These two houses are situated on either side of an inlet on the archipelago of Pointe au Baril, on the eastern shores of Georgian Bay in northern Ontario. Although part of a single composition, a future draw bridge between the two houses will allow and restrict access. In addition a boat house will complete the crow’s foot composition of three houses looking south to the lake. These are discreet and independent buildings connected by paths in contrast to the existing wild landscape. The relationship to the outside is by way of terraces and docks to the water and the existing rocky terrain.
Given the short season and for speed of construction reasons, prefabrication is recommended. In this case CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) was selected. The panels for the building shell, up to 40ft in length, were transported on barges from a factory in Montreal and then assembled very quickly on site. Interestingly, this is the first domestic use of CLT in the Province.
Hagel (the principle residence) negotiates the topography of the site partly as a bridge and partly as a large staircase. It spans across an existing fault line in the rock, forming an entrance establishing various habitable levels. Lucky (guest house), when seen from the lake approach, appears to be paired with Hagel but is smaller and square in plan, and is positioned on a plateau of rock where it is partly revealed and partly set into the existing woodland.
In both cases the houses present a limited elevation to the bay and their visibility is further reduced by being clad in black stained shiplap boards encouraging the building to recede from view similar to the materiality of the earlier log cabins. Therefore the houses at Hagel Point and Lucky Point are discreetly positioned to view this remarkable landscape as opposed to being viewed as remarkable objects in it.