Behind the facade | The Press

With its greenhouse planted on the street side, the 1980s house chosen by a young couple in Saint-Lambert betrayed the taste of its time. A rereading of the premises by the architecture and design office Ménard Dworkind, betting on an opening to the outside and play on materials, gave it a new lease of life.

Without COVID-19, the agenda of Guillaume Ménard and David Dworkind would have a completely different profile. While the designer and the architect had just joined their talents to form the Ménard Dworkind office (MRDK) and had distinguished themselves with restaurant decors with polished aesthetics, the photos of the Hinterhouse, a minimalist wooden chalet designed three years earlier by the architect in the Laurentians, made dream city dwellers cloistered at home. Quickly, requests for residential projects poured in and cemented the collaboration of the two creatives.

Emilie Geoffroy and Antoine Morrissette-Boileau, who were preparing to welcome their second daughter, came knocking on the door of their studio for the renovation of a four-sided house in Saint-Lambert. Unloved by its neighbors because of a dilapidated greenhouse on the street side, the building, built in 1981 by architect Frank McGrath, presented beautiful volumes and interesting details to exploit.

recomposed past

Bad luck, the very expensive work to bring it up to the City’s regulatory standards forced MRDK to rebuild a new home. But the founding idea of ​​the project has remained intact. It is the fireplace mantel, with a design inspired by that of its predecessor, which today guides the circulation in the space by extending thanks to a staircase with organic curves with an integrated desk on the mezzanine from which one can can admire a double height living room. And the materials and colors of the past have been reintroduced by means of a whitewashed wall plaster and terracotta tiles.

This nostalgic penchant and this obsession for materials have taken over the open kitchen with a travertine island facing a storage area hidden behind sliding panels in the same stone. “A little nod to our expertise in the field of catering”, says Guillaume Ménard. A door allows access to this welcome secret space, especially during visits, where household appliances and food reserves have taken place. This large square encompassing the fireplace and a powder room is also bordered by a library leading to a reading corner.

In scouts

And the greenhouse? Without historical value, since it did not appear in the original plans of the house, it was dismantled in favor of a full-height window in the living room. Its concrete foundations also inspired the development of an English courtyard in the basement, hitherto ignored and strewn with gravel, which now houses a bedroom, a bathroom, an office, a games room and a TV corner. The same idea has been reproduced on the garden side, where a small swimming pool, accessible from a beautiful cedar terrace, has also been dug.

Raising the metal roof made it possible to take advantage of another lost corner, that of the attic, whose low ceiling and difficult access through the garage discouraged any desire for exploration. Its narrow windows have been complemented by a large skylight that has provided the master bedroom with a magnificent bathroom with a 14 ft high ceiling. The windows, overlooking the treetops, preserve the couple’s privacy and invite calm. “As they are to the south, the light enters to the back of the room,” says David Dworkind.

With his accomplice, he took care of the details of this first large-scale residential project. The oak bed thus extends to the ground to house bedside tables and wardrobes in the same wood species, and MRDK wall sconces dot the room away from the comings and goings of the street.