The house built on Kawamaga Lake, in Ontario's Algonquin Highlands, by Building Arts Architects.David Whittaker/David Whittaker
When Jason Smirnis and David Jensen, architects and co-founders of Building Arts Architects in Toronto, embarked on designing a new cottage on Kawagama Lake, north of the city, they had a strong incentive to get everything just right. For starters, they were their own clients, co-owning the property with plans to sell it later this year. More significantly, their building lot sat just down the lake from Mr. Smirnis’s own summer home, which he had owned for 10 years. “It’s a very special place to me,” he said.
Kawagama Lake is the largest lake in Haliburton County, in the Algonquin Highlands west of Algonquin Park. Its topography is similar to the nearby Muskokas, characterized by granite shores, pine-covered islands and arcing bays that flow into creeks and rivers. However, it differs in its tranquillity. “There are noticeably fewer cottages here,” noted Mr. Smirnis. “We didn’t want to wreck the place.”
This isn’t to imply that Mr. Smirnis and Mr. Jensen played it safe or settled for low-key architecture. In fact, the resulting design is quite daring – a sleek black box perched on three concrete piers. Depending on the angle, it resembles a modernist spacecraft hovering amid the trees. All of this was inspired by the landscape. “The site offers so much beauty and richness as it is,” explained Mr. Smirnis. “We realized that the building could simply nestle its way into the forest and create something truly special.”
The house built on Kawamaga Lake in Ontario's Algonquin Highlands by Building Arts ArchitectsDavid Whittaker/David Whittaker
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The serene beauty of the site is well reflected in the home’s layout. The principal bedroom is separated from the guest suites across the main, lake-facing living area, providing maximum privacy. However, all the rooms have large windows overlooking the tree canopy. Additionally, various outdoor living spaces, such as a screened-in porch, a large deck beneath the house, a fire pit and a floating dock in the water, further connect visitors to the surroundings.
The project began to take shape five years ago when a 22-acre, untouched parcel became available near Smirnis’s cottage. “We were immediately excited by the opportunity,” said Mr. Jensen, who had met Mr. Smirnis when they were both architecture students in Nova Scotia in the 1990s. The parcel had road access and could be subdivided, which Mr. Jensen and Mr. Smirnis did, creating four 5.5-acre plots.
However, there were other challenges. The land had a reasonably steep slope. A thick layer of bedrock just below the topsoil would make digging foundations difficult (“we weren’t interested in including a conventional basement,” said Mr. Smirnis). Another consideration was the short construction season between the long, snow-filled winters.
Mr. Jensen and Mr. Smirnis explored options for prefabrication and settled on a cutting-edge material called cross-laminated timber. CLT, which is somewhat like plywood on steroids, consists of layers of standard dimension lumber, often spruce or pine two-by-sixes, glued together in alternating directions. The resulting walls, which can be flat-packed like Ikea furniture and trucked to a site, have concrete-like strength yet retain the warm appearance of natural wood.
“Jason was a carpenter before he was an architect,” noted Mr. Jensen. “He loves experimenting with wood.” To that end, the two even had their own wood shop in their architecture studio, where Mr. Smirnis himself built the front door to their office.
Despite its benefits, CLT is fairly uncommon in Ontario, partly due to its cost, which could easily add between 20 to 25 per cent to a construction project. To economize, Mr. Jensen and Mr. Smirnis left the CLT panels exposed throughout the cottage, allowing them to serve as both structure and interior finish. “CLT is a low-carbon material that generates very little waste,” explained Mr. Jensen. “When used as an interior finish, it reduces the need for other highly processed materials such as gypsum board.”
Furthermore, CLT suited the short building season. “We carefully scheduled the manufacturing of the CLT structure to occur during the winter when on-site construction was not feasible,” said Mr. Smirnis. “As soon as access to the site became possible in the spring, the CLT system was brought to the site and installed directly from the trucks onto a waiting steel and concrete substructure within a five-day period.” Fully enclosing the structure, including adding all the windows and doors, took an additional two weeks.
One of the cottage’s most distinctive features is the steel and concrete structure that appears to slice up from the ground. The piers were necessitated by the rock-laden, sloped terrain. “Conventional foundations would have required significant excavation and created challenging conditions with rapid groundwater movement,” explained Mr. Smirnis. “Instead, we opted to minimize excavation and use these three slender concrete walls to underpin the hovering structure.”
The floating effect, with the hill sloping under the cottage, provides a sense of drama as one moves around the terrain. “We appreciate that the building appears subtle and understated from the hillside,” says Mr. Jensen. “As you progress further into the building and eventually down to the water, you fully realize how unique the building is as an object in the landscape.”
In the years to come, with their remaining 5.5-acre lots, the architects hope to add other new homes. It will add some density to Mr. Smirnis’s beloved lake, but hopefully as gently as possible. Most likely, the new places will also incorporate CLT. Either way, Mr. Jensen and Mr. Smirnis plan to carry forward their ethos from this project. “Building on the rugged terrain of the Algonquin Highlands is very challenging,” says Mr. Jensen. “The best design solution is generally the one that keeps things as simple as possible.”
Editor’s note: (Feb. 16, 2024): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Kawagama Lake is located in Huron County. It is in Haliburton County. This version has been updated.