Teeming with owls, moose, and black bears, the snowy forests of Eastern Quebec make an ideal site for a winter fortress. It was perfect for Canadian architecture firm _naturehumaine’s latest client, a behind-the-scenes movie guy who wanted a secluded place to recuperate from intensive, exhausting projects.

Architects Stéphane Rasselet and David Dworkind delivered with a strikingly simple concept. They anchored two stacked, rectangular volumes into a steep mountainside surrounded by awe-inspiring vistas. “We love the sensation of floating amongst the trees that you feel as you look out from the cantilevered second floor,” Dworkind says.

But while the basic design is simple, the details are complex. Though working on a relatively small budget of $175 per square foot, the architects filled the 1,740-square-foot cabin with sophisticated creature comforts—from a one-of-a-kind centralized fireplace to a panoramic picture window that takes in wide-angle views of nearby Mount Orford. The result is impressively cinematic, speaking to the client’s professional interests while still letting him forget about work entirely.

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Amazing Cantilevered Home in the Mountains