The clients wanted an additional space in their home, a place where their children could visit them while maintaining privacy and independence, yet still staying close on the same plot. To achieve this, they commissioned architect François Abbott and the local studio Fabrication Studio, which specializes in this type of accessory dwelling. Together they conceived Copper House, a small independent guesthouse in the garden of the family home, on the outskirts of the peaceful Sunnybrook Park neighborhood in Toronto.

Copper was chosen because it registers time. Present throughout the neighborhood, it is installed in vertical channels across the facade and the roof overhang. Bright and reflective at first, it ages quietly: gradually taking on brown and green tones, softening through exposure to weather, rain, and sunlight, settling into the landscape like the trees that line the plot. Abbott added wood to the façade for the same reason: a warm, natural finish that deepens the argument for belonging in the garden.

The single-story structre of 60 m² (645 sq ft) is raised off the ground on helical piles to protect the tree roots. This way, air and water can circulate freely beneath the house, and the elevated base casts shade below, giving the volume a sense of lightness. Inside, a monolithic wooden core houses the services: kitchen, bathroom, and storage. On one side, the living area opens onto the garden through folding glass doors, while on the other lies the bedroom.

The furnishings are light and flexible: ceiling tracks let curtains shift, benches tuck under the table when more space is needed. Above the dining area, a pair of Globo Cesta lamps by Miguel Milá. No frame, no structure: just an opal white glass globe, the Cesta family in its most essential form. A piece as discreet and precise as Copper House itself.