MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

This house is located where the LaHave river meets the sea on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast. A pair of lantern like buildings float above the hilltops: one overlooks the river estuary and the other the ocean; one contains the main house and the other the guest house. These two structures sit on drumlins and are aligned on a north-south axis. The natural wetland formed between the drumlins is embraced as a ‘central garden’ and a wildlife corridor through the site. The mirrored minor and major buildings are separated by approximately 450 feet, but are linked by concrete

block walls which gesture towards the garden. A horizontal datum at 8’-0” above the main floor ties the two together as an absolute man made ordering device playing against the undulating natural topography. On entering the cove, the building presents a concrete block hearth which is designed as a totem at the scale of the landscape. Climbing up towards the house, two glowing entry porches are revealed. In each building the entry and service elements are organized on the east side of the concrete wall. The ground floor served space, within the free plan, creates the feeling of an infinitely long great room. An 8’-0” high belt of glazing forms the base of the building. By contrast, the ‘attic’ story is lit by a repetitive field of windows which are punched into the floating wood box. The solid totemic element within the building is a plinth. It articulates the long block wall creating a kitchen island, a stair, a desk, a seat, and finally a scupper fountain pouring water from the roof out toward the wetland garden.

The scheme consists of two archetypal material systems. The first are the heavy, grounded concrete elements – a heated floor slab, block wall, and the block hearth. All of these elements make use of the passive, yet highly effective heating principle of thermal mass. The other consists of the wood framed elements floating above the ground. The finger jointed, folk-tech timber frame is completely visible on the inside, channeling much of the horizontal and vertical loading into the centre of the plan and distinguishing the difference between frame and envelope. Using these ‘built-up’ timber butterfly trusses as primary structure demonstrates the project’s sensitivity to environmentally responsible building techniques. The rough-sawn, channel-joint hemlock envelope, naturally rot-resistant, is a rainscreen wrapper protecting the structure.