LOCATION
Parry Sound, Canada
TYPE
Residential › Private House
A Toronto family of five requested a cottage that is ‘modern and open’ but retains a quintessential ‘cottage feel’.
The building was to be commodious and accommodate extended family but should avoid ostentation in scale and modernity.
The Clear Lake Cottage proposes a simple tent-like envelope to house both program and outdoor spaces under a single vernacular form.
A singular roof presents a child-like impression of house; rectilinear and ordered in symmetry while playfully skewed in volume.
Nestled within a forest, the building is sculpted and stepped to take advantage of the land; modeling the natural grade.
Open and closed faces respond to shoreline views or quiet wooded depths. Like a tent the porosity of the building’s envelope strengthens the experience of ‘cottage’.
Three volumes: a communal space, a bedroom bar, and a master suite are registered in response to the site to achieve views, separation, and privacy.
The tent-like 'big top' of the Douglas Fir interior has three exterior spaces carved into it to create sheltered outdoor areas.
