ShoeBox CHB Quiet Urban Renewal: Soft Tones, Tactile Rooms In Montreal
ShoeBox CHB sits in Montreal, Canada, where Alexandre Bernier Architecte reworks a modest shoebox house into a light-filled residence for contemporary family life. The house preserves its humble brick frontage toward the street while a recessed stainless steel volume and calm, tactile interiors recast everyday routines at the heart of the block. Inside, measured materials and clear circulation keep the focus on light, vegetation, and flexible gathering rooms for a growing household.
Filtered daylight slips across brick, stainless steel, and wood as the house opens toward the garden deck. From the lane, the addition recedes, allowing the compact brick façade to keep its familiar rhythm on the street.
ShoeBox CHB is a house in Montreal’s Petit Laurier neighborhood, remodelled and expanded by Alexandre Bernier Architecte for contemporary family life. The project preserves the recognizable shoebox volume while inserting a recessed, satin-finished stainless steel upper level and a bright interior sequence anchored by a central stair. Light, proportion, and a restrained palette guide every move, turning a modest lot into a calm, generous home.
Reworking The Shoebox
From the street, the original brick façade remains, lined up with its neighbors and holding the quiet cadence of the row. Above it, the setback stainless steel addition pulls away from the sidewalk, keeping the house low and familiar while adding a clear contemporary layer. Satin-finished cladding reflects sky and surrounding trees in soft, shifting tones rather than sharp glare. The result keeps the vernacular profile intact yet extends the house in a way that respects the close-knit context.
Light As Organizer
Inside, a central stair sits directly beneath a generous skylight, drawing daylight deep into the plan. The stair’s pale wood treads and slender white guardrail catch this overhead glow, turning circulation into a bright vertical room rather than a corridor. Living, dining, and kitchen areas fold around this core so that movement between levels stays legible for children and adults. Large glass doors at the rear pull light through to the front, tying the main floor to the terrace and garden.
Tactile Daily Rooms
Material choices remain deliberately spare: polished concrete underfoot, light wood cabinetry, and white walls that register every shift in daylight. In the kitchen, a long island in warm-toned timber and stone anchors family activity, while soft green cabinetry and simple globe pendants bring color and rhythm without noise. The dining table in aged wood, paired with mismatched chairs, adds domestic softness against the clean surfaces. Throughout the ground floor, exposed timber beams overhead temper the crisp finishes with weight and texture.
Rooms At The Edge
Upstairs, bedrooms sit close to foliage, with large windows framing tree canopies and neighboring yards. Simple curtains, slim shelves, and minimal furniture keep these rooms focused on rest and outlook rather than display. In the bathroom, pale stone, fine grout lines, and a freestanding tub create a quiet, almost monochrome environment, broken only by a soft-colored basin and patterned towel. Frosted glazing along the upper wall lets in daylight while preserving privacy from the dense urban fabric outside.
Garden Connection
At the back, a broad timber deck sits level with the interior floor, easing the shift from kitchen and dining to outdoor meals. A simple table and chairs under mature trees turn the yard into an extension of everyday living, with dappled shade cooling the façade through warmer months. Planting traces the lot line and softens the neighboring fences, while sliding doors stack away to keep views open. The house quietly returns to the street each evening, its brick face unchanged, as light and activity settle into the renewed rooms within.
Photography by Maxime Brouillet
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