Set in a residential area in Canada’s Baie-D’Urfe, the NORM House is a single-family residence whose generic and somewhat perfunctory volumes were intervened upon by Alain Carle Architecte with an aim to create a considered narrative between the building and its environment in terms of context and orientation.
With the modest and reflective approach the Montreal studio is known for, the renovation and extension of NORM House saw a reconfiguration of spaces in relation to the the landscape, with new openings oriented towards a specific natural scene: a patch of sky, the surrounding grounds, or a particular tree.
From the outside in, the build follows a muted uniformity of material and palette, interrupted only by the presence of an arched wall, a pillar, skylights, or the wood trimming the glass doors and windowsills. This fervent minimalism embraces both the studio’s and clients’ desire to forego the clutter of material things, letting the family’s colourful lives play out against a neutral and contemplative space that is animated by subtle light variations and complex lines.
“NORM hopes to reiterate-inscribe a critical sense and awareness to the act of inhabiting, reinforcing a richer and more explicit relationship to the environment, all the while diminishing our material conquest that dominates our world of consumption,” says the studio.
The home was completed in 2021. More from the studio on Instagram.
Photography © Felix Michaud for Alain Carle Architecte