The location on the Great Lakes imposed complexities to the house’s fabrication and construction, as well as its relationship to site. Annual cyclical change related to the change of seasons, compounded with escalating global environmental trends, cause Lake Huron’s water levels to vary drastically from month-to-month, year-to-year. To adapt to this constant, dynamic change, the house floats atop a structure of steel pontoons, allowing it to fluctuate along with the lake. Photograph by  Florian Holzherr and the property designed by MOS.

[Source: ArchDaily]

This natural timber home design was made for a couple and their two children, visitors and extended family, divided as a primary residence and guest house which are linked under one roof. This wood country home on Bowen Island faces north on a steep cliff overlooking Howe Sound, surrounded by nature with water at its feet 100m below.

An elongated bowtie plan maximizes the aperture of glazing and view to the North, while on approach from the South, only the roof marks its presence in the landscape. Naturally finished slate, cedar shingles and copper coloured roof denote a building that challenges with form yet eases itself into the coastal context.

[Designed by Calgary-based Sturgess Architecture – Photography by Robert Lemermeyer]