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Flow House

Toronto, Ontario

Sinuous curves unite the interior spaces of a Victorian-era home,
encouraging flow and discovery.

This semi-detached Victorian house in midtown Toronto
was reconfigured for a creative couple and their children. The
transformation of the 130-year-old home by Dubbeldam Architecture
+ Design included adding additional living space on the back and top
of the home, improving connections to the outdoors, and updating the
interior and rear yard for contemporary living. The traditional front
façade remains, while the interior is now a meaningful reflection of
the family’s unique personalities, vocations, and shared experiences.

Though less than five metres wide and only 230 square metres, the
home now seems much larger through a strategy of compression and
expansion. Narrowed interstitial spaces enclose, creating a feeling
of compression, then open to larger spaces with lofty ceilings. And
throughout there are moments of surprise and delight – the merging
of interior and exterior spaces, the introduction of natural light in
unexpected places, and the playful sculpting of elements that establish
an organic quality to the home.

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