LG House by thirdstone inc. [^] Part 1

Gmkembel

I am intrigued by the glass doors opening between the outdoor and indoor dining rooms. I hope we hear more about them later.

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

If I may respond to your query about the bi-folding door system, it is the 3 Panel configuration in the “Aluminum Wood” series by LaCantina Doors. See attached image for exact configuration we used on the project. The interior wood finish is the vertical grain Douglas Fir . The product is solidly constructed and features dual-paned low-e tempered glass. After conducting a lot of research it was the best price available out of all the bifold door systems on the market .

Mikefilcor

Louis, the doors looks great; did you consider a screen option for this project?
I checked their website and I see it is now available, or was it a design issue?

thnx Mike

BradW

Hi Louis,

Like the overall layout and use of materials. In particular, the floor to wall connection is a nice modern detail – also the front yard is well done.

Happy Holidays

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

Thanks for the comment Mike. If you look closely at the interior photo, you’ll notice a thin ‘black’ line just above the door header. We’ve tucked a roller shade, equal to the length of the door opening, up above the ceiling line. We use the shade for privacy and glare but it also functions as our screen.

The biggest challenge i found in this project was accommodating the heating and plumbing which is why we ‘furred’ the ceiling. We took advantage of the drop in the ceiling by creating the roller shade pocket. (see detail)

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

Hi Brad – Thanks for the comments. The base board in this case is a recessed 1 1/2″ high cove. We established a datum at the base of the every window so that the cove runs continously (at the same height) under the walls and windows. John and Matthew addressed these details in more recent “Design Minute” discussions

Li-Na

Louis, would you be able to share a close-up shot of the baseboard detail?

Also, did you have to do anything special in terms of drainage to get the outdoor area the same level as the indoor living space?

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

Hi Li-Na – What i certainly like most about the outdoor room is that we managed to maintain the concrete slab at virtually the same level as the Dining Room. This provides easy access and great functionality between the two spaces.

For drainage we simply provided a mimimal slope towards the SE corner of the Courtyard. The 1.2m (4FT) overhang of the second floor also offers additional protection which allows you to have the doors open, even when raining.

The strategy was to keep the house as low to the finish grade as possible – even at the front – albeit a difference of a couple of risers . In order to achieve the flush grade at the courtyard, a second foundation wall was constructed along the property line – this had numerous benefits – it acted as a retaining wall to mitigate the grade change between the neighbouring property, it provided circulation between the front and back courtyards, and finally to accommodate basement windows along the south. The result looks like an oversized window well.

I trust the attached image(s) reveal this strategy clearly…

As for the baseboard detail I’m not sure yet if John/Matthew intend to discuss this but I’ll post a closeup image perhaps in the part 3

Anonymous

Hello Louis, is the property adjacent to the courtyard, an alley? And how high is the privacy fence that appears to be on top of the foundation wall at the property line.

You mentioned that accommodating heating was hard, what kind of heating did you end up with?

I love the design of this house and that it feels larger than what it is. The area on your website that links to your work says that it is under construction, I hope that is done soon so I can to see more of your work.

Thank you,

Oscar B. Morales

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

Hi Oscar – The fence that sits on top of the Retaining wall running along the house foundation is only a couple feet tall. The privacy wall along the courtyard however is the allowed height of 6 Feet. This is an infill lot so there are properties on each side of this site.

The heating system was a conventional high-efficient forced air. There were very few partitions so we had to drop ceilings over the Living Room and Dining Room. This was OK becauce it suited the more social activites that go on in these spaces. Even the back portion of the top Kitchen cabinets had to function as a plumbing/venting chase. The kitchen ceiling however jogged up to its normal 9′ ceiling height. See Part 2 for a photo of the Kitchen.

Ahhh yes, the dreaded website is still ‘under construction’. Some day it will get done…In the meantime if anyone is interested they can send me an email through the website and request an ePortfolio which showcases a lot of our recent work.

Li-Na

Thanks Louis, those pictures did indeed help clarify what you were saying.

I asked the question about drainage because I was wondering how that area would handle a heap of snow (or a sudden snow melt from a heap of snow!).

I too love adjoining indoor and outdoor spaces on the same level but I so rarely see them in our snowy climate that I was beginning to think it was Just Not Done (or maybe it’s also a building code thing).

Looking forward to learning about that neat baseboard detail, and possibly some explanation on how it was done in the next segment!

Terri

Hi Louis,
Very nice space in such a narrow condition. I once lived in an older 1 1/2 storey on a 25ft lot in North Edmonton some 30 yrs ago. If only that home could have been so bright and open!
Will a full floor plan be posted here? I’m curious about the second floor as it looks like the garage is a two-storey space.

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

Hello Terri,

Thanks for the comment. Being that you’re from Edmonton and that you also lived on a similar size lot, did you know that a 25′ wide is deemed ‘inadequate’ to build a Single Detached Dwelling, according to City of Edmonton’s Land Use Bylaw? How crazy is that!

A planning technician once used the words ‘sub-standard’ to describe the property – as if to suggest it’s not worth building something like this on such a narrow lot. In a sense, although perhaps unintentional, it was hurtful to hear them describe the property this way, because it implied that it wasn’t good enough for a family to live under such horrid conditions. *sarcasm*

I think it should be noted that this design proposal and subsequent Development Application was denied by the City of Edmonton on the grounds that the Site Width, Site Area and especially the connection between the main Dwelling and Garage required a variance. We filed an appeal and eventually were awarded a Building Permit with no conditions. In the end logic prevailed!…

As for the Second Floor Plan, John and Matthew might be addressing this in the next segment…

http://www.thirdstone.ca Louis Pereira

Hi Li-Na – There was in fact a heap of snow in the middle of the courtyard, especially with last year’s snowfall in Edmonton, but it never approached the Bi-fold doors due to the 4FT overhang – i think that’s key – even though there is positve drainage away from the threshold. The door system also allows you to open just one door for daily use. In the spring of 2011, the snow melted very quickly (south facing) and there were no issues.

Terri

Good for you for prevailing to build your home on this lot. It sounds like the City of Edmonton wants to “do away with” those narrow lots, which were obviously created during leaner times. Maybe your home will influence the city’s direction a little?
(BTW, I lived there for only 2 years. I’m a born West Coaster.)

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