A-K RENOVATION

This project consisted of the complete renovation of a 1931 bungalow in the Calgary community of Renfrew.

The original house was organized along the formal/informal or served/servant areas typical of the era. Living and dining spaces were located toward the front of the house and were physically separated via walls, doors, and a vestibule from the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom areas. 

The renovation tweaks the plan and threshold conditions to suit a less formal lifestyle and the desires of the clients to accommodate regular gatherings of friends and family. Two walls hemming in the previous kitchen and forming an awkward vestibule between the kitchen and bedrooms were removed, opening the workspace to the rest of the house. A bank of millwork running along the centre spine of the house now acts as a more permeable threshold between the public and private areas of the house. The increased porosity between the spaces, including a clerestory window between the main bedroom and dining space, and the strategic expansion of certain areas, such as the increased ceiling height in the small bathroom, allows the house to feel larger than its square footage would suggest.

Original details to the house that were able to be salvaged were restored and highlighted, including a brick chimney previously encased in plaster, three original windows that were salvageable, and oak and fir floors. In other areas, original construction details, such as the plaster and lath ceiling and walls, were exposed as design elements. Finally, the house was fully modernized, including new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, reinforced framing, new insulation and windows, and an updated kitchen and bathroom.