Roof of the world | The Press

A fire on the floor of the house he had just bought in Rosemère pushed a young couple to anticipate large-scale renovations. On the advice of the architecture firm Microclimat, the couple chose to transform the roof into a voluminous triangular space whose overflows shape family life.

Muriel Francoise
special collaboration

Bianca Lavoie-Pilote and Simon-Pierre Martel did not hesitate long when they visited, in 2017, an old-fashioned Rosemère house on a large lot with mature trees even if the articulation of the rooms was little convenient for a young family. “With all these trees, you couldn’t see the neighbors. We felt like we were in a chalet,” says the mother of three children aged 2, 4 and 6. This is what the building used to be before being extended to become a charming residence in the 1980s.

Montrealers, originally from Lac-Saint-Jean, were eager to reconnect with the pleasure of life outdoors. They planned to renovate the premises over time, without rushing. A fire on the floor of the house then rented, four months after their acquisition, changed their plans. Declared a “total loss”, it had to be rebuilt from top to bottom. It was to the Microclimat office that they turned to design an architecture more in harmony with their tastes and their needs.

Accent pieces

The couple dreamed of a refined house, open to the outside and friendly to receive family and friends. The Microclimat team proposed a promising concept: a triangular roof, a kind of canopy inspired by the surrounding trees, which would shelter the floor and cover terraces on three sides of the building.

A year and a half after the end of the work, the cedar terraces are used by the family as additional living rooms when the weather permits. “We missed being able to settle outside in Montreal,” says Bianca Lavoie-Pilote. When we invite friends over for dinner, thanks to a more accessible room from the kitchen, we can spend the evening outside. »

Another advantage of this oversized roof: despite its many windows, the ground floor benefits from soft indirect light. The cathedral ceiling also allows you to enjoy high ceilings in the bedrooms, bathrooms and the mezzanine relaxation area leading to a 200 ft terrace.^⁠2.

Always in a desire to blend the house into its environment, the walls of these rooms are clad in wood paneling like a large part of the roof. A nod also to the local architectural heritage and, in particular, to the original exterior cladding of the house. This detail helps to make the place, snow white, warmer and more relaxing. “We feel calmer, more serene”, confirms Bianca Lavoie-Pilote, who has the impression of being in the middle of the forest even if the road is not far away.

In immersion

Thanks to a walkway, the second floor overlooks an open area, perfect for the young family and its visitors. To make room for everyone’s activities, a huge plywood oak bookcase, in which a television has been inserted, allows a good part of the living room storage to be concentrated. The kitchen also has a wall dedicated to built-in cupboards.

With its large windows, the ground floor reinforces the link with nature at your fingertips. “I always feel like I’m in contact with her,” remarks Bianca Lavoie-Pilote. To better enjoy its benefits, she installed, with her husband, a whirlpool tub at the back of the house where they go once the children are in bed, summer and winter. “It allows us to take time for ourselves,” she says.

And the family will be able to count, from the spring, on a swimming pool. “With all the trees and the chirping of crickets, we don’t feel like we’re only half an hour from Montreal. There is even a fox that visits us, ”says Bianca Lavoie-Pilote, who also works with the Montreal firm Vivant, on the biodiversity of the land to reestablish endemic species and keep mosquitoes at bay when the good weather returns. .