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      Nivek Remas renovates founder's home to serve as its office space

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      Toronto studio Nivek Remas has renovated its founder’s home to create an office for the studio based on changes in working conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

      Early in 2020, the Canadian interior design studio led by Kevin Chan and Samer Shaath was poised to lease new office space for its expanding business. However, these plans were halted by pandemic restrictions.
      Nivek Remas renovated one of its founder’s home for the studio officesThroughout the lockdowns that impacted Canadians and the subsequent work-from-home standards, the office sought ways to work together in the future, without going to an office full-time.
      “[We] quickly recognized the shift in what defines an office and the culture that was evolving from those blurred lines,” Nivek Remas’ Kevin Chan told Dezeen.
      The home was converted to have spaces for work and leisureThe duo decided to renovate one of their homes to serve as an office for the young firm, which was established in 2016.

      The new studio was completed in 2021 and is located in an area of Toronto called Cabbagetown, just east of the city centre.
      The studio plays into the work-from-home trendIt occupies 1,250 square feet (116 square metres) of a standalone house in a residential neighbourhood.
      The completed studio has a main office area, conference rooms, as well a kitchen and a dining nook.
      The ground floor has eight workstationsVisitors enter the office along a green hallway accented with glass wall sconces. By the entrance, there is a powder room and a coat closet.
      The ground floor has eight workstations laid in an open-concept configuration. Most of the furniture is black, including the desktops and chairs.
      The space functions as a workstation for the interior design studioAt the front of the house, a kitchenette and breakfast nook look out onto the street. The designers used a darker palette of greens and olive tones in the kitchenette area to contrast the workstations, which are painted white and filled with light and plants.
      An open staircase leads to the upper floor, where the team included a new conference room that offers some privacy from the main work area. It includes a long table and a couch, for more informal gatherings.
      Dark greens were used for some walls and detailsOther amenities of this home-and-office combination include a gym and bike storage for commuters located in the basement.
      The founders of Nivek Remas said that although the new office space helps collaboration, they balance out the time spent there with remote work.

      Ten tranquil garden studios designed for work and play

      The studio said that it has embraced a fully hybrid model and that the office space allows for “creative gathering”.
      “We see this as our studio for at least another five years or until we outgrow the space,” Chan said. “It’s a true representation of our studio work and ethos but also a true representation of the times and how casually defined offices are now.
      “Corporate offices are trying to become more WFH and more casual with coffee bars, and table tennis or gaming break out areas, but we’re approaching it from the other direction and making a residential space more studio,” he added.

      Many architects and designers embraced the work-from-home trend, building out new spaces for themselves during the pandemic.
      Other examples include a coastal Maine cabin that 30X40 Design Workshop completed as its office, and the Beverly Hills home of Gerhard Heusch, who built himself an underground office using concrete.
      The photography is by Scott Norsworthy.
      Project credits:Interior design: Nivek RemasConstruction: Shape Building GroupMillwork: Ell-Rod Architectural Millwork

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      Toronto beach house by Odami resolves “contradictory” context between waterfront and city

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      Canadian studio Odami has completed the interiors of a split-level home in Toronto, using light tones that nod to the nearby beaches of Lake Ontario.

      The Beaches House was completed for a client living near the city’s waterfront, which is lined with long stretches of sandy beaches.
      Odami’s design for the interiors drew inspiration from typical beach homes, while also offering a contemporary living environment in Canada’s largest city.
      The Beaches House takes cues from typical beach homes”Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood presents a peculiar condition within the city,” said the studio, led by Aránzazu González Bernardo and Michael Norman Fohring.
      “To experience the area is to seamlessly transition between a natural and calm landscape, and an urban and lively atmosphere,” they added.

      The split-level home is located in TorontoOdami’s interior palette features typical beach-inspired finishes, such as textured wall panels of varying widths, sand-hued countertops, and plenty of tropical plants throughout the home.
      Throughout the living space, light wooden floors and creamy tones offer a tranquil environment.
      A skylight illuminates the steel-and-wood staircase”Responsible for the interior design, our goal was to create a home which would reflect this contradictory context: a house which would belong as much to the city as it would to a beach far removed from it,” Odami explained.
      At the centre of the house, a skylight illuminates the steel-and-wood staircase, helping to brighten the interiors and draw visitors upstairs as they move through the home.

      Oak staircase links split levels of Canadian house by Omar Gandhi

      “The central staircase, which winds its way up through the split levels of the house, was detailed with thin steel pickets and floating treads, continuing the rhythmic language of the paneling,” said the designers.
      This calmer palette contrasts some darker materials that were used in circulation spaces, such as a grey stone in the entrance hallway, and a bathroom where the walls and floors are lined with a dark terrazzo.
      Odami added dark terrazzo elements to the bathroom”In the bedrooms and bathrooms of the last floor, the sequence comes to rest, as light, repetitive elements give way to moments of stillness, calm, and dense materiality,” the studio explained.
      Odami was founded in 2017 in Toronto. Other projects from the Canadian studio include a collection of wooden furniture that was crafted from the same dying tree, and a restaurant where the walls are lined with roughly troweled plaster.
      The darker tones contrast with the home’s lighter elementsAlso in Toronto, the Winter Stations design competition recently unveiled the pavilions for its 2022 edition.
      The photography is by Doublespace Photography.

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      Warm beige hues update Résidence Esplanade in Montreal

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      Design pair Michael Godmer and Catherine Lavallée created a sequence of meditative, beige-tone spaces in the partial renovation of this home in Montreal. Résidence Esplanade is situated in Mile End, a trendy area of Montreal host to various eateries, coffee bars and vintage stores.
      The property was originally built as two separate apartments, but five years ago was converted into the two-floor house it stands as today.

      The colour beige has been applied throughout Résidence Esplanade

      Much of the property’s unique decor details were eliminated during the renovation works. Its new owner, a young professional who collects furniture and works of art, tasked Michael Godmer and Catherine Lavallée with designing a slightly more distinctive interior.
      “We wanted to add identity to the house’s soul,” Godmer told Dezeen.

      Michael Godmer and Mathieu Turgeon renovate their Montreal design studio and home

      He and Lavallée have, for now, overhauled the home’s upstairs landing, study and one of its bedrooms – the rest of the rooms will be worked on at a later date.

      Walls in the bedroom have been loosely limewashed
      The three revamped areas have been completed in various shades of beige, a colour that the design pair says is “reminiscent of the soft winter light” that they saw on the first day they visited Résidence Esplanade.
      In the bedroom, walls have been loosely rendered with lime paint that leaves behind an eggshell-coloured finish.
      A tall wardrobe inlaid with cane panels has been set towards the rear of the room, while a white-oak sideboard has been set beneath the window so that the owner can display personal trinkets or ornaments.
      In the corner of the room is also a blush-pink slouch chair.

      In the study, a work desk has been set into a niche in the wall
      Limewashed surfaces continue into the home’s study. An oak work desk has been built within a niche in the wall, accompanied by a simple black tub chair and a spherical pendant lamp that dangles from the ceiling.
      Textural interest is added by the corrugated panelling that has been set at the back of the niche.
      Finally, fluted glass doors with buttermilk-coloured framing have been fitted in front of each of the rooms on the first floor.

      The back wall of the niche is corrugated
      Godmer and Lavallée say they plan to apply a similarly calming aesthetic throughout the rest of the home when they start the second phase of the renovation.
      “We are also looking at adding a mezzanine and a rooftop terrace for [the owner] to enjoy summer days having views of Mont-Royal mountain,” added Godmer.

      Fluted glass doors have been installed on the home’s first floor
      Résidence Esplanade is one of several homes that Michael Godmer has designed in his home city of Montreal. Others include Elmwood Residence, a Victorian-era townhouse in the Outremont neighbourhood which Godmer updated by creating a sequence of monochromatic living spaces.
      Earlier this year, Godmer also made over the Montreal home that he shares with his partner, Mathieu Turgeon and their two poodles. Inside, it boasts fresh white walls and an array of wooden fixtures and furnishings.
      Photography is courtesy of Catherine Lavallée.
      Project credits:
      Design: Michael Godmer and Catherine LavalléeConstruction: Frédéric LalondeCabinetmaking: Il Fabrique

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      Michael Godmer and Mathieu Turgeon renovate their Montreal design studio and home

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      Designers Michael Godmer and Mathieu Turgeon’s home in Montreal features contemporary Danish pieces alongside oak, terracotta and marble. Located in the city’s Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood, the Victorian-era brick home was renovated by the couple to accommodate a design studio and residence for them and their two poodles. Completed in 1885, the residence has a slender width of 3.1 […] More

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      StudioAC designs Toronto house “disguised as a gallery”

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      Canadian architectural practice StudioAC has taken cues from the work of late American designer Donald Judd for fittings inside this Toronto home. Called Shallmar Residence, the two-storey home was renovated by the local studio for a family of five with an impressive collection of Canadian art. It dates back to the 1950s and is located […] More

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      Ancerl Studio transforms Toronto house into “modern yet warm” Euclid Residence

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      Canadian firm Ancerl Studio has teamed stark white-painted brickwork walls, weathered wooden beams and black steel windows in this renovated house in Toronto. The Euclid Residence renovation was designed to modernise the early 20th-century property while keeping elements that allude to its history, and also provide ample space for entertaining guests. “The client’s brief was […] More