An environmentally friendly renovation

There's no question that the need for more energy efficient, earth-friendly design is becoming an increasing imperative, and in some cases, governments are actually legislating a certain level of environmental sustainability through new "green" bylaws. But does incorporating the environment into building or renovation plans mean compromising design, forgoing comfort and luxury, or living with expensive, sometimes temperamental technologies? Absolutely not: as a number of recent projects by the Toronto architectural firm of Moss-Sund demonstrate, green principles can be the springboard for beautiful and highly livable design.

The owners loved this former bungalow in the Beach area of Toronto, but it was too small for a growing family with two little daughters. The father of the family is a designer himself, and felt strongly about creating a more contemporary aesthetic in the home's upgrade, as well as considering the environment in the design, construction and later, day-to-day operation of the home.

Top of the list was to add a second story, but they wanted to open up the interior to light, and add a front porch to the home. Also, some of the existing home's issues were tricky: not only was the home completely uninsulated (possibly in keeping with its original 1920s role as a summer cottage), but there was a large tree right at the back of the house that the family wanted to save, reducing elbow room in the rear elevation clearance.

"There are two ways you can go when you upgrade the insulation in a home," explains company principal Carolyn Moss. "You can create a continuous envelope around the outside by wrapping it in foamboard, or you can open all the interior walls and retrofit from the inside." Both methods have their pros and cons, but in this case, since the entire interior was being opened up to replace the services, beefing up the interior insulation made sense.