Modersohn & Freiesleben Architekten

Description

A house once already stood on the large plot above Otnabog Lake in Queenstown in Eastern Canada, amid forests, meadows and lakes. The new house built on this spot was therefore meant to look as if it had always been there. A timber house of course, and with a covered veranda like those found everywhere on the east coast of North America. It was to be built by a neighbour who moonlights as a passionately dedicated craftsman. This meant it was important to develop easy-to-read plans. The house, in a style typical for the region, basically consists of a two-storey volume with a pitched roof. The timber frame stands atop a wooden platform on strip footings, so that melt water can drain off in the spring. Inside, the house is divided into three parts, with a central staircase flanked by kitchen and dining room on the ground floor, and a hallway framed by bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The house gets its characteristic outline from the wraparound veranda, which is covered by a flat shed roof. On the lake side, both veranda and roof are interrupted to create an expansive open terrace. The historical model is thus combined here with the contemporary desire for a sun terrace. Typical American sash windows were installed in the living room and kitchen, but the staircase hall is open across its full breadth. The traditional pattern of closed rooms conveying a sense of cosy security is enriched here by the addition of an open, modern space.