While cool, 30 storeys can't hold a candle to three.
Standing on a third-floor balcony, shoulder-to-shoulder with the streetlights and hydro poles, you own the street: The super-cool captain of an urban ship steering through a sea of asphalt.
Well, that's what it's like where Dundas West curves and coolly slices the top off of Roncesvalles Avenue, anyway, because that's where you'll find superkül inc., architect.
Once a beauty parlour, more recently a shabby two-storey domicile with heavy drapes in the window, 2208 Dundas St. West has been made over into sleek, three-storey proof — with balconies — that small, "underutilized" buildings can do double-duty as live/work units.
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"They represent a significant amount of city fabric," says superkül principal Margaret Graham, "and in the whole context of developing the city in a more sustainable way, that plays into it."
To wit: In the basement, superkül's boardroom and reference library, staff kitchenette, storage and utilities; on the ground floor, working alongside Ms. Graham in the office is husband Andre D'Elia (he founded superkül in 2002) and four staff; on the second and newly built third floor, Mr. D'Elia and Ms. Graham's tastefully appointed pad.
All that usefulness squeezed out of a little nondescript building that most would have passed up, even at the bargain price of $273,000, which is what the couple paid for it in December, 2005.
It's a fitting space for this up-and-coming boutique architecture firm, responsible for projects as diverse as a winery, a nightclub, exquisite single-family homes and the new headquarters of St. Joseph Media (in association with Teeple Architects).
The building sits at gritty ground level yet floats above the eclectic corner because of high style rendered in Roman brick and horizontal cedar boards, dialoguing more with the Starbucks across the street than its immediate neighbour, a psychic.
Inside the ground-floor office — clean, white and efficient — there's a view via mammoth windows of a delicate little rear courtyard, enclosed by a new two-storey outbuilding instead of the "dilapidated" old garage that was there before.
"This had been asphalt and there was an emergency stair coming down from the second floor that landed right there," Ms. Graham says, pointing to an area with pea gravel and baby trees. "It was really pretty bleak out there, although we had a few good barbecues."
It's all about focusing employee attention toward controlled calm at the rear rather than the frenetic streetscape in front.
However, on the second floor, the opposite is true. Where there were two small windows at the front, Mr. D'Elia and Ms. Graham have welcomed the sights of Roncesvalles Village right into their living room via one big one.
"My dad, when he comes over, sits in that chair and just watches people go by," Ms. Graham offers. "It's kind of like a piazza because it's actually a fairly busy corner."
It was a conscious decision to make the living space markedly different from the office. The dark wood flooring and the roof beams — exposed when the old ceiling was removed — make it "a little more domestic," Ms. Graham says, as does artwork by French-Canadian Jean-Pierre Larocque and photography by architectural photographer Tom Arban.
The domestic approach carries over into the third-floor addition, which tucks in at either end to allow for two balconies. A high front balcony wall screens out the chaos and delivers a peaceful view of treetops and sky for the master bedroom. A fascinating view of messy alleyways, a sea of parking for a strip mall and the industrial buildings of Sterling Avenue to the northeast are offered up at the rear. Materials are basic and uncomplicated, the result, Mr. D'Elia says, of considering cost, schedule and "also understanding who's doing the work [and] the skills that they have."
The simplicity is deceptive, however. With talented designers like these (they both worked at the leading firm of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg), even simple materials take on an elegant quality, and the 1,300-square-foot residence feels much larger.
"In our minds, you can make great architecture that doesn't cost a lot of money as long as you've got the spatial relationships going really well," Ms. Graham explains. "When you get to the finer materials and the finer detailing, it's almost gravy."
They've even built the possibility of the firm's expansion into the renovation. Once the ground floor is full (it can hold two more employees), there's the option of using either the backyard building or the living/dining area on the second floor.
In the latter case, the couple would find another place to live, then simply add a wall and rent out the 1-1/2-floor apartment.
So much juice squeezed out of such humble fruit. And while superkül may be exploring uncharted territory on this little urban ship, the asphalt ocean of Roncesvalles Village (and similar ones such as the Junction, the Danforth or Leslieville) might get pretty crowded before long.
"In terms of changing demographics or live/work patterns, this represents a really interesting model for a lot of people," Ms. Graham says. "In two-income families where you have some kids, it means that the childcare thing can be a little easier."
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