Peter Braithwaite met his clients while they were both walking their dogs in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia. “We got to talking,” Braithwaite says, and coincidentally, the design-build architect already knew of their parcel, a rustic 15-acre plot with coastal views and craggy footpaths. There’s a boreal forest with a barren running between it, he explains. He takes walks here all the time.

Greg Knapp and Robyn Traynor were already familiar with the architect’s work when they met, and had connected with his ethos. “We build more respectfully, not so heavy-handed and domineering on the natural landscape,” explains Braithwaite.

Before their chance meeting, Greg and Robyn, who had one child at the time—they now have two—would retreat to the plot to camp. They’d “use the land, walk around, and enjoy nature,” Braithwaite says. Initially, the couple envisioned a boat garage-slash-camping structure. But then “it evolved into a raised design to minimize impact on the land,” says Braithwaite. The ground has “scars from previous ATV tracks,” adds Greg, “so we knew that any significant traditional build would irreversibly alter the landscape.”

The retreat, called Lambkill Ridge, is elevated on stilts and features two shed-roofed volumes with a combined 536 square feet—one for sleeping, one for living—separated by an elevated boardwalk. “We built the deck over where the existing path was,” Braithwaite says. “We just continued it—and quite literally, you walk off the deck we built, and you’re right onto the trail.”

The dual-volume dwelling lacks an internal connection point, or a breezeway, which encourages outdoor time, says Braithwaite. To get from one structure to the other, “you go outside and walk. Including these outdoor spaces makes it feel larger than it is.” This is, in fact, the smallest structure the architect has ever done, but it can still accommodate a crowd. Both buildings are double height with two sleeping lofts, which are roomy enough to sleep five, maybe six.

The retreat’s exterior is finished in a vertical matte-black siding, a manufactured product from Maibec. This is Braithwaite’s color of choice. “I like black buildings because it reduces the building in a very minimal way,” he explains. With the absence of distraction, “the focus is more on the actual form and how it sits within the landscape.”

Inside, the structures feel “warmed up” thanks to walls in rough-sawn hemlock milled nearby. “The type of trees and materials we have in Halifax informs the buildings we do,” Braithwaite notes. To avoid plywood, he opted for a construction method that predates its invention, he explains, employing one-by-fours installed diagonally that provide structural stability and a unique aesthetic.

The two structures are “outsulated,” says Peter, meaning insulation fills the outside of the framing rather than the inside, which allows for the diagonal hemlock to remain exposed. “It is true to the building traditions of the place and gives this warm wood cabin feel to the building,” Braithwaite says. For more character, the studs and framing are exposed, too.

Now complete, the structure allows the family to spend “uninterrupted hours just playing, fluidly inside and out, but mostly outside,” Greg says. They retreat to the dwelling most weekends, he says, and “even in colder weather, we spend more time outside here than we would at our house in the city.”

More from Peter Braithwaite Studio:

Foul Weather Is No Match for This Boxy New Brunswick Home—or the Steel Stair Wrapped Around It

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Peter Braithwaite Studio / @pb__studio

Builder/General Contractor: Peter Braithwaite Studio

Cabinetry Design & Installation: Peter Braithwaite Studio