house one - Tremblant ski chalet

Located at the footstep of Mont Tremblant, on what use to be Mont Bellevue ski resort, House One – ski chalet is the practice’s first commission and a design exploration aiming to create rich and diverse spaces in a compact construction, therefore allowing to fully enjoy the expansive surroundings views and rich site textures while minimizing embodied energy needed for the construction.

House One – ski chalet tightly fits within the edge of the protected summit area to the north and the steep south and west facing slopes. Points of entry of the site to the north and east are re-used abandoned cat tracks previously use to maintain the ski hill.

Unlike common local building practices, who tends to clear the forest and blast the Canadian Shield in order to create a flat building site on a sloped topography, the house tightly fits within an existing clearing created by the surfacing bedrock, where only one maple tree had to be cut. Furthermore, the upper / elevated volume lightly sits over board form concrete fins that follows the exposed rock in order to preserve the beauty of the existing site.

The 1,180 square feet upper volume includes the master quarter to the east and is separated from the living spaces by the see through passage of the main entry and south terrace access. The see through passage connects the users with the ever changing landscape both morning and evening, when traversing from and to the master bedroom. This black metal clad volume sits over the 545 square feet lower level which is clad in cedar. The lower level includes the guest quarters, sports room and mechanical room. Located in an existing rock depression, the lower level is used as the backdoor entry where it is possible for the owner to park under a covered space created by the cantilever master bedroom. There, the board form concrete foundation is exposed to the inside, allowing for a large thermal mass and a continuous / non-interrupted insulation on the outside face. An exterior storage space is located underneath the covered north entrance.

Both levels totalling 1725 square feet of interior space are complemented with 675 square feet of various exterior spaces such as the north and south facing covered terraces, the south facing uncovered terrace as well as the west oriented screened porch. Service rooms are concentrated to the north in order to minimise the openings on this elevation.

The scale, composition and proportions, along with an airtight envelope and triple glazed windows allows to maximise the experience of the owner by capturing large views of the High Laurentian hills and close details of the site, while allowing for maximum comfort and minimal energy consumption.

The owner’s sensitivity for the design along with the builder’s craftsmanship capabilities were keys in bringing the realisation to existence.