The Semi-detached home is ubiquitous in Toronto. The renovation and addition to this house is intended to look at the extent to which the semi-detachment of the house could be reinforced, and used as an asset. Formally, the house is at once part of its mirror image, while simultaneously pulling away, creating its own identity. The overlap of the two was the fascination.

Light is critical in a house such as this. The stair from the first to second floors is along the party wall, as is common in this typology. The deviation comes when the stair turns to cross the house as it rises from the second to third floor. That crossing provides for an opportunity to experience the verticality of the house, with a skylight above, and an opening below, inviting light into the core of the narrow building.