This $2 Million Toronto Home Is Known As ‘Origami House’

When Titka Safarzadeh and Saied Mahboubi of Greendot Architects were approached by their client to reimagine 269 Coleridge Ave. in Toronto, they had their work cut out for them.

The shared driveway of what was once a small two-bedroom bungalow needed to be larger because the owner wanted more parking and the garage couldn’t accommodate any space either. They also wanted the second floor to be the same size as the main floor.

Tasked with this challenge, Safarzadeh and Mahboubi began to think about how they could “squeeze” the house at the bottom but “explode” it at the top, all while making it beautiful.

For the roof, metal was used to be able to create the shapes more easily.

The two architects then turned to the Japanese art of paper folding for inspiration, and that’s how 269 Coleridge Ave. became the “Origami House.”

And while the concept is great, implementing it certainly wasn’t easy.

An aerial view of the house.

“The challenge was to fit all the beams and structure to the building, as it is an unconventional shape,” he told blogTO.

The family room opens to the backyard.

Triangular shapes and cantilevered rooflines require extreme attention to detail.

The origami shape of the house.

You will notice that all the lines and angles follow each other, even the drain pipes, which is a testament to the meticulousness of the construction.

The home.

But now that the Origami House is finished, it is a work of art.

The living room with a large bay window.

The unique design combined with meticulous construction creates an incredibly stunning ultra-modern home.

Simple details add dimension to this ultra-modern home.

And as cool as the exterior of the house is, the interior is also a feast for the eyes.

The basement bar.

“When you look at the house, you say, ‘This is a super modern house,’ and we wanted people to have the same idea when they walk into the house,” Safarzadeh says.

The dining room.

Inside the three-bedroom, four-bathroom home, you’ll find a large, open main floor with a simple black and white palette.

The refined and minimalist kitchen.

This black and white theme is consistent throughout the home.

The facade of the house.

There are also a ton of bespoke touches throughout, like the custom woodwork and all the doors were custom designed by Safarzadeh and Mahboubi.

The stairs leading to the basement.

But perhaps the most astonishing element of the house is the staircase.

The stairwell from outside the house with three windows to bring in natural light.

Mahboubi explained the various challenges of creating these cantilevered staircases that are actually outside the main structure of the house in order to follow the angles of the origami shapes.

Custom carpentry next to the kitchen.

Another feature that Safarzadeh is particularly proud of is the amount of light they managed to bring into the middle of the house.

The view of the backyard.

The roof couldn’t have skylights, so they got around this problem by creating balconies that bring in natural light.

The back patio.

269 ​​Coleridge Ave. is now listed for $1,950,000.