Sunny sanctuary

Lots of natural light and a private putting green at Oakville home

Breakfast on the terrace, golf in the backyard and sunshine all through the house. That’s what the Oakville home Sunnybrook offers its residents.

“The overall feel of this Oakville residence is calming and soothing — which was of the utmost importance for our clients, who have hectic jobs and work very long hours,” says Vanessa Emam, of V+R Design Studio.

“We really wanted to create a modern sanctuary for them to return to at the end of each day.”

A putting green in the backyard is overlooked from a wraparound veranda that features a barbecue and dining area, and a spacious outdoor lounge.

The layout of 3,700-sq.-ft. Sunnybrook, with four bedrooms and five washrooms, includes an open-concept kitchen, living and dining room, a guest room and an office on the first floor. Upstairs is the principal bedroom plus two secondary bedrooms and a nook. The basement has a media room, golf simulator, gym and a custom wine cellar.

The architecture includes a steel structure to support the long spans needed for the open-concept design. Sustainable features include natural light to reduce electricity consumption, radiant floor heating, high performance foam insulation and premier insulated windows. Completed in 2021, Sunnybrook took three years to design and build.

Mehdi Goudarzi, of Goudar Architects Inc. in Markham, answers a few questions about Sunnybrook:

What inspired your design?

Our clients were looking for an open-concept layout with a blended modern and traditional look. We introduced the sloped roof design at the sides, which have a traditional appearance, and brought in a feature façade to add modern architectural flair and really make a statement. The two elements of the design are at different plains, and have different colours and materials, but are connected by a flat canopy roof.

The staircase is really beautiful. Why did you go with this design?

We wanted to ensure light would flow throughout the entire home — so a floating staircase was a key element to achieve this. It helps complement the overall open concept, and brings light in from the large windows at the top of stairs, and into the basement area.

Natural light is important in this house. How does the structure’s design make this work?

The property is a pie-shaped and backs onto a public park at the southwest, the widest part of property. That provided the opportunity to bring a lot of sunshine into the house.

We also introduced a sloped window wall and skylight in the living and dining area to bring warmth and sunshine into these rooms.

‘‘ Our biggest challenge lay in bringing sunshine into the living and dining areas.

What were the challenges?

Our biggest challenge lay in bringing sunshine into the living and dining areas. Our clients also enjoy spending time outdoors — so they wanted a covered deck to be as large as possible, in order to enjoy most of the seasons from there. However, that would have blocked the sunshine in the adjacent area. We introduced a sloped window wall above the deck roof to overcome this situation.

Another challenge lay in incorporating high ceilings in the basement in order to accommodate the space needed for a golf simulator. This, coupled with the maximum building height imposed by the city bylaw, required us to have a deeper than usual excavation, which in turn required some additional measures to protect the neighbouring building.

MEHDI GOUDARZI ARCHITECT