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.”
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.
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 environment, “forming protection for the user.” The wooden base creates a solid, secure place for calm, while a sparsely furnished interior draws attention to light and shadows sweeping across the surfaces.
Upstairs, the home features a single principal room centered on a living and dining area. Around the central open space, a series of secondary spaces create a thickened perimeter and hold a kitchen, washroom, covered balcony, and a bay window. In the living area, the fireplace forms a central gathering space. Designed to “invite well-being and refuge,” the gathering space seeks to evoke a sense of safety within protected thick walls inspired by Irish Tower Houses.
“This two-and-a-half-story house is a prototype in the practice of modest living,” the team explains. “Culturally and economically appropriate to its setting, the site transcends into the local culture, blending into the landscape. The goal of the design process is to set out and make a home of minimal form, cost, and material. In contrast with the excesses of our current consumer society, the ethic of economy overlays the form and materiality of this dwelling.”
The home is one of several recently completed dwellings to feature in our editorial. Last week, we reported on Atelier Bow-Wow's first U.S. home, which boasts a large 'umbrella' roof in the Sierra Nevadas as well as a cantilevering modular treehouse that peeks into the Estonian wilderness.
In September, we detailed a house in the Japanese city of Kyoto that merges local and Ukrainian influences. Last month also saw Mork-Ulnes Architects and Alison Damonte reimagine a San Francisco home destroyed by fire and an Aaron Neubert Architects-designed LA residence defined by a vertical ‘T’ window.
7 Comments
Modest living at a cost of around $1.8 million . . .
Nice design though!
Where's that figure come from? I'm not seeing how this is even close to $1300/sqft
According to the owner, it was built for $650k-$750k CAD
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/toronto/article-minimal-form-elevated-experience/
Ken, 650-750 4y ago is what in today's market? definitively north of 1million.
Ken - now convert that from CAN to USD and that's around $1.8 million. Also even at its original price of $750,000 CAN four years ago and that's not 'modest living.
You're converting the wrong way. $1mil CAD = $735k USD. Your $1.8mil is way off either way. Not sure why one would feel the need to arbitrarily throw out random figures like that, is all.
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