Designed to incite curiosity and embrace the landscape, What Remains to be Seen aspires to be an architectural object commensurate with the extensive art collection it was specified to house. 

Our clients desired a modestly sized home that would double as an exhibition space for their contemporary artworks. The interiors are defined by soaring voids, strategic apertures, and walls for display. One is greeted by a double-height atrium space that sits beneath a series of skylights that create a sawtooth roof profile above and bathe the entrance below in natural light. This vertical cavity runs parallel to the open-riser stair, visually connecting the first and second floors without disclosing the second-storey program, gesturing at what lies just out of sight.

A natural lighting strategy, complemented by soft artificial illumination throughout the core of the home, was critical to the success of a design that seeks to mitigate the impact of UV light on the artworks. Indirect daylight filters in from the skylights and floor-to-ceiling glazing at the rear of the living room. The sliding glass doors frame immersive views of the backyard, turning the landscape into a living canvas for quiet contemplation or an intimate outdoor experience fringed by ferns and trees.

The principal bedroom and separate office spaces on the second floor feature carefully detailed millwork as well as integrated lighting to impart a sense of warmth and serenity. The top-lit wardrobes cast a glow across the bedroom ceiling, revealing the subtle textures of the white oak panelling while guiding the eye to the room’s secondary spaces — a generous walk-in closet and dressing area. 

Occupying a gently sloping site populated by heritage black oak trees, the house engages with nature through deliberate architectural and landscape strategies. Facing the street, the main open-plan office at the top of the stairs is adjacent to a sheltered terrace — a large void that opens up to the tree canopy overhead — where the couple can enjoy the sunlit sky or the sparkling stars above. A sunken courtyard terrace admits ample daylight into the basement level where the custom oak millwork provides the functional backdrop for a large library that also serves as a guest suite, thanks to a cleverly integrated Murphy Bed.

A container for art and living, What Remains to be Seen encourages discovery and releases the imagination. Distinct architectural gestures — the sculpting of space with light, the extensive use of wood, and the integration of building and landscape — represent an ethos of doing “just enough” to achieve a sense of constantly unfolding possibility.

Images: A-Frame Studio