Located adjacent to Lake Winnipeg in the community of Dunnottar, this 4-season cottage was conceived as a modest home away from home for a family of four. A long, linear volume housing the client’s requested program folds onto itself as a means to open views, define private exterior space, capture sunlight and weave around existing trees.Intended for use in all seasons, the building contracts to conserve energy during the coldest winter months, heating only those rooms that are occupied. This seasonal expansion and contraction gives way to both a main, insulated cottage and a series of uninsulated spaces, including watertight summer and storage rooms, a covered / screened porch, and open-air covered decks. A raised walkway links these spaces on the ground, while a single blanketing roof unifies the main programmatic elements as one cottage.
Site and Intention
Situated on a 50 x 140 foot lot within 150 feet of the shore, the project takes advantage of lakefront views offered by a narrow greenway linking the site to a small portion of public beach. Two ancient white spruce trees frame the northern edge of the site, while a 250 year old great oak occupies the southwest corner. A handful of smaller trees line the public lane and several mature timbers are clustered just west of the lot’s centre. These trees are retained and become key visual and environmental reference points.Envisioned as a simple structure within a heavily wooded site, the material palette consists primarily of various types and applications of wood. Flooring is cedar, applied in both a conventional manner [interiors and decks] and as a mill deck [along the long linear ‘boardwalk’ linking grade level program with the mezzanine level covered deck]. Exposed framing is both hand-picked spruce and cedar, ranging in size from the standard 2x4 to larger 2x12’s for the staggered ‘sawtooth wall’ defining public from private spaces within the insulated portion of the cottage. The various exposed and untreated woods were intended to sharply contrast the exterior cladding consisting of dark-stained PWF plywood board and batten and the corrugated metal ‘blanket’.
Exposed wood framing emphasizes a simple structural /construction logic. Standard stick frame construction on a 24-inch grid makes up the linear bar of uninsulated structure, while a 30-inch grid is maintained in the 650 sqft main cottage as the structural lines transition across the architectural fold. Stained wood cladding provides subtle texture on the exterior, and responds to the mature trees on the site. Wood flooring on the interior provides richness and texture, while subtly maturing with use. Material variations emphasize the contrast between the blanket of the dark roof surface and the internal spaces [exposed framing, plywood finishes, paired with both translucent and transparent glass and plastics].The individual programmatic elements are further articulated at night as the randomized pattern of standard ceiling fixtures with mirror bottom bulbs illuminate the joist cavities and ceilings. The resulting warm, yellow-orange glow within each space allows the connecting roofline to recede and the interior spaces to be activated.The cottage gives its residents opportunities to bask in direct sun, remain outside and dry in a rainstorm, get up high into the trees, view the lake, and dine outside protected from mosquitos - through such considerations, the dwelling becomes as varied as the site.