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A Modest Second Storey Reading Room With All the Right Ideas

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Warm and uncluttered, this home’s minimal decor maximizes comfort

This charming second-storey room by Studio Junction, inspired by the quiet act of reading on a winter day, evokes the essence of a Japanese cabin. The architects balance unfussy, practical detailing with white walls, using wood as their muse. A rose window high in the room guides the eye toward a softly curving four-metre vault of natural cedar planks that alternate from cream to chestnut brown. Natural light enters through skylights framed in cedar and Douglas fir, frosted glass transoms and a single picture window, giving the space its ethereal glow. At night, the vault is illuminated by embedded LED strips. Selected for its ease of installation, a Jøtul gas stove in white sits to one side, adding warmth to the perfectly square room without competing with its delicate wooden accents. A humble collection of fittings and furnishings makes this house a home, including a walnut banister and a low, linear 2.7-metre bookcase in oil-rubbed white oak that merges seamlessly with the floor. STUDIOJUNCTION.CA

Upper reading room resembling a Japanese cabin in the woods

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A new development series by Collecdev Markee and Batay-Csorba Architects reimagines Toronto’s housing with purpose-built rentals

Like many North American cities, Toronto is in the midst of a housing crisis. With high living costs, limited affordable supply, and an ever-growing population, finding a place to live has become increasingly difficult if not impossible. While single-family homes and high-rise condo units abound, other housing types—like duplexes, triplexes, and low- to mid-rise apartment buildings—are few and far between. But there does seem to be some hope on the horizon as the city has begun to change its zoning bylaws to accommodate and expedite the building of these exact “missing middle” typologies.

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