Location

Point William, Ontario, Canada

Description

This project is basically a "sophisticated hut" in the wilderness. The interlocking elements that align building and nature, land and water, and ultimately tradition and progress, define the experience of the boathouse. The vertical layers of the project form a threshold between the inner roof garden and the water's edge to complete the space defined naturally by the edge of the forest. As the ceiling planes are reflected in the water below, materials and methods are interwoven in the horizontal layers of the project to intensify the spatial expanse of the views oscillating between the woodland and the lake beyond.

The interweaving of the layers was created with a unique building sequence that began with the dock being layed out on the frozen lake in winter. The position of each crib was drawn and a hole cut into the ice. As each crib was completed it was filled with granite ballast and lowered to settle on the lakebed. From this primitive submerged structure, the heavy timber outer walls emerge to protect an intricately crafted sleeping cabin.

Interior finishes further intertwine the ordinary and the sophisticated. Cabinets of Douglas fir panels and intricate mahogany windows are detailed to allow differential settlement from movement in the crib foundations. Traditional Victorian beadboard ceilings are transformed into a shaped Douglas fir ceiling in the sleeping cabin. Mahogany duckboards in the bathroom echo the typical Muskokan wooden boat deck.

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