Overlooking a beautiful river valley in Chelsea, Quebec, the Chelsea Hill House is a small residence by Kariouk Associates. The house was created to cater to the lifestyles and habits of two generations that occupy it.
The first thing that strikes me about this house is the exterior cladding. The design team used a building block as simple and industrial as concrete, in an unorthodox yet refreshingly creative pinwheel pattern that generates a playful facade. The pattern is reminiscent of a basket-weave and facilitates the play of light and shadow across it, adding another layer of visual intrigue to the building’s veneer.
Unlike most two-storey homes, this residence doesn’t have any main living spaces on the ground floor. Instead, this floor is reserved for the owner’s teenagers and houses their bedrooms, a living room, a TV lounge, and even a storage space for their sports equipment.
The “bunker” (as it is often jokingly called) is constructed with the expectations that it will be noisier and messier, which is set into the landscape with smaller windows and possessing features like bare concrete radiant heated floors.
Tying the two levels together is a double-height corridor that starts from the entrance of the house. This space leads to a staircase that communicates the differences between the floors right away. Right from the stairway, you notice the introduction of richer spaces. It opens up to higher ceilings, increased natural lighting, and a more sophisticated upper level.
Even from the outside, the difference in glazing between the levels is noticeable.
The upper floor contains formal spaces; the living and dining rooms, kitchen, as well as the master bedroom and bathrooms.
The atmosphere is more serene and elegant on this floor. With higher ceilings also comes paneled dark timber floors, glass balustrades and the stunning views of the property’s bucolic landscape.
This floor also has two bridges that cross over the first-floor corridor. One of these bridges is actually a suspended bathtub sunken into the floor and separated from the adjacent living spaces by a frosted glass screen.
Accessible from the master bedroom and with a direct view overlooking the valley, this bathtub (below) is one of the few indulgences in this project that maintained a sense of modesty.
The architects at Kariouk Associates see limitations more like catalysts for their design process. In this case, I think the architects saw the modesty of the budget not as a budgetary restriction, but rather as a challenge to innovate!
Kariouk Associates have created something that stands out amongst other houses of its kind! If I would have grown up in a home like this when I was a teen, I may never want to moved out!
Please take a look at more wonderful photography from PhotoLux Studio
And here you can check out more creative design solutions from Kariouk Associates.
Also read this Houseporn article about the Westboro Home, another Kariouk offering.
Researched and Written by Yinoluwa Olowofoyeku, Undergraduate Student of Architectural Design at the University of Toronto
