A Gallery-Style Living Room with Raw Edges

What the clients had: a 116-year-old Period Revival home near Casa Loma. What they wanted: a “modern art gallery” aesthetic. Enter Audax Architecture into a situation where duelling needs had to be met: the homeowners’ checklist of wants – including one large family space that connects the living, dining and kitchen together while opening to the rear yard and covered terrace – and the city’s requirement to maintain the front half of the heritage building.

Inside, Audax Architecture aligned the main axis of the living room, dining area and kitchen lengthwise along the main rear wall of the ground floor facing the garden. A concrete wall marks the junction between heritage property and contemporary addition in this house near Spadina and St. Clair. Responding to the homeowners’ desire for a raw, gallery-style space, Audax left the material in its natural state. “Rather than spend a lot of money to make it look finished,” principal Gianpiero Pugliese says, “we let it be true to what it was. All the imperfections and honesty of construction allowed it to become a great backdrop for the open-concept room.”

Baseboards and custom air diffusers in black metal echo the finish of the suspended Fireorb fireplace, which, along with a high-piled rug from Y&Co and Montauk chaise, warms up the space.

In the family room, favourite artifacts are displayed on a wall-spanning custom storage unit created by Commute Design. A slit of a window intersects this to introduce southern light without sacrificing privacy. Black metal panelling behind some of the shelves helps visually balance the dark mass of the television, while walnut trim coordinates with the nearby dining table – a perfect match. The dynamic light fixture is also by Commute.

For more info about Audax Architecture please visit the firm website.