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The three children who dwell in a new Edmonton home in the pretty, treed Valley view area must fancy themselves the luckiest kids in town: their house has a secret tunnel. Architect Jonathan Rockliff created the ingenious passageway, which goes from the front carport to the backyard-running "literally right under the kitchen," he says-to facilitate passage to the big rear garden. But it creates a unique sense of discovery and drama to be able to pop from the front to the back of the 6,300-square-foot house without having to set foot indoors.
The tunnel is a symbol of the indoor-outdoor philosophy that drove the design of the house, which is created in two distinct modules that hinge out like wings on the big pie-shaped lot. "The wings align themselves with the property, creating a more public entertaining zone and a quieter family zone," says Rockliff, a Carleton University architecture graduate who’s part of the second-generation Edmonton firm Rockliff Pierzchajlo. "Quite naturally, the kitchen is the connector between the two zones." More a great room than a simple kitchen, this teak-panelled hub has two big marble-topped islands and a wall of windows and sliding doors overlooking the back yard. Structural needs necessitated one indoor column just off the kitchen, and Rockliff ingeniously dotted another six identical Glu-lam posts along the back deck, creating an almost totem pole-esque, West Coast feel.
Interior designer Fay Papanikalaou echoed that two-part philosophy in her decor scheme, striving to bring energy and life to the young family’s digs. "We used vibrant, fun colours in the private family area; in the more public areas of the home there are big windows, tall walls and high ceilings-you already have that visual energy so we used more classic, subdued colours there." Carefully selected furnishings, built-ins and art pop dramatically out of the space. "The house is a shell and the things within it are a chance to explore design and showcase it," says architect Rockliff of the custom staircase, millwork, and fixtures. Papanikalaou played smartly off the home’s crisp modern angles with a series of playful round and globular lights that shine like gems throughout.
Upstairs, the two-part harmony is reinforced by a long corridor with the adult zone (master suite) at one end and the kid zone (children’s rooms) at the other, divided by a staircase. The staircase design incorporates a clever, temporary gate the owners can remove when their children are grown.
Marshall and Lisa Sadd, a stylish and design-savvy couple, actively collaborated on the project. "People hear modern and they think cold and unusable, but when they come through our house they can’t believe it-it looks and feels very warm," says Lisa. Best of all, the clever features-the under-house tunnel, the two-winged layout-facilitate the lifestyle full of family time and entertaining that the couple treasures. Marshall, who recalls sketching out the house’s basic lines with Rockliff on a napkin, says: "This design brings us all together"-surely the sign of successful architecture.
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