Eric Tse has successfully combined environmental sustainability with innovative design in his 2,400-square-foot duplex home in Toronto's Riverside neighborhood. The residence, located just two miles from downtown, achieves the rigorous Passive House certification standard while challenging the typical boxy appearance associated with such energy-efficient buildings. Tse, who runs EDGZ Architecture & Design, created the home for his family of four while incorporating a rental suite to maximize the property's functionality.
The narrow 25-foot-wide lot presented significant challenges, particularly because Passive House standards require extremely thick walls for insulation. Each side wall measures approximately two feet thick, consuming a substantial portion of the available space. To compensate for this constraint, Tse designed an unconventional "upside-down" floor plan that creates increasingly bright and spacious areas as residents move upward through the three-story structure.
"There is a strong idea of sanctuary in the house," Tse explained. "When you walk in, it's completely a break from the world. It feels very grounded and a bit dark. And then as you walk through the house, you ascend towards the light." The ground floor features a windowless front facade, leading visitors into a compact foyer and home office where Tse operates his architectural practice. This entry level showcases the home's signature materials: whitewashed white oak millwork and walls finished in lustrous gray microcement.
The second floor serves as a transitional space with a central landing surrounded by a bathroom and three bedrooms, one now converted into a playroom. A striking black olive tree grows in the middle of this area, reaching upward toward natural light. The dramatic light source comes from an ingeniously angled window on the third floor, tilted at 60 degrees to technically qualify as a skylight under local zoning codes.
The top floor represents the home's most generous and impressive space, featuring the main living areas including kitchen, dining, and living room. Strip windows connect these spaces while providing three different exposures that link the interior visually to the neighborhood's thick tree canopy. "Tse acknowledged that the upside-down plan is unusual, but it gives light and graciousness on a narrow urban lot," he noted. The slanted skylight floods this level with northern light, creating an uncommonly bright and airy atmosphere.
Tse's interior design strategy relies heavily on custom cabinetry fabricated by local workshop BL Woodworking, all finished in the same creamy white oak that appears throughout the home. The extensive built-in storage solutions maximize functionality while maintaining the clean, minimalist aesthetic that defines the space. The consistent material palette creates visual continuity despite the home's complex vertical arrangement.
The exterior cladding cleverly expresses the building's dual-unit program through varied materials and textures. White brick laid in horizontal bonds covers the first floor, while the upper levels feature heat-treated bamboo cladding applied in two distinct ways. The front facade displays protruding 1½-inch slats that reference Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's work, while the side walls feature more modest flush siding. This slatted front facade actually functions as a screen set away from the building's true rectilinear form.
"When you design with Passive House, you usually end up with a box," Tse observed. "Here the forms on the outside look complicated, but they are superficial to the building." This approach allows the home to meet strict energy efficiency requirements while avoiding the stark, institutional appearance often associated with sustainable architecture.
Achieving Passive House certification proved to be an extensive process that Tse described as "very rigorous," requiring third-party review of both architectural drawings and energy performance models. The certification ensures robust insulation and exceptionally clean interior air quality, meeting some of the world's most demanding building performance standards. Despite the additional complexity and cost, Tse views the certification as valuable both for his family's comfort and his professional development.
The project now serves as a showcase for Tse's practice, demonstrating to potential clients that high-performance buildings need not sacrifice design quality or livability. "For me, the house is a showcase," Tse said. "I can tell clients, I can make your house much tighter than a normal building." While he's currently working on projects for clients who haven't pursued certification due to the additional requirements, he believes the learning experience was worthwhile. The house successfully proves that sustainability and sophisticated design can coexist, transcending the typical constraints that limit both Passive House projects and urban infill development.
