Diamond-shaped windows connect new and old in duplex addition by eba. Architecture firm eba used traditional fish scale metal cladding to create a vaporous addition to a Quebec City century-old brick building. The project was designed to host the family of a young doctor wanting to live just above his beloved brother’s family. Both families share the yard where cousins play while parents are gardening. Hence the project name proposed by the client: a true chicken coop!

The duplex is located in the Montcalm neighborhood, known for its Frederick Todd urban parc and OMA’s national Art museum. One of the brothers mandated eba to design a two-story apartment completed with a new private terrace and direct access to the common back yard. The client’s demands involved transforming the existing second floor and adding a complete third story. From a busy urban boulevard, the family enters a long stairway leading to a double height dining room.

The space is lighten-up by a five meters high window facing a peaceful alley. Heart of the project, rooms, and circulations are distributed from this sunny central space. From the industrial-style stainless steel kitchen, the household can take an exterior helicoidal stair to feast and barbecue with brother, sister-in-law, and cousins in the common back yard. 

On the top floor, a small lounge opens on a terrace shaded by a mid-century-inspired wooden pergola. A small office and a music room profit from the constellation of diamond-shaped windows.

The triangular pediment of the existing brick façade offered the inspiration for the lozenge windows. The fish scale pattern of the shiny steel cladding prolongs the oblique lines of the windows, granting lightness and limpidity to the elevation.

The simple volume of the addition, minimal and uniform, allows for a clear reading of the contemporary roof-top extension. The project recently won a Mérites d’architecture de la Ville de Québec, a distinction offered by the city for architectural excellence.