Just north of Toronto, Kings Cross is an idyllic rural community with rolling streets with architecturally distinct houses dating back to the 1960s. This new house sits low amid lush greenery, occupying the footprint of a previous house, but replacing it with a building whose style is thoroughly modern in both design and performance. Bold and direct, the house takes design cues from the unusual typography of the area and from the ranch style mansard roofs of some of the neighbouring houses. Dramatically horizontal and filled with light, and at the same time protective and sheltering, it eschews all kinds of popular and mass-produced contemporary design features. What is remarkable about this house is that nothing is ordinary – its materials, form, and systems create both a house and an environmental artwork. [Via.](http://www.contemporist.com/2014/07/22/house-in-kings-cross-by-bortolotto/)