Is it Any Surprise a Sculptor Had a Hand in This Home?

An asymmetric retreat in Quebec is an exquisite cadaver, one part sculpture and two parts architecture.

Text by

Dwell

Photos by

Francis Pelletier

View 5 Photos

The easiest call when designing Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz’s lake house was to build vertically. A tower, everyone reasoned, would mimic the height of the coniferous forest that surrounds the 10-acre property in southern Quebec.

All the other decisions were left on the table, as architects Marie-Claude Hamelin and Loukas Yiacouvakis of YH2 consulted Jarnuszkiewicz, a sculptor, to create something unique and inspired by modern art.

A textured wood walls meets a glass cutaway on the second floor. The Wishbone chairs are by Hans Wegner.

Their collaborative effort yielded an abstract sanctuary that blends their callings. Two volumes, one dark and one light, are clad in black pine and Western red cedar, respectively. A sharply slanted roof, set on columns, juts into the sky, forming an overhang for a roof deck.

A covered terrace is accessible from the second floor. An oculus allows the residents to sun beneath the roof overhang.

The open-plan ground floor serves as the dining-living area and kitchen, while the second-floor aerie is dedicated to wildlife observation. Through the thicket trees, Jarnuszkiewicz can glimpse Lake Trousers and even mountains off in the distance.