park by Ian MacDonald Architect is a new-build home in Toronto that takes a problematic plot and transforms it into an exhilarating, contemporary residence
![House in High Park living room](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9b7yuEoEVPrEqLxr3UrRkL-415-80.jpg)
With House in High Park, it's clear why Ian MacDonald has become Toronto’s architect of record for a certain homeowner blessed – whether they recognise it or not – with a tricky location. The architect's extraordinary buildings don’t merely overcome inhospitable conditions; they benefit from sharing their space with stubborn rock, overgrowth and draconian red tape. His talent lies in transforming such liabilities into fascinating characteristics.
House in High Park: spectacular home out of a tricky site
This vacant plot overlooking a 400-acre park – a so-called 'missing tooth' in the residential streetscape – presented just his sort of challenge. Abandoned after a fire destroyed the original house, the buildable land was a precipitous climb from road level. Not only that: the property line didn’t reach the pavement out front, meaning any new house would have to be accessed from the alley out back.
The owners were lucky. Toronto is rife with these access roads, lined with parking bays and 'lane houses'. This one allowed MacDonald to flip the traditional blueprint. Now the rear is the new front, announced by a multifunctional carport-foyer with an oversized pivot door. Enveloped in Kebony treated wood and a cantilevered sedum roof, this antechamber leads into the garden and, beyond, a recessed 'front' door.
MacDonald is a master of 'view framing', a device he uses to manipulate the experience. In this case, he’s directed the flow of movement toward the leafy ravine side, where overhangs limit the view through cleverly placed picture windows. Only a scrim of green can be seen beyond the rafters. 'It’s not what you show,' he says, 'it’s what you choose to deny.'
Rather than design the house as a whole, each zone was considered separately, then pieced together in a complementary way. A snug, study and lounge with compressed ceilings fit in around the main floor, leading to a kitchen. At the centre of ground-floor plan, the kitchen would be darker if not for that vaulted ceiling that allows natural light to pour in from the windowed corridor above.
Upstairs in the bedrooms, the views are cropped by the green roofs projecting from the floor below. 'The character of the mature trees defines the spatial experience,' says MacDonald. Even the sauna, an amenity of the principal bedroom, seems to float amid the tree canopy. 'It all looks much more dramatic than it is.'
Peeking out toward the garden, the new carport obscures the laneway. Looking out toward the main street, deciduous trees obscure the facing houses like a screen. It goes both ways. From the street, the wood façade effectively recedes into the landscape, now well-kept and healthy. The charcoal-stained siding 'receives the plant material around it', says MacDonald. 'It gets lost in the hydrangea and clematis.'
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
The problem has effectively become part of the solution. But any statement made to that effect is classic understatement. To understand this house, is to discover it slowly.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
A dramatic new lakeside cabin in the Canadian wilderness rises above the trees
Kariouk Architects' lakeside cabin ‘m.o.r.e. CLT’ explores new material approaches while making a minimal impact on a precious landscape
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Forest Retreat is a new low-energy family house in the forests of Ontario
Set beneath a vast roof, Forest Retreat is a rich mix of local materials, craftsmanship and space for an extended family to get together in the heart of nature
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Join the West Coast Modern Week's Home Tour 2024 for modernist architecture and more
West Coast Modern Week 2024 comes with its annual home tour courtesy of the West Vancouver Art Museum, offering an extensive, immersive showcase of Canada's modernist architecture
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
A modernist lakeside cottage in Ontario provides a perfect backdrop for family vacations
A lakeside cottage by Canadian studio Dubbeldam Architecture + Design has been shaped as a modest multigenerational retreat to accommodate the surrounding wilderness
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Visit a cubic Canadian cabin in the woods: welcome to Rustic Grade
Maurice Martel has designed a contemporary cabin in the woods, Rustic Grade, to make the most of a sylvan plot to the north of Montreal
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Whistling Wind is a remote Canadian cottage retreat to reconnect with nature
Whistling Wind house is an elegant escape on a remote Ontario island that offers up a contemporary reinterpretation of the local vernacular
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Whistler cabin offers a ‘transcendent experience’ to its occupants
Openspace Architecture’s Winterfell house is a Whistler cabin and luxurious contemporary ski retreat nestled within the forest
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
A far-flung Nova Scotia retreat is a minimalist prefab exploration
Perched on the shores of Cape Breton Island this Nova Scotia retreat by Nicholas Fudge Architects combines prefabricated construction with traditional forms and minimal design
By Jonathan Bell Published