A house in a meadow between the forest and the sea.

Our clients approached us with a site overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence to build a contemporary retreat conveying a sense of solidity. Solidity means a lot on Cape Breton Island, an area frequently exposed to les suêtes, southeasterly winds that can reach speeds of 200km/hr.

We were inspired by the shieling, a stone crofter’s hut found across Cape Breton built by early Scottish settlers and part of a long history of settlement in a place also referred to as Unama’ki.

The crofter’s hut carries a strong datum line separated by two unique structurally contrasting elements: a stone base cut and assembled into a heavy three-dimensional stereotomic form, and a wood-framed and thatched roof. This inspiration led us to respond to the site by creating a sculptural roof with a distinctive sawtooth roofline that captures sunlight from the south while transforming the home into a beacon at night. Large openings cut from the stone base provide expansive northwestern views.

We worked closely with a landscape architecture firm based in Atlantic Canada, to connect the structure with the site’s three distinct ecologies: a forest, a windswept coastal meadow inhospitable to trees, and cliffs which give way to the beach below. The result is a three-bedroom house wedged between a sheltered forest courtyard to the south and a terrace with views of the coastal highlands to the north. Natural materials speak to the textures of a home set into the ground with cladding, a retaining wall, and pavers made of local sandstone. The contrasting cedar shingles add to the warmth and durability of a textured material palette rooted to place.