211071 Residence
LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA
011217 | 1605
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Project Type:
Single Family Residence (Urban Fringe)Client:
WithheldBudget (CAD$):
WithheldSize / Program:
7,469 sq. ft. / 693 sq. m.Building Design / Engineering / Energy Modelling:
010110 | Architecture + Urbanism with Design Shop (Winnipeg), Sigma Rho Squared, SMP Engineering & + 4ElementsServices:
Programming, Site Planning, Architecture, Interiors + Sustainable DesignGeneral Contractor:
Touchstone HomesProject Date / Status:
Completed
The project comprises the development of a new multi-generational single detached home for a family of six situated at the east urban fringe of Lethbridge, Alberta. The project’s numbered moniker, 211071, is the county road address where the home resides on nearly 15 acres of semi-rural land where the family has lived for several years. As a result, the progressing construction of the new residence has unfolded before family occupant’s eyes, through living room fenestration facing the build site.
Modern family life interacts not only on the breadth and quality of relationships we participate (in social, recreational and intimate exchanges) but also in how effectively our settings parlay meaningful attributes of community, place and program into cognitive moments of “connective serendipity”: as you simply leave your bedroom and navigate processional dwelling spaces, eat and commune with family or contemplate privately under a starry firmament or ephemeral prairie sky.
The substance of the 211071 residence addresses patterns of connectedness and tension - between encroaching urbanism and pastoral living, dynamic individual and family relationships, and in facilitating the interactions that support family ties to this place of habitation with daily frequency.
The existing acreage site contains an existing two storey dwelling (to be relocated), several small outbuildings (a chicken coop, storage sheds), a recreational dug-out pond and a mix of berms and open areas. Approximately 8 acres of land to the west are pastured for weed control. Various deciduous trees line the west side of the entrance road loosely dividing the grazing land from domestic and other uses. Additional deciduous and coniferous trees punctuate the gravel drive lane which loops in front of the existing dwelling and returns back to the access road.
The new residence is organized as a series single storey wings in a hub-and-spoke plan grouped according to domestic uses. The plan form therefore creates unique outdoor spaces which are designed to accommodate daily living through seasonal and climatic changes, such as Lethbridge's wind and winter season. The plan accommodates aging-in-place strategies, allowing the owners to contract and expand uses as family circumstances change with the provisions for a live-in caregiver or the accommodation of parents. Much of the building footprint is founded on a conditioned crawlspace, with only one wing containing a full basement. Wings of the home can be closed from view when entertaining and the noisier activities of family life can occur simultaneously. All circulation routes, many aligned with the central hub, end in prescribed views connecting occupants to the landscape surrounding the home as they go about the everyday. The residence's circulation is purposely dislocated to create threshold cues of privacy compressed in contrast to vaulted common areas that heighten the experience of the entrance way bisecting the plan. This entrance hall guides occupants through to southern views of the property into the gathering hub or heart of the central living spaces and grand kitchen island meeting point. Several spaces reach further outward under cover of timber frame to facilitate outdoor activities including protected pocket gardens and patios for smaller gatherings and conversation and an outdoor spa, rinse shower and sunning area.
Despite the degree of fenestration for daylight and views, the envelope of the residence is a higher performance design assembly. The whole building is modelled to perform 23% better than today's energy code requirements. The residence is likely to perform much higher with key HVAC, heat recovery, controls and other heat/cooling system distribution strategies employed via the crawlspace and subfloor itself which improve performance further.
The site offers further complimentary uses for numerous small projects envisioned on the acreage during all seasons. A precinct of accessory buildings is anticipated to be constructed in later a phase.
The project began mobilizing for construction in early July, 2018 with Touchstone Homes and was more recently submitted to the Canadian Architect annual Award of Excellence for consideration.
Photographs: One One Ten & Jeff Hinman Photography (Lethbridge)
Modern family life interacts not only on the breadth and quality of relationships we participate (in social, recreational and intimate exchanges) but also in how effectively our settings parlay meaningful attributes of community, place and program into cognitive moments of “connective serendipity”: as you simply leave your bedroom and navigate processional dwelling spaces, eat and commune with family or contemplate privately under a starry firmament or ephemeral prairie sky.
The substance of the 211071 residence addresses patterns of connectedness and tension - between encroaching urbanism and pastoral living, dynamic individual and family relationships, and in facilitating the interactions that support family ties to this place of habitation with daily frequency.
The existing acreage site contains an existing two storey dwelling (to be relocated), several small outbuildings (a chicken coop, storage sheds), a recreational dug-out pond and a mix of berms and open areas. Approximately 8 acres of land to the west are pastured for weed control. Various deciduous trees line the west side of the entrance road loosely dividing the grazing land from domestic and other uses. Additional deciduous and coniferous trees punctuate the gravel drive lane which loops in front of the existing dwelling and returns back to the access road.
The new residence is organized as a series single storey wings in a hub-and-spoke plan grouped according to domestic uses. The plan form therefore creates unique outdoor spaces which are designed to accommodate daily living through seasonal and climatic changes, such as Lethbridge's wind and winter season. The plan accommodates aging-in-place strategies, allowing the owners to contract and expand uses as family circumstances change with the provisions for a live-in caregiver or the accommodation of parents. Much of the building footprint is founded on a conditioned crawlspace, with only one wing containing a full basement. Wings of the home can be closed from view when entertaining and the noisier activities of family life can occur simultaneously. All circulation routes, many aligned with the central hub, end in prescribed views connecting occupants to the landscape surrounding the home as they go about the everyday. The residence's circulation is purposely dislocated to create threshold cues of privacy compressed in contrast to vaulted common areas that heighten the experience of the entrance way bisecting the plan. This entrance hall guides occupants through to southern views of the property into the gathering hub or heart of the central living spaces and grand kitchen island meeting point. Several spaces reach further outward under cover of timber frame to facilitate outdoor activities including protected pocket gardens and patios for smaller gatherings and conversation and an outdoor spa, rinse shower and sunning area.
Despite the degree of fenestration for daylight and views, the envelope of the residence is a higher performance design assembly. The whole building is modelled to perform 23% better than today's energy code requirements. The residence is likely to perform much higher with key HVAC, heat recovery, controls and other heat/cooling system distribution strategies employed via the crawlspace and subfloor itself which improve performance further.
The site offers further complimentary uses for numerous small projects envisioned on the acreage during all seasons. A precinct of accessory buildings is anticipated to be constructed in later a phase.
The project began mobilizing for construction in early July, 2018 with Touchstone Homes and was more recently submitted to the Canadian Architect annual Award of Excellence for consideration.
Photographs: One One Ten & Jeff Hinman Photography (Lethbridge)
PROJECT TEAM
