Canadian Contemporary: The Northern Home (Images Publishing Group, 2018) is one of my favorite design books of 2018.
Canadian Contemporary features 33 projects by top residential architects in Canada. Locations include Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Victoria Beach, Nova Scotia, and others. Styles would look equally at home here in the U.S., as well as Australia, Japan, and Scandinavia. There’s a townhouse, farmhouse, beach house, and even a treehouse.
There are many gorgeous exterior and interior photographs, as well as floor plans. Here is a sampling (admittedly, not the highlights), approved by the publisher. It’s worth picking up a copy for the full presentation.
Compass House by architecture firm Superkul is sited on the Niagara Escarpment in Mulmur, Ontario. It was built as a weekend home for a family of six.
The interior walls are lined with horizontal slats of knotty white cedar, a warm and earthy contrast to the home’s minimal form. The floor is white oak and the ceiling white, to give a sense of infinite space and light.
Fahouse by Jean Verville Architecte is located in a hemlock forest in Eastern Townships, Quebec.
I wasn’t able to identify which house this is, but I think it’s also Fahouse. Given its black exterior and dramatic A-frame roofline, I didn’t want to leave it out.
This home,called The Rock, sits on the side of Mount Shefford in Quebec. It was designed by Atelier Général Architecture. The concept was to merge the house with the mountain. Parts of the deck are actually built around rock outcroppings.
Bécassinnes Cottage (not quite our definition of cottage), was designed by Atelier Boom-Town. It’s in Potton, Quebec, on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. In addition to four bedrooms, it’s got a dormitory that sleeps ten.
This is a less formal house with vertical cedar siding and cedar shingles, left to weather naturally. We could easily find such a home here in New England.
This modern farmhouse, located an hour-and-a-half east of Montreal is called Townships Farmhouse. It was designed by LAMAS (Lee and Macgillivray Architecture Studio). The farmer/artist couple who live here are conscious of preserving the area’s agricultural buildings and conserving the land. This is an image of the central courtyard.
This is a view of what the architect calls a “bed box” in a downtown Toronto loft. The white curtains, archway, adn glossy white farmhouse chairs is channeling an early Delano Hotel vibe. The space, named Broadview Loft, was designed by StudioAC for a young professional couple. The back wall of the kitchen is painted black to recede, and a long built-in bench under the window provides a place to display items or act as seating when entertaining.
Canadian Contemporary: The Northern Home
