The Globe and Mail

Toronto architect Paul Raff is an artist of light. He loves it with the passion of those old-school modernists who built houses of glass, and he celebrates sunshine in every project he undertakes. But unlike some pioneering minds of the modern movement in residential architecture, who liked to invite direct sunlight into every nook and cranny, Mr. Raff is interested in the subtleties of light - the infinite variety of ways it can be modified and modulated to create aesthetic effects, the ways it can be shaped. The result, as we have it in the luxury houses he has designed in Thailand and Toronto, is a distinctively poetic modernism, freed from starkness and too-great simplicity, yet loyal to the clarity of the best progressive residential architecture. A beautiful new house by Mr. Raff in Toronto's posh Forest Hill neighbourhood is an excellent instance of what I'm talking about. In its basic layout, this building is not radically different from any other family home up and down its shady street. Entering the front door, the visitor finds the living room off to the left and the dining room to the right. The stairway to the upper levels lies ahead, with a spacious kitchen completing the ground-floor ensemble of rooms.