63 Degree House | RZLBD (Atelier Reza Aliabadi)

INTRODUCTION
This residential building draws upon three issues (social, environmental, and economical) whose collaboration encourages a shift from the existing arbitrary urban reality to a dynamic urban fabric. This building is developed from a simple cubical mass, which is ultimately formed by the implications of aforementioned issues. Environmental responsiveness and sustainability are respected by implementing two extruding triangular masses; one with 63-degree angle on the main façade and the other deterring the otherwise conventional flat roof. The triangular extruding mass on the façade is designed to enable precise alignment with the south in order to receive the most amount of natural light, allowing for a greenhouse situation. The transparent section of the façade has been designed to distort the actuality of the building’s scale and produce a spatial complexity by violating the autonomy and simulated logic of scale. The project’s economical aspect allows today’s builders and developers to experiment with design, and to once again integrate “good design” in low-cost housing projects. Through designs that challenge the conventions of our built environment, citizens will become more aware, and eager to imagine and further improve their neighborhoods while considering their societal responsibilities. Overall, this house is a product of architectural considerations and socio-cultural sensitivities; re-assigning “good design” as belonging to everyone and everywhere.

CONTEXT
In the persistent horizon of Convention, a pause/break conditions the spectator’s mind to reconsider. This building subtly re-orients the street and assigns a pivotal point that serves as an identifier for the neighborhood. No longer is the street “lost” between all other streets, instead becoming the very reality that consigns definition and character to the neighborhood. Through its overall transparency, this house curates a constant dialogue with its immediate surroundings; with people, houses, seasons, and light. This house invites the community to initiate an awareness toward their living environment; both inside and outside. In this way, the people of the community, through cooperation, create a dynamic community where issues such as energy consumption, security, and psychological hygiene can be addressed and communal life cloths itself with such buoyancy, which potentially in a larger scale can result in a healthier city.


OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this project was to allow for the most possible space -both perceptual and actual- by implementing a sense of lightness and circulation transparency, and at the same time making it affordable. There are openings and voids throughout the house, both inside and out, enabling space and light to navigate with minimal disconnect. From the exterior to the interior, the openings create a system of visual interconnections to humanize the space. Although this project is an infill, through systematizing and compartmentizing the configuration of spaces, one is encouraged to navigate throughout the spaces with outmost liberty. This has been made possible with the “open concept” design of the interior. This serves multiple purposes: being an element of design, making the project affordable while at the same time making the spaces lighter and more accessible. The façade, due to its transparency, serves as the element that allows for the greenhouse situation, maximum inside-outside interaction, and the perceptual elongation of the interior space(s). This project is an affordable solution for contemporary life style actualized in the dense urban fabric of downtown Toronto, suggesting the opportunity of urban-lift and the recovery of urban-fatigue.