Clad in shiny corrugated galvalume, Pocket Laneway House rises up and over a carport, propped aloft partly by a v-configured steel column on helical piers. This structure’s eye-catching, treehouse-like massing is anything but arbitrary: by making minimal contact with the ground, the residence preserves the root health of a mature maple tree on this constrained site.

The owners are a travel writer and a recently retired buffalo rancher, with two young children at home and one older child living independently. The couple originally selected Weiss Architecture + Urbanism to design their Toronto home, which occupies the street-facing portion of the same lot. They envisioned the main residence as a place that would adapt to accommodate not only the changing needs of their maturing kids, but also their own long-term aging-in-place plans. (For information about the main residence, please see Weiss Architecture + Urbanism’s Shudell House.) From the outset, they also knew they wanted a laneway house on the property that could at some point become a caregiver’s residence, and they once again turned to Weiss Architecture + Urbanism to design it. Weiss A+U founding principal, Kevin Weiss, cites his space-age childhood as a source of inspiration for the laneway house’s aesthetic.

"In 1969, I was five," he says. "I watched every second of the lunar landing. The form of the laneway house was determined by various site factors, especially the desire to preserve the tree. But I think it ended up looking a little like a lunar lander from the Apollo era."

Tempering the structure’s retro-futuristic look are the cedar cladding on the carport's underside and the vivid accent paint colours, which were inspired by the clients' love of folk art.