ThermalWood Canada

Webster Terrace

Webster Terrace was a distinguished modern movement house built in three stages. It had an open plan living/dining/kitchen with a distinctive sloped ceiling extending into a mono-slope cantilevered roof. The Client wished to open the main floor as much as possible and build a second story with two bedrooms, each with a bathroom. TEAL's response to the first challenge was to devise an 'eye of the needle' structural strategy that threaded the new steel structure through minimal openings in the roof, immediately sealing them the same day. The new floor is suspended over the existing sloped roof plane, creating a useful storage space underneath. The new upper deck is also structured to hover over the old roof. The second challenge was met by removing most of the walls on the main level, exposing the diagonally sloping ceiling plane even more than before and creating a set of wide stairs that serve as a gathering seat for entertainment. The envelope of the existing house was stripped internally and both the old and new walls were insulated with high-performance spray foam. All windows are new, aluminum-framed with thermal breaks. Zero-edge glass detailing on the corners at both levels reveals stunning southern views of Halifax's North-West Arm ocean inlet. The exterior cladding is a combination of zero-maintenance thermal wood and fiber cement panels with no exposed fasteners on the entire house.