Location: Ontario, Canada Year of construction: 1994 Architects: Hariri & Hariri Associates: Paul Baird, Grandon Yearick, Brigid Hogan, Aaron McDonald Photography: John M. Hall
This weekend holiday home offers a wide formal repertoire using different applications of a single material: wood. This richness, reflected both externally and in the interior space, derives from a minute observation of the intrinsic nature of the landscape. The two New York- based architects from Iran who designed it adopted an approach committed to abstracting these features and applying them to the building as an entity as well as to the most subtle of details. The location is a rural plot in Ontario, Canada, sloping gently down to the peaceful waters of Lake Kamaniskeg. It is planted with evergreens and tall birches. The setting is tranquil, meditative, with the ever-present horizon defined by the shores of the lake contrasting with the trees along the shoreline.
The project began as a commission to enlarge an old, prefabricated A-frame cabin that had become too small for the six-person family that owned it. The old cabin was preserved at the client’s request, for sentimental reasons, and is now used as accommodation for guests and younger family members. The original structure therefore became a starting point and an important element in the whole. The false shutters and pink paintwork on the walls were removed and the asphalt tiles were replaced by galvanized steel panels better suited to the language of the new structure. The interior, however, was altered hardly at all. The living room was changed around to create space for a new and larger kitchen and a dining area was created on the lower level.
The new cabin is a 9S ft (30 m) long timber structure extending along the western boundary’ of the property, only б/з ft (2 m) away from the original cabin. It accommodates the master bedroom, a library, a reading room, a large living room, and a boat store.