The boxy and containery appearance of residential buildings currently attracting accolades and attention is starting to get boring. However, simplicity, clarity and openness are qualities that continue to appeal.
While this is yet another house of stacked boxes, we cannot help but admire the vacation residence clinging dramatically to the sloping hill up in the trees of the Laurentian mountains of Quebec, Canada.
Locals, used to a more traditional ski chalet in this popular ski resort area, refer to the building as the cube, a name choice requiring no imagination. When the Montreal-based architectural firm Saucier + Perrotte won the Canadian Architect magazine’s Award of Excellence for this project in 2004, the magazine called the entry the Lac Superieur Residence in Lac Superieur, Mont-Tremblant.
Whatever the moniker, the house stuns with its elegant lines, stylish use of materials and lack of unnecessary distractions.
As it should be, the building’s real redeeming features reveal themselves inside. The views from the floor-to-ceiling windows provide all the visual stimulus you’ll need, and at the same time, demand a streamlined approach to everything else in the interior.
The boxy-cubey theme continues inside as do the color scheme and the lack of distracting materials. The residence is divided into three functional areas’ sleeping quarters on the top floor, middle and entry floor for living and the lowest level for play.
Although the building looks like a disorganized corner of a stylish container-port it exudes a solitary, silent grace that allows the distinctive, four seasons of the mountain to provide the main attraction.
The building meets the criteria for a log cabin as described in the area’s design guidelines for recreational development yet, fortunately, fails to resemble a Tyrolean mini castle. – Tuija Seipell
Recent posts
-
April 17, 2024
GIGI Studios Eyewear Head Office – Barcelona, Spain
Spanish eyewear brand Gigi Studios – formerly known as GIGI Barcelona – is a family-owned business established by Fulgencio Ramo in 1962 in Poble Sec, Barcelona....
-
April 8, 2024
Trattoria del Ciumbia, Milan, Italy
Those heading to the Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile Milano will experience Milanese abundance when pondering their dinner options as Milan claims to...
-
March 25, 2024
Modern Farmhouse, Mandeville Canyon – Los Angeles
Mandeville Canyon is located in the Santa Monica Mountains about a one-hour drive from Los Angeles. It is known for its gorgeous nature, demanding hiking...
-
March 22, 2024
Meat the Fish – London
Located on Cadogan Gardens in Chelsea, Meat the Fish is a restaurant that surprises with its refreshing combination of ideas and influences. Meat the Fish is a...
-
March 12, 2024
Renovation of Pacific Palisades Residence – Los Angeles
The designers at Venice, California-based Electric Bowery have toned-down the opulent and slightly heavy Tuscan influences of a large colonial-style villa and turned the house into an...
-
March 7, 2024
Pabellón de la Reserva, Reserva Santa Fe, Mexico
Pabellón de la Reserva is an award-winning recreational pavilion by Mexico City-based architecture studio Hemaa. The Pavilion is a part of Reserva Santa Fe an ambitious,...
-
March 6, 2024
Home Renovation – Taipei, Taiwan
What might initially appear too stark and brutally minimalist, turns into a peaceful calm in this sensitive renovation of a decades-old house in Taipei. Now ,the...
-
January 7, 2024
White Rock Cabin, Gaspereau Valley – Nova Scotia, Canada
Avoiding the tired recreational ski resort style of log structures and gabled roofs, architect Omar Gandhi has nevertheless managed to create a “cottage” feel in...
-
January 5, 2024
16th Arrondissement Apartment Renovation, Avenue Henri-Martin – Paris
Floating in a luxuriously classic Celine bathtub while viewing the Eiffel Tower is not an experience many people get to have at home, even in the...
-
December 9, 2023
The Makers Barn, South London, UK
Located far enough from London to qualify as countryside, The Makers Barn started its transformation as an abandoned and uninhabitable pig shed, a farm building...
-
December 8, 2023
Aveline Office, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
Hong Kong-based interior design firm Lim + LU founders Elaine Lu and Vince Lim received a dream assignment from their friends: to design an office...
-
December 5, 2023
Maria Szakats – Artwork You Can Keep Clean With a Dyson
Currently exhibiting in Galerie Chloé Salgado in Paris are the beautiful ethereal creations of artist Maria Szakats. Drawing inspiration from European medieval tapestries, her “Mon...