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“I could see that it could beconverted into three bedroomsand that it was sizable enoughthat it would accommodate ourlifestyle. It’s definitely not as bigas the house, but it’s livable andfamily-friendly,” Huang said.

With no third bedroom, anawkward master bedroom de-sign, worn hardwood flooringand heavy carpets, the condoneeded to be renovated beforethey moved in.

Isabella has serious environ-mental and food allergies thatrequire a hypoallergenic livingspace with no drapes or rugs,and separate dishes and cook-ing implements.

Huang reached out to AndreaGray, owner of Andrea GrayDesign, to help bring his visionto life. “The bones of the condowere good. It was the finishesthat were very old-fashioned,”she said.

When it came to reconfigur-ing for the family’s needs,Huang zeroed in on an openarea off the kitchen as a poten-tial third bedroom. Pocketdoors and built-in shelvingaround the existing fireplacecreate a private sanctuary forIsabella. With the addition ofdesks and built-in book cases, abasic hallway outside the roomblossomed into the girls’ studyarea.

“The biggest thing we did wasdefine the open spaces,” Graysaid.

“We wanted to make it mod-ern and take full advantage ofthe openness of the living area,but functional so there’s a clearflow and definition of zones.”

The living room and diningroom are separated with dra-matic light fixtures from RoyalLighting and Gray commis-sioned a custom entertainmentunit that anchors the TV-watching and relaxing area.

New pot lights line the perim-eter of the room and were alsoadded to the bedrooms.

“The lighting before was OK,but my wife is used to brightlights in our old house. Sheneeds to be able to read every-where,” Huang said.

When it came to decor, theystarted by sourcing a white oakfloor from Spain at Stone Tile,which served as inspiration forevery other design decision inthe home, from the light greywall colour to the white quartzisland to the custom-made greysofa to the complementary blueart pieces.

“Every time we met to pick outfinishings, Andrea would be

carrying the floor sample tomake sure everything wouldmatch,” Huang said.

The kitchen had plenty of cab-inetry but the dark wood feltgloomy, so they had cabinets re-surfaced and repainted an off-white by Cabinet, which alsodid all the built-ins and finishes,including a custom-built con-sole table.

Huang didn’t like the flow ofthe master bedroom, whichplunked a large closet in thecentre of the room.

A reconfiguration providedeasier access to the ensuite andmore space for precious stor-age.

This was important becausetransitioning their belongingsfrom a large house to a condoproved to be the biggest chal-lenge.

The girls’ collection of bookscould fill a room — Huang esti-mates they have 350 in the con-do and another 700 in their

rented storage unit.Chen worked with house

coach Anja Lavigne to help or-ganize and release the thingsthat wouldn’t fit into the condo.

“It was very difficult for me tolet go of things because every-thing has meaning. But Anjatalked me through whether Ireally needed something andtaught me to categorize and or-ganize in a smaller space,” Chensaid.

The family was pleasantly sur-prised by the relatively smoothconstruction process, especial-ly considering the scope of therenovation — and in a residencethat shares space with a hotelwith strict specifications.Huang credits the expedienceto general contractor Flavio DiBenedetto.

“I was pleased that we wereable to stay on time and on bud-get, despite the coordinationrequired with building man-agement,” Huang said.

NOW: Left, the family’s kitchen was updatedwith a white quartz island and white finish oncabinetry to work with new white oak flooring.

RENÉ JOHNSTON TORONTO STAR

THEN: Dark cabinetry, above, made the originalkitchen feel dated and a bit gloomy.

KEVIN HUANG

Spaces reconfigured into clearly defined zonesCONDO from H1

THEN: The dining area before it was transformedinto a third bedroom.

KEVIN HUANG

NOW: Emilia, 8, practises in a new bedroom createdfrom the condo’s former dining area.

RENÉ JOHNSTON TORONTO STAR

NOW: A study area bloomed from a basic hallwaywith the addition of desks and built-in bookcases.

RENÉ JOHNSTON TORONTO STAR

“It’s definitely not as big asthe house, but it’s livableand family-friendly.”KEVIN HUANG,HOMEOWNER

Corkscrew House would seemto get its name from the in-novative staircase spirallingthrough storeys of the home inBerlin, Germany.

But it’s actually the cork usedthroughout the abode thatprompted the quirky moniker.

German architects RundzweiArchitekten designed the inno-vative residence within strictplanning regulations to create ahome for three that offers com-fort, sustainability and beauty.

On the lowest floor of the3,444-square-foot home, a bed-room and bathroom open outonto a sunken pool. The nextfloor contains a multi-levelledliving space with kitchen, din-ing and living areas.

Above that, there are threebedrooms and bathrooms, astudy and library.

An eclectic timber staircase,with white steel rods and illu-minated from above by a star-shaped skylight, joins the vari-ous levels.

Other building materials in-clude in-situ concrete, rammedconcrete walls and timber.Rammed concrete and timberwalls are clad with fibre gypsumboards made from recycledpaper, gypsum and water, and

painted with a silicate paint. Nochemical adhesives or con-struction foam were used; thearchitects opted for wood fibreand cellulose insulation materi-als, in addition to insulatingcork panels. A stratified heatstorage system, supplementedby roof-integrated solar panels,provides most of the home’sheating.

The home cost approximately$1.5 million and was completedlast year after two years in de-sign and construction.

We asked Andreas Reeg, withRundzwei Architekten, a fewquestions about the building.

What was your inspirationfor the design?

It wasn’t as much inspirationas more a creative reaction tovery strict regulations for thesite. Planning authorities gavestrict height limits on the eavesline and ridge, and the overallfootprint of a new building.This resulted in a roughly 32-by-32-foot footprint.

At the same time, planningconditions only allowed forroughly 377 square feet grossfloor area on the site. Due to aspecial regulation that consid-ers a lower floor not usable areaif it doesn’t stick out more than4.6 feet on average, we devel-oped the stepped surfaces fromthe basement up to the roof.

This makes all levels below theground floor as per this defini-tion basement ... through this trick we managed to gener-

ate roughly 1,049 square feetgross floor area.

What were the advantagesto using the cork material?

Cork is a wonderful material.Its bark is peeled every seven tonine years and is the only treethat regrows its bark. The firstpeeling is used for the facadecork. The bark is milled intogranulate, which is then formedinto large blocks through heatand pressure.

The cork resin is releasedthrough the heat while thepressure and the resin glue thegranulate together. Because ofits natural build-up of millionsof air encapsulation cells, it’s aperfect insulation material. Atthe same time, it’s mould andweather-resistant. It’s also per-meable which makes it evenmore perfect to clad timberstructures and can be formedinto any shape with all standardwoodwork tools.

Explain the design of thestaircase?

We wanted a central stair ca-pable of accessing multiple lev-els while remaining open to vi-sually connect the lower livinglevels with the work and librarylevels underneath the roof.

The staircase is made out oflaminated timber elementsheld together by the white steelrods.

By varying the step widths, werealized a sculptural stair thatcan also be used to place dec-orative objects and plants.

> THE WOW FACTOR

Decorative timber staircase is atthe centre of Corkscrew House The innovative residenceoffers an airy, light-filledhome for three in Berlin

GEORGIE BINKS SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Architect Andreas Reeg says the home’s design was a creativereaction to very strict regulations for the building site.

GUI REBELO RUNDZWEI ARCHITEKTE