A Secret Garden Grows at the Heart of This Bunker-Like Art Studio

In Canada, a bright-red townhouse, a playful family pad, and this bunker-like art studio show us how homes with personality can still respect their contexts.

Painter and multimedia artist Sara Maston is no stranger to picking up and moving. The gentrification of Toronto’s neighborhoods has caused the warehouses and affordable studios she previously rented to be torn down or renovated, leaving Sara scrambling to find new spaces in which to create. "A lot of condo developments are taking over buildings that were occupied by artists," she says.

Sara’s sister, Lia, an architect, proposed a solution in a far more stable location. Their father lives in a historic Victorian townhouse in Chinatown that had a two-car concrete parking pad in the backyard, accessed by a rear laneway. Lia envisioned building a suite where Sara could make and display art, rest, and have friends over.

With a footprint measuring just 17.5 feet by 20 feet, the space gave Lia little to work with. So she designed a split-level unit that the duo call their "art bunker." It has four distinct zones, with ceiling heights ranging from 7 to 12 feet and an impressive 620 square feet of living space.

Sara does most of her painting in the basement, which offers a surprising sense of lightness. Here, double glass doors with a transom window frame a sunken courtyard planted with native species like periwinkle, red dogwood, and a ground-covering fern. There’s also a kitchen on the lower level.

The main floor provides a place for Sara to showcase her work. "Having a gallery space is a useful way to look at a piece and see how it exists outside the studio and if it’s resolved," she says. Industrial Dutch doors lead to a small backyard, which serves as an extension of the gallery when groups gather. (The sisters envision hosting poetry readings and small concerts here in the future.)