Header: Birdhouse Media
Clad in shiny corrugated galvalume, Pocket Laneway House rises over a carport, partly propped by a V-configured steel column on helical piers. This structure’s eye-catching, treehouse-like massing is anything but arbitrary: by making minimal contact with the ground, the residence preserves the root health of a mature maple tree on this constrained site.
Choosing the team
The owners are a travel writer and a recently retired buffalo rancher, with two young children at home and one older child living independently. The couple originally selected Weiss Architecture + Urbanism to design their Toronto home, which occupies the street-facing portion of the same lot. They envisioned the main residence as a place that would adapt to accommodate the changing needs of their maturing kids, but also their own long-term ageing-in-place plans.
“In 1969, I was five. I watched every second of the lunar landing. The form of the laneway house was determined by various site factors, especially the desire to preserve the tree. But I think it ended up looking a little like a lunar lander from the Apollo era.”
Weiss A+U founding principal, Kevin Weiss, cites his space-age childhood as a source of inspiration for the laneway house’s aesthetic.
The new structure
From the outset, they also knew they wanted a laneway house on the property that could eventually become a carer’s residence, and they once again turned to Weiss Architecture + Urbanism to design it.
The cedar cladding on the carport’s underside and the vivid accent paint colours temper the structure’s retro-futuristic look, which was inspired by the client’s love of folk art.
