Levelling Up

Odami’s St. Lawrence reno channels brilliance with its multi-layered biophilic design

Toronto, like any well-worn city, is full of exquisitely weird spaces hidden in plain sight. Renovating them is an architectural dance; often, the best interventions don’t erase eccentric features – they double down on their offbeat potential.

Take this recent facelift by architectural design studio Odami. The one-of-a-kind condo boasts no fewer than five levels of cascading rooms, born of the building’s previous life as a parkade.

These platforms and recesses lend the home theatricality and autonomy of spaces, but a dark, jumbled layout disguised their power and allure. The studio celebrates them in their redesign of the two-bedroom unit, reimagining their skylights to better connect them to the world outside.

First, the cramped kitchen was opened up and married to the skylit dining room, while an elevated study in the master bedroom was sectioned off to create a sunny walk-in closet. Beside this, an enlarged bathroom is aptly delineated by a frosted glass wall, allowing natural light to stream in.

High-contrast finishes and organic materials like walnut and natural stone, which offer volume and depth, counterbalance the airiness and minimalism of ceilings that can stretch as high as 4.3-metres. In the living room, a custom quartzite mantel for the fireplace adds richness

without overpowering the apartment’s key feature: a raised sunroom with epic views of nearby St. James Cathedral.

“This is really the moment of the home,” explains Odami’s Michael Fohring. “All the rooms gravitate toward and cycle around it.” Statement walls of green summon the cathedral’s patinated copper roof into conversation with the space.

With no outdoor areas, connection is instead found through these biophilic design choices. A skylight creates an indoor garden of a closet, a wall colour evokes a forest. Unique spaces may host unique design problems, but for those with vision, they also pose the most compelling possibilities. ODAMI.CA

PHOTOS BY ARASH MOALLEMI Once carpeted and underused, this former sitting room is now the condo’s focal point. The new sunroom’s green walls pull colour from nearby St. James Cathedral to bring the oudoors in. Furnishings from EQ3; pendant from Lightform.

ABOVE Post-reno, the kitchen gained three square metres and more light from the now-conjoined dining room’s skylight. Walnut millwork by Nick Day Design; Super White quartzite from Ciot; Riobel faucet from Taps; pendant from Lightform.

BELOW Previously, the fireplace was mirror-clad. The new surround (by Surface One) features a stepped geometry that relates to the cascading levels of the home. Walnut hardwood from Flooring & Home; EQ3 furniture. See the “befores” and even more “afters” at dlm.ag/odamicondo

ABOVE Skylights in the adjoining walk-in closet bring ample light into the ensuite. Slate flooring from M2 Tile & Stone; shower system from Taps.