Dominick House,
Photography Studio and Gallery

2000-
Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario
Canada

This is an urban house and place of work for a photographer and his young family. The studio faces the street, creating a buffer between the street and the private realm of the home. The entry is the only point of focus on a bare street elevation. A gallery wall makes a procession, along an exterior reflecting pool, from entry and studio into the house. The massing of the house makes a wall along the edge of the site, which closely borders another house. The other long edge of the site, to the southeast, borders a narrow woodlot. The elements of house and studio are added to the existing composition of street, woodlot and neighboring houses in an attempt to make a private realm, which extends through the glazed ground floor to the exterior boundaries of perimeter walls and woodlot. The simplicity of this house comes from a desire for abstract, uncluttered space and economy. It is a quiet backdrop for the daily life of the family and the work of the artist. The play of light through the trees and off the shallow pool activates the simple planar elements of the house, constantly shifting the mood of the place in a subtle way.