Local studio Reigo and Bauer has completed Toronto The house is clad in diamond-shaped panels that represent a “quiet tension of contrast” between the decorative finish and minimalist quality.

Named Neville Park, the three-storey home sits on a narrow lot in Toronto's East End. It features a tall profile with a steeply pitched roof and offset rows of elongated windows framed by black-painted aluminium casing.

Diamond-paneled home through trees in Toronto neighborhood — Reigo and Bauer Create Diamond-Paneled Home in Toronto

According to the Toronto studio Reigo and BauerThe challenge was to design a well-connected space for a family of two adults and two children, making it comfortable and in line with the client's 'modern' taste.

The site slopes away from the street toward the rear of the property, where there is a dense grove of mature trees, the shape of which Reigo and Bauer say influenced the final roof pitch.

A house cut out from the side and covered in diamonds — The corner house has three levels.

But the architecture studio said the shape was also practical: the slope allowed the floors to be offset from each other, allowing long windows and steep ceilings to create a greater sense of interior space for the second-floor bedrooms.

“The roof pitch was studied in such a way as to create pleasant interior volumes without going beyond the height restrictions,” the studio's founding partner Merike Bauer told Dezeen.

“The steeper pitch allowed the compact upper rooms to appear taller and more spacious.”

A cutout in the wall of a house covered with fibre cement panels — A series of cutouts on the entrance side create space for a staircase and additional windows.

A practical move that also creates visual interest is the semi-cylindrical cutout on the side of the building's entrance to make room for the entry steps starting at garage level.

Another vertical cutout was made on the side around the door and runs the entire height of the structure.

Dining room with black lampshade — In the dining room, the ceiling plane gradually separates from the wall as it approaches the staircase.

The negative space on the shell also created more vertical planes on this side of the building.

The bay windows were positioned on the sides and faced outward at an angle of about 45 degrees to avoid direct visibility to the neighboring house.

The kitchen will run between the rooms. — The kitchen is located in the center of the main floor.

The diamond-shaped panels that cover most of the exterior convey the house's angular design language. The fibre cement panels have a grey hue and a scaly appearance.

According to Bauer, the cladding was chosen because it combines minimalism and decorative qualities.

Pill-shaped stairwells — Pill-shaped holes were made in the wall between the kitchen and the stairs.

“Slate has demonstrated excellent technical performance while still being a very traditional roofing material,” Bauer said.

“We are often drawn to traditional materials and construction methods that can be implemented in non-traditional applications,” she added.

“For example, the diamond shape was chosen for its decorative value, but when installed like this, evenly across the roof and walls, even the garage doors look more minimalist in their first reading. I like the quiet tension of this contrast.”

Second floor with dormer windows — Skylights allow light into mezzanine-like passageways on the second level.

Inside, the angles of the exterior are reflected in the curved and faceted ceilings.

The dining room windows facing the street reach to the ceiling, which has a gap on one side where the ceiling meets the wall.

Bedroom with corner windows — The shape of the roof made it possible to make the bedrooms more spacious.

This ceiling plane continues through the kitchen and into the living room overlooking the backyard, where it curves upward to meet the tops of the window panes, giving the entire first floor the impression of a slope.

The kitchen is located between the dining room and the living room and also serves as a passage between the two spaces. To provide additional light, a series of pill-shaped holes were cut between the cabinets on the green wall that runs between the kitchen and the staircase.

On the second floor, on the side facing the backyard, there are two bedrooms.

More color was used on the furniture in the living room, where there is a dark blue Elkin sofa from the furniture brand MobiliaThe living room overlooks the fenced back yard.

In the upstairs hallways, angled ceilings and skylights allow light to flood in. The opening visible in the ceiling in the dining room slowly opens up as you approach the stairs, creating a double-height space that allows more light to stream down through the skylights. The design gives the upstairs passage a mezzanine-like quality.

The second floor plan is centered around the bathrooms, with doors opening onto the bedrooms on the periphery. Above this central volume is another space between it and the roof plane.

The bedrooms also feature sloping, angular ceilings as they sit in the tapering roof profile, with the master bedroom on the street side and two smaller children's bedrooms at the front.

Living room with curved blue sofa — The living room, which overlooks the backyard at ground level, featured colorful furniture.

One of the children's bedrooms is directly below the main slope, with two folded windows. The other has one window facing the rear and a window formed by a vertical cutout on the south side of the envelope.

Another bathroom was placed on the garage level below ground level.