![40_R Laneway House / superkül inc - Windows, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/500d/fb1a/28ba/0d66/2500/1e77/medium_jpg/stringio.jpg?1414010911)
Text description provided by the architects. The conversion of an industrial shed to a single family home in midtown Toronto makes a case for a strategic approach to urban sustainability and revitalization, additional density in the City's laneways, and smaller footprint living.
Beginning its life as a blacksmith's shop serving the railway in the early 1880s, the original building at No. 40R remained in industrial service for over 120 years - fi rst as a smithy, then a horse shed, and most recently as a sculptor's studio. This succession of use was registered in the shed's quilted skin of rusted steel panels, insul-brick, barn-board and plywood.
![40_R Laneway House / superkül inc - Windows, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/500d/fb0f/28ba/0d66/2500/1e75/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414010913)
The current owners, interested in smaller footprint living, bought the shed to convert it to a single family home. The strategy was to selectively rebuild it to provide the amenities of ‘home' - outdoor space, daylighting, and well configured living space - while retaining as much of its existing character as possible.
The conversion was an exercise in the careful calibration of space in zero-tolerance conditions. The 18ft x 40ft lot is reduced at grade to 10ft x 38ft by a right of way; the shed sits on the property line on the two remaining sides. As a result there was no usable outdoor space at grade, and zoning wouldn't allow for any additional openings in the exterior walls.
![40_R Laneway House / superkül inc - Chair, Brick](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/500d/faf9/28ba/0d66/2500/1e71/medium_jpg/stringio.jpg?1414010918)
The design strategy revolved around drawing additional light, air and views from above. A light shaft topped by skylights runs the length of the west wall and brings light to the ground and second fl oors; operable vents in the sky-light create the stack effect that passively ventilates the house. From the second fl oor courtyard, with its primary view to the sky, there is a stair up to a roof garden and terrace; rainwater from the roof is collected in a cistern below.
The building's existing rusted steel cladding was removed, brake-formed with a fl at-lock seam, and re-installed as the primary building skin. Flat black-painted knotty cedar and marine grade plywood clads the remainder of the building. Existing structural members were retained where possible, and an existing sliding steel door was salvaged for reuse.
![40_R Laneway House / superkül inc - Windows, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/500d/fb0a/28ba/0d66/2500/1e74/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414010915)