Cape cod

Task: To design a small cottage using prefabricated cross-laminated-timber (CLT) to minimize costs.   Design Challenge:The site for this project is a remote, private lake beside which for more than seventy years existed a family’s cottage.  When the land passed from mother to son, the decision was made to reinvigorate the home; ultimately, because the home had already reached such an advanced state of decay, it was decided to have it removed and to build a new cottage. For sentimental reasons, the new home was to be the exact dimensions of the former and it was to sit in the exact same location.  Aside from those requirements though, a far more open spatial arrangement was desired.  The cottage was only intended... More

Studio Vural, a boutique architecture firm in Brooklyn, designs an off-the-grid Dune House in Cape Cod. Principal architect of the firm has been spending summer vacations in the area and studying the terrain, climate and vegetation which eventually gave way to the conception of the Dune House.   The project was further inspired by a squid’s rainbow flash at a nighttime fishing expedition, where architect Selim Vural thought; “if squids can power themselves, so should houses”.   The un-plugged house suggests an autonomous nervous system, self-sustaining in high capacity power generation, producing more clean energy than consumed which is made possible by self-storing solar panels and super insulation via burro... More

Design details include reclaimed ‘ship’s knees” as braces in the dining area. The shingles on the roof will weather over time and become light gray, like the regional architectural style in the Cape Cod area.   The new clubhouse celebrates the past but looks to the future. The building addresses the site and presents a handsome profile atop the rolling hills overlooking Buzzard’s Bay. The approach has a low-key scale which then cascades down to the 18th hole and Buzzard’s Bay. The style reflects quintessential New England Cape Cod shingle style so it blends in historically. The functionality is efficient but low key.   A series of spaces that flow, and are dedicated to the game of golf relaxation... More

On the countryside of the small village of Biezenmortel, on the edge of a national natural reserve, lies an old farm. Trough several generations the farm has slowly been transforming to a biological farm, giving place for rare cows, donkeys and shelter for the herd of sheep from the adjacent natural reserve. Beside this, the farm is host for dement elderly, who come as day guests and experiencing the wellbeing at the farm. The new building is a transition between the existing farm house, the farming and the elderly care.   The farmyard is divided between the farmers house, the stables and the building for daycare; right in the middle stand a majestic nut tree. These placements became the starting point for the design of this building... More

Our Lady of the Snows Church is located in the Innu community of Sheshatshiu, Labrador, on banks of Lake Melville overlooking the Mealy Mountains.  The building had to celebrate and enhance its unique site within the community while at the same time be easily constructed by local tradespeople with locally available materials.  The interior space had to be adaptable to different sizes and types of gatherings.  The main objective was to create a structure that responded to its community as much as it responded to the requirements of religious practice.   The design of the Church includes two types of gathering spaces. The first is for large, less frequent events like weddings, funerals, and baptisms, all of which are hug... More

Our clients, an active family with two young sons, were looking to relocate away from the city of Toronto and build a new house in a more natural setting. Their search eventually led them to a property on the southern shore of Sturgeon Lake, in central Ontario. This site featured a steep slope to the lake, which offered dramatic views; but also presented significant challenges in siting and constructing the house. We addressed those challenges by placing the house into the slope itself. The habitable spaces are contained in a slim volume running parallel to the shore, providing lake views for every room. A secondary volume runs perpendicular, back into the hill, anchoring the house to the slope and helping to form an entry courtyard shelter... More

When our client purchased this property, it was the first time that this mid-century gem had changed hands since it was originally built. The house is distinguished as one of a number of classic but modest modern vacation and weekend houses designed for the Cape Cod landscape of kettle ponds and woods during the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. It meshes a classic modern form with a tiny fishing cabinet built decades earlier. Perched on a rise overlooking a pond, the bones were perfect but the house needed numerous improvements to make the building physically sound again. Siding, roofing, gutters, insulation, upgraded windows & doors, and mechanical systems were all replaced to bring it up to date and to sustain it well into this new century. SPG A... More

Located in a residential neighborhood in Cape Cod, this home is the perfect getaway for a family of four wanting to escape the city life of Boston. The four-module home was set on an existing 28’ x 50’ foundation to utilize the existing structure and expedite the construction process. The new home takes advantage of its natural surroundings with an exterior stair leading to an expansive roof deck where one can bask in the sun while in awe of the views overlooking both the bay and the ocean beyond. The house is clad in a contextual cedar shake siding and tied together with accents of gray cement board panels. With large expanses of glass and numerous operable windows, the house takes advantages of summer breezes and blurs the div... More

The house of family V is not situated in the line of the existing houses of the village, but is part of a barns ensemble some 30 meters back from the road. By placing the house as close as possible to the existing sheds, the space between the new volume and the existing dwelling is kept as wide as possible, so that the view of the hinterland is wide and ensures an optimal green experience for both the resident and the passer-by. . By including a sightline in the house from the north to the south façade, the depth effect of the environment is also reflected in the design. The use of black-stained wooden planks as a wall cladding and an anthracite steel corrugated sheet roof also enters into a relationship with the existing barntypolog... More

This renovation and addition to a 1920’s era brick Cape Cod involved the addition of a second floor, and a thorough-going renovation to the first floor.  A landscape and hardscape plan rounded out the remaking of this home.    A central stair core for this ” sustainable saltbox ” was designed, around which the spaces of the house revolve.  The heart of this home is the stair space, with places to hang out, see and be seen, and through which light is brought into the home and reflected throughout.     A new terraced landscape addressed issues of drainage, accessibility, a sense of place, repose, and view.  A new accessible path from street to garden through the house makes this pa... More

Originally built in the 1920’s, this house suffered numerous inharmonious modifications and additions requiring an almost surgical design approach.  Reconfigured circulation, enhanced functionality, and a wholly new interior were the result of a substantial remodel where most of the upper floor and roof were strategically removed. The clients’ preference for the simple volumes of the “shingle-style” Cape Cod vernacular inspired a Shaker-like minimalism evident in the five gable roof form, the repetition of the double-hung window module and the weathered cedar shingle exterior. Project TeamAchitecture: Tyler Engle ArchitectsBuilder: Schultz-MillerPhotograhy: Aaron Leitz More

A dark, aging home transforms into an award-winning contemporary statement.   Turning an aging Cape Cod-style home, with its dark and rather dreary exterior, into an upbeat remodel, complete with open floor plan, stately façade, and lots of big glass, proved to be an award-winning venture for architect Brett Linscott.   Denver-based Architectural Workshop’s refresh on the 7,660-square-foot Cherry Hills Residence in suburban Englewood, Colorado, was named Project of the Year in Remodeling magazine’s 2018 Remodeling Design Awards. For Linscott, associate principal at the firm, it was a chance to give his clients a unique style in the home’s longstanding neighborhood while maintaining... More

DESIGN CHALLENGE: The site for this home was a narrow lot in a downtown neighborhood, which carried with it extensive code limitations on side windows. A further challenge was negotiating the difference in grade between the two neighbouring lots: an already steeply sloping site, the neighbours to the West raised their rear yard an additional 1.5m, ultimately creating a difference in neighbouring lot heights of approximately 2.5m   DESIGN RESPONSE: The design of the home revolves around a two storey, light-filled raised garden courtyard. The garden takes a “bite” out of the tight, permissible building area, however it allowed for an extensive amount of glass that otherwise, due to restrictive building code requirements,... More

This is a house for a retired writer returning to Canada from the United States with a fantastic book collection. The scheme creates an experience of living amongst his books.This long, galvalume-clad wedge house is sited on a cliff on Nova Scotia’s south-western Atlantic Coast. It both fits into and takes possession of the landscape. The plan addresses the human need for prospect and refuge, by contrasting a mute, protective, north service wall facing the woods, with a glazed south wall facing the sea. Large ‘bites’ are subtracted from the monolithic form to create a covered entrance and a covered terrace. The main interior feature is a long, sky-lit slot, which acts as an orientation device to connect the entry, master suite, great room,... More