The Bernier-Thibault home was designed by Canadian architect Paul Bernier. Located in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood of Montreal, Canada, the existing secluded townhouse was renovated and expanded by the architect to accommodate his family of four. The house is in Montreal, on a densely built block in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood. An extension and a transformation of the house had to be made to allow for a family of four. Two rooms had to be added, one for the kids and one for the adults. The house also had to be rethought to make it a coherent project in its spirit and materiality. We wanted to create a house filled with natural light, appeasing, and thought with the day-to-day life in mind. So we had to extend the house and preserve the quality of the garden while working around the various zoning bylaws. The original house orientation was also a challenge since the façades that could receive windows were mainly oriented Northeast, therefore letting in little direct natural light.
The ground floor, the space for family life, is a ‘’L’’ shape that wraps around the garden that becomes an extra room in the summer. The second floor, the floor of the bedrooms, is calm and airy. The bedrooms open on the circulation ‘’bridge’’ made of wood trellis that floats above the living room in a double height space filled with natural light and that offers views on the garden and the green roof. The third floor is a refuge on the roof.
