Levitt Goodman House

Ben Rhan/Aframe

Treehugger loves Levitt Goodman Architects, for their worm composter, their flying urban prefabs, and now for their green urban infill house in Toronto. According to Beth Kapusta of Azure, they have built "a modern an sustainable home that is also integrated into an ethnically diverse neighbourhood". It has a large and beautiful green roof, recycled materials, and is designed for cross-ventilation so that air conditioning is not required. Toronto houses usually get light only from the front and back, so the first floor is designed without any walls to let the light penetrate. It is also designed to evolve as the family ages: the kids have basement bedrooms, which are designed to be transformed into a separate apartment after they leave. (or worse, if they don't.) According to Janna Levitt: "We exercised the courage to build no more than what we needed, and according to our sense of environmental citizenship." Beth Kapusta concludes that they "may also have tapped into a new urban environmentalism that makes sense to those who love beautiful space and are willing to make some trade-offs for the sake of living responsibly"

kitchen and dining