Brooklawn Residence

A bungalow reimagined

Originally published in the Globe and Mail on Oct. 29th, 2009

Architect Paul Dowsett wraps up our tour of a fantastic Bluffs-area renovation/rebuild with an apology: "I'm finding these interviews harder because all of this stuff comes so naturally to me I keep thinking I'll forget something," he says with a laugh.

The "stuff" in question is sustainable, Mr. Dowsett's stock-and-trade. In this re-imagining of a small, one-storey bungalow on Scarborough's Brooklawn Ave. into a two-storey, medium-sized home, the architect has implemented many features found at his own residence (featured here this past June) such as New Brunswick-made argon-filled wood windows, radiant floors and a highly reflective Galvalume roof with a solar panel to heat the hot water supply.

Homeowners Margaret and Peter Kristensen, however, are reminded every day that the environmentally responsible choices they've made were the right ones. "It's just so comfortable and the air is so nice," says Ms. Kristensen.

It ought to be. In the basement utility room is the heat recovery ventilator, which expels stale internal air for fresh, but not before it extracts existing heat. Nearby, the many home automation units that control lighting, heating, music and security allow the homeowners to interact with the home from anywhere in the world via computer. With a nod to future legislation, there's a sprinkler system but, unlike the old type that holds rusty water in the pipes, this one is constantly refreshed every time a tap is turned on.

Yes, parts of this project are complicated, but others were a no-brainer, like location and design. The Kristensens purchased the tidy little home in 1972 and raised a family here, but, as empty nesters, found the many extended family get-togethers were difficult to shoehorn in; since they loved the area, the solution was to expand.

However, they'd already decided to buck the neighbourhood trend of teardown-and-replace with a "cookie-cutter" builder's home in favour of something "different." The couple had seen Mr. Dowsett's work (then a principal at Scott Morris Architects, now owner of sustainABLE) and thought, rightly so, that he'd be capable of a renovation/reconstruction that blended in with the existing mid-twentieth-century housing stock while also being a product of the early twenty-first.

"You start not knowing what you want; it was really Paul who influenced the style of the house because he knew we wanted to stay sympathetic to the area," remembers Ms. Kristensen. "It's a very emotional thing when you do this."

So, keeping emotion and context in mind, Mr. Dowsett looked to Atomic Ranch magazine--which celebrates the humble 1950s ranch style aesthetic--for inspiration rather than his own 1915 green reno near Danforth and Jones avenues. He found it in a 1953 development of L-shaped plans in Lincoln, Nebraska called "The Trend Homes" by Strauss Brothers Company.

"So you get these rooms where you get light from three sides, and that's happening in all parts of the house," he explains. Most renovators, he adds, would just "tack a big projecting box" onto the back of the home without considering light penetration or the way the sun affects enjoyment of the patio. By creating an L-shape, the patio slid into the space where the two sections meet: "At noon, in the high summer sun, [the patio] will be in shade, which is more important, and then in the evening when the sun is over there," he points to the sky, "there gets to be some sunshine at dinner time."

Inside, evidence of this simple technique for harnessing light abounds. In the foyer, light from the frosted glass door and big window shakes hands with photons pouring into the long window over the sink in the fire engine red galley kitchen, which melts into more light along the living room wall; finally, the west-facing living room windows at the back of the house pick up the slack. In the dining room--now big enough to hold over 20 diners if need be--there is light on three sides also.

Upstairs, light penetrates from opening skylights (which close automatically when it rains) and additional large windows. As a bonus, the long strip window over the bed frames a new view of Lake Ontario. High, peaked ceilings with fans keep warm air pushed down.

In addition to things sustainable, Mr. Dowsett's design includes things sensitive to the homeowner's personal needs, such as the three fireplaces and a two-person steam shower in the ensuite. A small powder room on the main floor near the dining area has an antechamber that provides storage and peace of mind for guests: "A big thing of mine is that you shouldn't go out of the powder room directly back into the party; you've got a little bit of time to get yourself back together before you're back to the dining room," he explains. The street façade pays tribute to the original design via a front porch that carves away the south corner. "It was a big hit with the neighbours that we kept that porch," says Ms. Kristensen.

Overall, this is a house that both pays tribute to what was once there yet doesn't cram in features that "push it out of the market of its neighbourhood," says Mr. Dowsett. "I think that more renovations should be done like this in these midcentury neighbourhoods.

"Sensible plus sensitive equals sustainable," he finishes. "It's almost an equation."