GRAPHĒ: They Built the Most Colorful Home on the Block. What Do the Neighbors Think?

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, two architects designed a turquoise house with an office and connected apartment that’s surprisingly referential to its context.

In 2019, Sara L’Esperance and Michael Putman’s nearly 10 years in London were coming to an end. With plans to grow their family, and feeling nostalgic for their nature-filled childhoods in Canada, they accepted an offer for Michael to teach at a university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, relocating to the small but lively maritime city on Canada’s Atlantic coast.

<b>[CAPTION HERE INTRO’ING THE PROJECT]</b> — Sara L’Esperance and Michael Putman, cofounders of the architecture firm SUPERBLK Studio, designed a flexible forever home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with three distinct programs: a rentable town house, an office for their architecture studio, and their family home.

Photo: doublespace photography

After a few years in a rental, where they had their daughter, the couple, who founded the architecture firm SUPRBLK Studio in 2018, were ready to create a more permanent home, one that ideally was flexible enough to support them for decades to come. The result is two buildings with three distinct programs: the structure along the street contains a 680-square-foot town house the family rents out and uses to host guests, but also has an office and bedrooms that make up part of the main home; these spaces connect with the structure at the rear via a landscaped courtyard, which has a kitchen and living and dining rooms. Between the front and rear structures, the family’s space amounts to 2,485 square feet.

A turquoise recessed door leads to the town house, while a yellow recessed door is a sunny signifier of the family’s main entrance. — A yellow door marks the entrance to the family’s home, while one to the town house blends with the turquoise facade.

Photo: doublespace photography

The city’s gridded streets are lined with colorful timber homes dating to the late 1800s. An influx of residents post-Covid created a flood of new buildings that, to Sara and Michael’s eyes, desaturate the historic vernacular. "You’re starting to see a loss of color, more gray and beige and things that are trying not to stand out," says Michael. "They’re just trying to disappear." With a turquoise, yellow, and silver facade, the house they designed certainly does not disappear, yet its bold moves aren’t just for fun—they are also rooted in Halifax’s traditional architecture.