Flower beds and vegetable gardens cover the rooftops of this mixed-use home in Halifax, Canada, made by architect Susan Fitzgerald as a room for her to dwell and function in .
The King Street Dwell/Operate/Develop task is positioned in a northern district of the city and provides Fitzgerald and her household with three separate units – a principal residence, a studio flat, and an office for the architecture and growth businesses she and her spouse run.
The eclectic neighbourhood is house to a range of building sorts, like early-20th-century housing, a auto dealership and fix shop, and a recycling depot.
Fitzgerald aimed to strengthen this diversity by combining spaces for living and working.
“Inside the 7.six metre by thirty.5 metre lot, this undertaking contributes to the rich character of a neighborhood where the converging circumstances of cost-effective land, fast development and light sector propose an uncertain future,” said Fitzgerald in a statement.
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“Advocating approaches to preserve and enrich the diversity in the neighbourhood, this task increases density, neighborhood and liveability.”
The accommodation units are perched on best of the offices. A courtyard featuring a long narrow planting bed stands in amongst, while the rooftops of the buildings are covered in boxes filled with flowers and veggies.
Photograph by the architect
“Landscaped spaces are integrated all through the entire project to provide respite within the city and help the cultivation of veggies and flowers,” stated Fitzgerald.
“Wood decks, soffits and stairs unfold during the creating, making planters on the roof and flower beds at grade.”
Each of the three units has an entrance at ground floor degree. The way they connect implies they can broaden or contract into one another, in response to shifting conditions inside of the businesses or the family members.
At the front of the building, 1 entrance prospects to a staircase ascending to the principal apartment.
Another opens directly into the front office room, which is flanked by a glazed wall looking onto the street, whilst the 2nd office is found at the rear, beyond a shared driveway.
The two offices are linked by a corridor lined with glass on the side dealing with the courtyard. Its other wall incorporates hinged doors that open onto children’s bedrooms described by the architects as “compact private cubbies”.
Above the office at the front of the creating, a living and dining region cantilevers out somewhat over the entrance.
On the top floor is the master bedroom suite, which is set back somewhat to develop a double-height area seeking down on the dining area and the courtyard under.
Board-formed concrete was chosen as the main construction materials. This was combined with corrugated metal to give the building’s exterior an industrial aesthetic that complements the sheds and other operating spaces in the neighbourhood.
By arranging the distinct units in a line so they appear out onto the courtyard, Fitzgerald was able to meet constructing code rules stipulating minimum glazing on the building’s sides, even though ensuring loads of daylight reaches the interior.
“On a macro degree, this venture re-imagines the limiting internet site circumstances normally discovered in Halifax – namely, lengthy and narrow Victorian tons – and generates a new mixed-use urban typology based on a modern rendition of the side hall strategy,” the architect extra.
Photography is by Greg Richardson, unless stated otherwise.
Axonometric drawing 
Part plan 
Floor prepare 
Floor strategy Dezeen
