CLOSING JAN 9TH, 2025

 

Dove

  • Prize
    Winner in Architectural Design Private House
  • Company/Firm
    Agathom Co. Ltd
  • Lead Designer
    Adam James Thom & Katja Aga Sachse Thom
  • Other Designer(s)
    Serafima Korovina
  • Architect
    Adam Thom & Katja Aga Sachse Thom
  • Interior Designer
    Agathom Co. Ltd
  • Construction Company
    VMF Structures Limited
  • Photo Credit
    Steven Evans & Doublespace Photography
  • Location
    Thornhill Ontario Canada
  • Project Date
    2023
  • Project Link

The client’s brief was to provide a year-round “cottage in the city”, a cottage in concept only: a place of family-centred warmth, reflection & inner peace. To achieve this on a flat post-war suburban lot, Dove was conceived as a series of interconnected tents or pavilions.
The experience of moving through Dove was envisioned as a stroll through Ontario woods & meadows — gently up over logs, with low canopies dramatically sweeping to towering heights, squeezing through rock canyons, passing water streams— all lit from unusual places.
Deep-ridged cast-in-place concrete serves as both structural support and the finished texture within. Concrete walls travel seamlessly from the exterior into the heart of the home, which wraps around back-to-back fireplaces like a gathering place in a clearing in the forest.
The folding main roof, lined with white birch and weathered steel on the outer skin, rises gently through the spaces & enfolds the building like a tent.
Dove is designed to be rigorous in performance and energy use for example: ground-source heating & cooling, solar photovoltaic array, rainwater collection, site well, green-roofs & thermal engineered building envelope.


Bio
AGATHOM Co Ltd is an architectural studio & workshop.The work is an extension of a finely-calibrated collaborative process, built on a foundation of broad technical expertise & a dedication to craftsmanship.
Agathom is at its best when a program entails a broad range of interrelated challenges including planning, landscape, interior detailing, and of course, building design.
We are fueled by the conviction that thoughtful, timeless & imaginative architecture has the power to contribute to the well-being of its occupants while providing protection, comfort – & even moments of wonder & delight.