At the beginning of the pandemic, a couple, while expecting a second child and learning to work from home, hired Creative Union to enlarge their Weston-area abode. None of the conventional solutions appealed. An addition? Only if they could spare the necessary time and money to win over the committee of adjustments. A laneway suite? Not without a laneway. A garden suite? The relevant bylaws hadn’t gone into effect.

But what about a backyard building that – because it lacks living amenities and takes up only 10 percent of the lot – doesn’t technically qualify as a garden suite at all? The couple would be limited to a strict 350 sqf, but special permits wouldn’t be necessary.

“We maximized layout by minimizing circulation space,” Mitanidis explains. You enter the garden studio via a kitchenette at the centre, which doubles as a foyer. There’s a bathroom behind it and offices at either end, each with hardwood flooring and unobtrusive sliding doors. There’s also a storage unit to the side of the building, accessed via exterior doors that swing out and there don’t consume precious floor space. Ultimately, the entire structure amounts to little more than a work area – albeit an elegant one – but it nevertheless frees up domestic space in the main house. And it comes with a bonus: “ Throughout the construction process,” Mitanidis says, “the family lived at home.”

By Simon Lewsen from Designlines Issue No.1, 2023.