Gananoque Lake Road House

Gananoque Lake Road House, completed in 2007, is the very first ever completed Solares project. Fresh from the University of Waterloo with their Masters of Architecture, Solares co-founders Tom and Christine decided to design and build an energy efficient house for Christine's parents in Gananoque, Ontario.

The lush rural property is covered in wildflowers, with a large rock outcropping that overlooks the property below. The home, standing two-storeys tall with entrances on both floors, is well integrated into the tall rock face that overlooks the surrounding landscape. The main entrance sits on the ground floor, opposite the stairs. A hallway with two guest bedrooms and a bathroom take up the eastern end of the floor, with a side door that leads to the garden at the furthest end of the hallway. To the west of the foyer is a door to the two-car garage, a storage closet, and a large workshop and mechanical room.

Upstairs, the Great Room stretches out to the east, with large windows on the southern wall and access to the spacious southern deck. The deck includes a hot tub and access to the top of the rock face, which acts as a lookout point to the surrounding property. a fire pit and intimate seating area is found at the far point of the rock. A cosy enclosed porch on the southeast corner of the Great Room provides an outdoor, yet bug-free, dining area.

West of the staircase, a small bathroom sits on the landing before a short hallway that runs north-south. On the north wing of the hallway, a large laundry room with space to air-dry clothing sits before a spacious office. The master bedroom with en suite is located on the southern end of the hallway, with substantial closet space.

The home was built with passive solar strategies like high levels of insulation, glazed windows, and natural cross-ventilation patterns. The upper floor’s south-facing Great Room features large, triple-glazed windows, which capture beautiful views of the property, and collect passive solar heat through southern sunlight. A 4ft roof provides summer shade on the deck and keeps the house cool in the summer. Awning windows create cross ventilation, and the house’s concrete structure acts as a thermal mass, which steadies the indoor air temperature.

Construction on the house took 13 months from beginning to end. The home's EnerGuide rating is an impressive 87. Even in the hottest summer months, the house stays comfortable and cool; the house’s owners have never recorded indoor temperatures warmer than 26°C.