The design concept of the Aesop boutique is inspired by the geography and particular topography of Vancouver Bay and takes up the theme of contrast to propose an interior design where borders are opposed and materials respond by symmetry.

Taking its name from its Amerindian origins, Kitsilano really took off in the 50s and 60s with the hippie movement and the cultural mixes that enrich the neighborhood. Mostly residential, one finds large coloured residences, covered with light wood cladding or plaster in pastel tones, element taken up in the choice of pastel pink for the Aesop store façade.

Surrounded by powerful nature, Vancouver was built on the water’s edge, on a plateau overlooking the surrounding mountains. The development of port activity reached its peak in the 1930s thanks to the timber trade. The concept of the shop transcribes this meeting of strong geological elements in the palette of materials used as well as in the notion of clear boundary, where the raw minerality of mountains and water meet.

Building on the symmetry of the existing façade, the concept expresses the duality between the mountains and their mirror reflection in the Vancouver Bay water. The store is thus divided into two parts. From the floor to the ceiling, the first is covered with a matt mineral surface while its opposite, darker and brighter, seeks to express the shiny surface of the reflection. On both sides, the demonstration sink and the point of sale of the same volume are distinguished by the texture of the counters, a pink marble evoking the pastel tones of the façade and a green marble evoking an abundant plant cartography.

On the walls, a vertical grid of walnut wood uprights contains amber bottles placed on shelves, thus referring to the former timber trade.

The first step for this detached house from the late 1940s was to open the rear facade onto the garden with a 24-foot (7.4 m) sliding bay window. By taking away the intermediary support element, this intervention removes the barriers to the outdoor terrace.

A metal trellis awning framing the wide opening filters heat from the sun into the kitchen and dining room, which are brought together in one space and open onto the garden.

The transformation of this house opens it up, revitalizes the relationship between the spaces and creates a visual link between each one. A perforated mobile steel wall modulates the level of privacy between the living room and the two-storey-tall family room. By playing with the existing floors and creating new spaces, the concept transforms the perception of the dimensions of the house.

A 2.8 m by 5 m living wall suspended above the family room is the key feature of the indoor environment. Upstairs, this green presence can be enjoyed from the open-plan office. Every element of this project underlying the owners’ passion for detail.

A couple with two young children wish to transform a duplex located in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie into their principal family residence. The project consists in reorganizing the original portion of the house and enlarging it with an extension in the yard while preserving the façade on the street as required by the city bylaws.

Suspended above the dining room, a grey angular volume sheltering the master bedroom cantilevers out over the garden terrace. For more intimacy, a pair of steel blades unfolds in front of two large panes of glass over the garden façade filtering the views from the neighbours and modulating the natural light coming into the living spaces.

Wishing to create an effect of depth on the garden façade, two tones of colours are used; one gray tone for the suspended volume covered in fibrocement boards and an other in copper for the windows, steel blades and the patio door in the recessed portion of the back wall. An angular frame like structure connects both immediate neighbours as a result of their differences in the protrusions of their constructions.

Within the house, a staircase positioned directly under a generous skylight becomes the focal element of the house. Three entities compose this staircase; the first steps cladded in white marble, a wooden landing cladded in Russian plywood that continues through the family room to become a working surface and finally the circular stair painted white with perforated steel guards and steps in white birch.

Integrated elements such as concealed doors and furniture combine to tones of whites; greys and blacks contribute in creating a warm and minimalist atmosphere throughout every room in the house.

A couple with two young children wishes to renovate a row house dating back to the 1970s. Being part of a set of rowhouses designed uniformly, no changes were brought to the exterior appearance of the house. Contained within a space of 16′-0 ” wide by 47′-0 ” in length, the residence is organized on 4 levels including the basement. The entire layout of the rooms has been completely reconfigured according to the new needs of the clients. An existing triple-height void topped by a skylight illuminates the heart of the house.

A new staircase with a guard composed of black painted steel tubular sections emphasises the verticality of triple height space. A white wall cladded with painted wooden panels installed in a random arrangement adds a dramatic effect to the entire project. Two translucent glass plates provide luminosity to the bathrooms and punctuate the wooden wall on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The original stainless steel suspended light fixtures were painted black and their supports reconfigured more dynamically. The use of pale maple wood for the floors, concrete for the kitchen island and velvety white laminate for the cabinets, contributes to the minimalist spirit of the residence where a specific attention to detail is omnipresent.

Carried out in a residential area of the Rosemont–La-Petite-Patrie borough, the project consisted in renovating and expanding a duplex built in the 1920s that housed three dwelling units. The added storey harmonized the building with the size of the surrounding constructions.

The intervention was minimal on Dandurand Street, rather extending along the perpendicular street. In the existing section, the brick was replaced, but the original openings were mostly retained, while large angled windows were built on the addition, multiplying the views on the urban landscape. The glass and white steel volume that was added on top of the first two levels stands out through both its angular shape and its materials. On each level, spacious decks equipped with glass railings lighten volume perception. A shared deck was inserted into a breach made in the volume, which also captures light.

An athletic young couple wants to transform a fourplex to create their primary residence, while maintaining a rental unit on the first floor. The existing part of the house, dating from the 1930s, is restored on the street side, and the attached garage is restructured to match, as well as to accommodate the new outdoor terrace perched on its roof. Topped with an angular wooden structure, this volume breaks up the perpendicular volumetry of the corner building and allows gardens to nestle into its interstices.

Large bay windows overlooking the north-facing garden bring maximum light to the living areas and show off the striking colour of the stairway. As a focal point of the interior composition, the stairway brings a warm and vibrant tone to the project. The layout of this sculptural object, playing with diagonal lines, is the central dynamic element of the Canari house.

A black band defines circulation through the house, all the way to the garden. The colour accents in the bathrooms, in orange and blue tones, energize the look of these confined spaces and complete the graphic composition of the project.

• Grands Prix du Design 10e edition  – Color price
• Laureate 34th Prix Domus – Jury’s Favorite & Home Renovation from $ 350,000 to $ 1,000,000

The project was carried out in an old residence built at the foot of Mount Royal around the 1860s for Dr. McCulloch, after whom the avenue would later be named. The residence was subsequently divided into two houses. The project aimed to expand one of the two divisions so the owners would have a new kitchen and an art studio.

The sharp shape of the extension is dictated by the land’s angle setbacks. Its black materials echo the nuances of the works of art made by the owner, a graphite pencil artist, and interact with the grey stones of the century-old house. Like a sculpture, the bricked ground floor acts as a base for the studio, which is covered with black zinc cladding. Vertical steel screens create intimacy on the street angle while revealing Mount Royal’s forest behind.

Inside, special attention was given to transitions in materials to foster a flowing perception of the old and new sections. The idea was to keep the original components of the house while incorporating modern elements such as the main staircase and the Russian birch integrated furniture. Discovered during the renovations, the wooden square wall is the masterpiece of the dining room. In the addition, the focus is on a central midnight-blue block that is used for storage on the kitchen side and for bicycles and skateboards on the secondary entrance side.

Finalist Grands Prix du Design 10th edition – Residential space 1600 p2 or less

The design of the Aesop store in the Mile End portrays in simple ways, the underlying theme of movement found through the heritage of the neighborhood. From the 1880’s to the 1980’s, different waves of immigrants settle in this neighbourhood as described by the documentary of Montreal filmmaker Albert Kish “Our Street was paved with gold”. The design of this Aesop store presents itself as a common, but deconstructed, structure. The store appears to be stripped to the bare bones, showing its structural “guts”. As visitors glimpse into the storefront, they are confronted at first with a familiar raw palette of materials – plaster, plywood, limestone, brass, and reclaimed wood. A monolithic demonstration sink, covered in local limestone stands as a visual anchor in the middle of the store compelling visitors to move around it in order to explore the nuances and elements of the walls. The recognizable stud wall is transformed into a plywood structure that unfolds its colors with the motion of its visitors. In front of the ever-changing colors of the walls, the amber glass bottles are placed on thin brass shelves appear to float as they seem to be timeless.

Winner of Grands Prix du Design 10e edition  – Commercial space less than 1600 sqft.

In the Rimouski region, close to the Bic National Park, the clients own of a small house located on the heights of the village that they wish to extend while retaining a trace of its presence. Their new needs lead to completely transform and enlarge the original house. Two volumes of wood and steel are juxtaposed in an L shape to the existing volume coated in brick, now containing the entry,office space and living room. The two new volumes host the kitchen and dining room on the ground floor and the bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor. The two new overlapping boxes protrude towards the edge of the forest allowing to insert a new terrace overlooking the garden.Double height volumes flooded with natural light are thus defined at the junction of the three boxes. Organizing the inner space, they delineate picture frame onto the surrounding landscape. A color palette composed of gray, black and blue juxtaposed to cedar wood corridors create a visual and geometric continuity within the living spaces.

Finalist Grands Prix du Design 10th edition – Residential space 1600 p2 or less

The bakery ‘Au Pain Doré’ , located on the ground floor of a 3 storey building on Côte-des-Neiges, decided to do some important renovations. The challenge was to give this chain a contemporary look. ‘Au pain doré’ is inspired by the European concept of ‘bakery/café’ that combines the sale of baked good and high quality coffee where the barista is put at center stage.

The interior organization has been completely redesigned with an extension in the back creating a 1500 sqft unit. The spatial concept of the project was inspired by the lattice of wooden bread baskets. A structural wooden frame holds a series of randomized wood slats creating a lattice that opens and closes to create space for lighting and ventilation. The lattice wraps down the wall turning into shelves for the bread and pastries as well as benches and counter tops. The randomized rhythmic lattice provides a dynamism experienced as you enter the bakery.