A cabin in the woods

Text by Danielle Couvignou, writter
Translated from French to English by Kim Lachapelle-Dubord, communications officer

A forest. A shelter.

This house is located in Rigaud in Monteregie, between Montreal and Ottawa. Under a rich forest cover nestles this wooden-clad refuge which honors its adopted region with its architecture inspired by vernacular agricultural constructions.

Wood in the trees

Both contemporary and carrying its roots, it fits in perfectly with its fragile environment. Its beams and columns of spruce and jack pine from our boreal forests stand tall. Their roots are stirrups and bolts of steel. The charcoal-toned cedar siding and gold columns are reminiscent of the colors of the tree's growth rings. The sloping roofs are of light-colored metal and the artwork rests on granite plinths with rusty iron oxide veins.

The forest area extends its ramifications into the interior with wood decking ceilings adorned with majestic beams, floors and built-in furniture in linear style.

This residence puts people in constant interaction with their natural territory thanks to generous openings arranged on all sides. It fits into the heart of the sacred dial tree, exposed to the four cardinal points. To the north, the privacy of untouched wilderness. To the south, the domesticated forest with its terrace, garden and sugar shack. To the east, a breach in the vegetation cover lets visitors in. To the west, an intimate cocoon surrounds the kitchen and the dining room.

Five cascading volumes

The first volume is inspired by the protective barn. Rectangular, compact and solid, it houses the serving spaces: the dining room and the living room on the ground floor as well as three bedrooms upstairs.

The second volume, on only one floor, recalls the stable, this large functional space. From the porch topped with a protective roof, supported by imposing raw wood pillars, we enter where the soul of our Quebec traditions sits: the kitchen which extends onto a screened summer kitchenette straddling a brook.

The third volume, the rectangular tower, like the grain silo, rises as the guardian of the place. Covered entirely with cedar and pierced with large rectangular openings, it is inhabited by a staircase made up of wooden beam steps, placed on steel slats anchored to the wall overhanging a green roof. Upstairs, a workshop where the owners feel that their creative hands are more than ever attached to their hearts.

The fourth volume, the garage, separated from the house as is the tradition, is purely functional, but so necessary to shelter vehicles and other utilities.

The fifth volume, with a flat green roof, houses the mudroom. An entrance hall to daily life and a place of transition where the grandeur of the forest is clearly present through the cedar of its walls.

Like a seed, this home carries within itself the gifts of a powerful and welcoming tree where all who enters it feel good... to the delight of the owners who have their whole life ahead of them.