Kariouk Architects

Hill-Maheux Cottage

Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)

HILL-MAHEUX COTTAGE

Kariouk Associates

MANUFACTURERS
James Hardie

CATEGORY
Houses

YEAR
2010

LOCATION
Canada

DESIGN CHALLENGE

In this small, weekend and vacation retreat, the clients and their daughter seek to take refuge from the world.

Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)

As such, the home is introverted; but the clients also desired that the house achieve a maximum connection to its beautiful, forested, lake-side site.

Last, it is important to note that this home is built as a place the clients will keep for their entire lives and then pass on to their daughter; the clients, a couple each involved in art conservation, sought a home whose design would itself be conceived as a vessel for the conservation of the family memories that will continue to unfold here.

Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)

DESGIN SOLUTION

The design of the cottage is simple: two "bars" of living space that are joined by an elliptical loft hovering over the foyer and giving shelter to the entry below.

One bar is private, containing bedrooms, bathrooms, and storage; one bar is public. Containing the kitchen, dining, and living areas. The elliptical loft is the domain of the daughter.

Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)

Rather than "walling-in" the two ground-level volumes to achieve privacy, they are made with large expanses of glass and are sited at the edge of the property where vegetation is most dense.

The underside of the loft volume and the fireplace surround are surfaced with a "quilt" of metal plates, including copper and zinc printing plates that the clients received from a printmaker friend. Many of the plates are etched with landscapes from the original printmaker, but many are etched with works created by the couple and their daughter.

Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)

There are, however, many yet-unetched plates that can be removed, worked by the clients and their friends visiting the cottage, and then reinstalled. In this way, the house keeps a record of its past.


Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)
Hill-Maheux Cottage
© Photolux Studios (Christian Lalonde)


Hill-Maheux Cottage
Section


Hill-Maheux Cottage
Floor Plan
Hill-Maheux Cottage
Floor Plan

Kariouk Architects
T +1 613 5622211
Kariouk Architects
179 George St #1204, Ottawa, ON K1N 1J8, Canada