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.

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.

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.

All photo by Francis Pelletier