This oceanside Nova Scotia home is designed as a ‘prototype for modest living’

2023-10-10T11:22:00-04:00

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has completed an oceanside home on Nova Scotia’s South Shore described as “a prototype for modest living.” The Chester House measures 1,350 square feet and was designed to be “culturally and economically appropriate to its setting.”

Image credit: James Brittain

Externally, the home features minimally detailed eaves, corners, and openings to “underscore and elevate the architectural simplicity.” In contrast to the wooden base, the upper story is clad in a weathered steel sleeve which “appears to slide over” the base. The top floor facade is surrounded by glass to create panoramic views of the forest, while small punch windows create vignettes of the landscape features.

Image credit: James Brittain

The ground floor contains two bedrooms and a staircase constructed of an origami-like folded perforated steel plate. The decision to place bedrooms on the ground floor was driven by a desire to create a sheltered, quiet environmen...

Design Dialogue: Brian Mackay-Lyons

2014-09-29T00:41:00-04:00

On August 22nd, 2014 Brian Mackay-Lyons hopped off his tractor and wiped the diesel fuel off his hands to discuss architectural education with Keith and Marie Zawistowski, co-founders of the design/buildLAB at Virginia Tech and partners of OnSite Architecture.

Brian MacKay-Lyons is the founding partner of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, a professor at Dalhousie University, and the founder of Ghost Lab – the now legendary 2-week summer design/build program that took place on his family farm in Nova Scotia from 1994 to 2011. While relentlessly local, Brian’s work has been recognized internationally with more than 100 awards, 300 publications, and 100 exhibitions. In 2012, the American Institute of Architects recognized the collective work and influence of Ghost with an Institute Honor Award for Architecture.

Keith: So what do you think the education and the architect ought to look like?

Brian: Well, what I don’t think it needs to look like is an all design/build curriculum. I guess I have also learned that it has its limitations, like everything. One reason that Ghost has taken this hiatus is because I realized that I was being insincere.

I believe an architect’s role is not to be the builder. The architect’s role — like a conduc...

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This oceanside Nova Scotia home is designed as a ‘prototype for modest living’

Design Dialogue: Brian Mackay-Lyons