# Bowling Lane House, Calgary

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2017-11-04

accessory-dwellings, alberta, architecture, calgary, canmore, cities, crescent-heights, design, design-build, laneway-house, laneway-housing, laneway-suite, mackay-laneway-house, small-house, studio-north, uncategorized, urbanism

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ea35779f4cd95c33c65dc0288e403e76.jpg)

I just finished going through the work of [Studio North](http://studionorth.ca/projects). My friend Peter introduced me to them through [this Globe article](https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/calgary-and-edmonton/a-push-to-break-calgarys-standoff-over-lanewayhousing/article36795412/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail:+Newsletters+/+E-Blasts+/+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links). 

They are a Calgary-based design-build practice that have completed a number of laneway houses, as well as bigger projects such as [this 34 unit townhouse project](http://studionorth.ca/base-camp) in Canmore, Alberta.  

What (not surprisingly) caught my attention was their focus on laneway/accessory dwellings. Pictured above is their [Bowling Lane House](http://studionorth.ca/crescent-heights-laneway-house) in Crescent Heights, Calgary. 

It’s a 700 sf one-bedroom house that sits behind a 1920′s heritage house. Here is an axonometric of that relationship (the existing house was made transparent):

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4a60cda6859c68e8c5926e939c0e1b65.jpg)

Here is an elevation from the main street. Look at how neatly it tucks behind the existing house. All you really notice is the garage of Bowling Lane House.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8a4525bfa6dfe4113707c25c12bff72c.jpg)

Here is how Bowling Lane House fits into its laneway.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/117c72e120488d3a3714b1ee57707be9.jpg)

And here are two images of the double height space that they managed to create within this 700 sf house.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ca48f3f254ffe2f6aa04c352e76747fa.jpg)

Notwithstanding that this is a wider lot than what you might typically find in Toronto, it is precisely the kind of housing – both in terms of design quality and scale – that I was trying to create with [Mackay Laneway House](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/164042582798/the-city-refused-my-laneway-house). It’s also where I was planning to move.

Kudos to the Studio North team for driving this initiative in Calgary. You can check out the rest of [their projects here](http://studionorth.ca/projects). They have a number of other laneway houses within their portfolio. And all of them are beautiful.

_All images from_ [_Studio North_](http://studionorth.ca/projects)_._

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/bowling-lane-house,-calgary)*