This exciting new live/work project on Kings Street in Canada's Halifax is as self-built as they get. Created by local architect Susan Fitzgerald and her builder partner Brainard Fitzgerald, the project was conceived and built by the family team and neatly encompasses more than one uses under one roof. It comprises the Fitzgeralds' own home, a workspace for their architecture and contractor studios (with equipment storage on site), as well as a separate two-storey rental live/work studio.
The program is spread across three clusters, each with their own entrance, all within a 25ft x 100ft plot. The complex stands higher at the plot's two narrow ends, and gets lower towards the middle, breaking down the overall volume into smaller parts, in keeping with the area's diverse urban fabric. The tallest volume contains the owners' workspaces and home, extending into the garden at the back and reaching out to the lower, rental volume across the site's other end. The internal arrangement is flexible, so the couple's live and work areas can contract or expand into one another, depending on their changing needs.
Take an interactive tour of Kings Street House
Landscaped terraces across the complex were created to support the cultivation of vegetables and flowers. The exterior's key materials, board-form concrete and corrugated metal, were chosen to complement the neighbourhood's existing material palette - they were also a clever financial choice, working within the budget's limits. More constraints were applied by the area's building code regulation, which dictated minimal glazing on the property's side elevations, but the architects responded by playing with heights and generous openings on the front and back of the complex instead.
The interior design was equally inventive. The children's bedrooms are playful and compact, designed with sliding doors, and placed side by side, as if in a sleeper train. A central courtyard doubles as a parking space, but also becomes as children's play area, outdoor workspace, and flower garden, explain the architects.
Set within a dynamic and eclectic neighbourhood in the city's north - a part of town that includes the city crematorium, the Centre for Islamic Development Mosque, a café, a print shop and a legal marijuana grow operation - this new house and workspace will be a striking addition to the local community's richness and diversity.
Two separate entrances at the front lead to Fitzgerald's home and studio, respectively.
The complex features two higher volumes at the plot's two narrow ends, but the centre is lower and includes a courtyard.
The building's design and material palette were informed by the urban fabric around it.
The volume containing the architect's house and studio spreads across three floors, with the studio occupying the ground level.
Plenty of outdoors space is spread across the complex, including a ground floor courtyard and three rooftop terraces...
...two of which are planted for the owners to cultivate flowers and vegetables.
The central courtyard doubles as parking space when needed.
Since the architect couldn't open many windows to the building's sides, due to planning regulations, the narrow ends are fully glazed to bring plenty of light in.
A long and light-filled corridor links the two taller volumes
The complex was created by the architect together with her partner, Brainard Fitzerland, who is a builder.
The interior is understated, featuring polished concrete floors and light-coloured timber.
The material language remains consistent across both the residential areas and the workspaces.
-
Why are Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings at the Courtauld quite so tempting?The American artist’s thickly painted slices of cake at the Courtauld are some of our favourite artworks seen this year. What makes them so special?
-
Taiwan’s new ‘museumbrary’ is a paradigm-shifting, cube-shaped cultural hubPart museum, part library, the SANAA-designed Taichung Green Museumbrary contains a world of sweeping curves and flowing possibilities, immersed in a natural setting
-
Dries van Noten on why he's building a new home for craft in VeniceA year after departing the runway, Dries van Noten unveils his next chapter: the Fondazione Dries Van Noten, a newly announced cultural initiative in Venice celebrating craft in all its forms. Wallpaper* meets the designer to find out why he’s not ready to retire.
-
Step inside this resilient, river-facing cabin for a life with ‘less stuff’A tough little cabin designed by architects Wittman Estes, with a big view of the Pacific Northwest's Wenatchee River, is the perfect cosy retreat
-
Remembering Robert A.M. Stern, an architect who discovered possibility in the pastIt's easy to dismiss the late architect as a traditionalist. But Stern was, in fact, a design rebel whose buildings were as distinctly grand and buttoned-up as his chalk-striped suits
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism – is for sale in Los AngelesAfter 65 years in the hands of the same family, the home, also known as Case Study House #22, has been listed for $25 million
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi designed a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fountainhead will be opened to the public for the first timeThe home, a defining example of the architect’s vision for American design, has been acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art, which will open it to the public, giving visitors the chance to experience Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius firsthand
-
Clad in terracotta, these new Williamsburg homes blend loft living and an organic feelThe Williamsburg homes inside 103 Grand Street, designed by Brooklyn-based architects Of Possible, bring together elegant interiors and dramatic outdoor space in a slick, stacked volume
-
This ethereal Miami residence sprouted out of a wild, jungle-like gardenA Miami couple tapped local firm Brillhart Architecture to design them a house that merged Florida vernacular, Paul Rudolph and 'too many plants to count’
