Architecture Wednesday: Le Phare, The Lighthouse

This is Le Phare—the Lighthouse—a home, built in 2010, in the region of Cap-à-l’Aigle in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada.

The Lighthouse is part of Les Terrasses Cap-à-l’Aigle, a residential hillside development offering stunning views of the town of La Malbaie, the St. Lawrence River and the surrounding mountains.

The architects designed the house to appear as though it was coming out of the steep terrain, and topped it with an environmentally-friendly green roof that also makes it part of the landscape, while acting as an insulating layer to keep it warm in winter and cool in summer.

A wide gateway that doubles as a carport and covered entrance rests on a retaining wall/storage unit that was necessary given the condition of the very steep terrain. On the ground floor is the main living areas, a continuous open plan without any apparent structure, and windows facing east, south, and west. The lower level accommodates four bedrooms and two full bathrooms arranged in a linear way following a clear axis perpendicular to the main volume above allowing for each room to get a view.

It’s the kind of house that appears to float above the landscape while clearly being part of it; it’s the kind of house that maintains its simplicity while offering the most stunning views. It’s the kind of house where you can truly get away from it all, while looking out at it all.

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Architecture Wednesday: Des Grand Jardins

After a couple of weeks in the desert, I decided I needed to cool off a bit, and what better place than the Grands-Jardins home, located in Petite-Rivière-St- François, Quebec, close to the Massif ski station, on a mountainside overlooking the St. Lawrence River.

One of the major challenges of the project was to position the house to optimize the privacy and the views. The home is built parallel to the street and at a slight angle so as to look out over the south and the river and to make you feel, when on the inside, that you are in a ship’s cabin.

Since the house is located on a deep slope, passersby can only see the top level from the street, while on the river side, three above-ground levels reveal a façade interconnected by a play of angles and glass.

While the house is well anchored in the rock, the volume of white wood seems to lift from the ground with the lower level set atop a series of large cement pilings. A wooden walkway connects the home to the parking area and gives an even more aerial look to the structure, making the upper level seem to take flight with its galleries projecting into empty space. But the greatest space of all might be the immense overhanging living room that literally projects and opens onto the slopes of the Massif.

The home includes, on the lower level, an exercise room and office with large windows; a wine cellar blending into the staircase; a studio/workshop and access to the pool. The main entrance via the walkway features a spacious closet to store ski gear and other items, a multipurpose room with fireplace and the children’s bedrooms with bathroom. A staircase set in a tunnel of red cedar takes you up one level to a spacious, light-filled kitchen, dining room and living room, with windows on three sides. In addition to the terraces, this aerial level includes the master suite with bedroom, walk-in closet and private bath.

A house built to enjoy the outside from the inside, and the inside from the outside.

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Architecture Wednesday: Chemin Bord du Lac

This 200 year old Quebec stone house once belonged to the Hudson Bay Company. And once upon a time the main entrance faced the river where the old road was situated. But then a new road was built out back and so the back became the front and the front became the back.

Then the new owners took over the turned-around-house and needed room for themselves, their kids, and their parents so a new addition was needed.

But would they try to match the old house and just make it something new?

Well, since the old part of the house would provide bedrooms for the kids and the grandparents, with the new part housing a master suite for Mom and Dad, the architects came up with the idea of drawing a parallel between the multi-generational component of the residents and the fact that a contemporary project would be built alongside a historical house.

In this manner, the design expresses the passage of time. The strategy defined itself as a contemporary project contrasting the existing stone house, yet having an obvious relationship to the ancestral home. This idea extended to the way the spaces are defined, as two double height living rooms are at opposite ends, one in each volume, linked by a path highlighted by a bridge linking the old house to the new volume.

It's been turned around and added onto, but two hundred years later it's still a family home.

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