Is it a machine for living or a living gallery? A feat of engineering or fine art? Montréal-based Atelier Échelle resolves this line of inquiry with their design for a Lakeside Gallery Residence situated on the west banks of Lake Memphremagog in rural Québec. The home is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional barn volume typical of vernacular in Magog, Canada, repeating the prototypical structure, which is parsed into four distinct programs, stitched together by cedar roofs, brick walls, and glass bridges. The exterior materiality acts as a neutral canvas to capture natural patination while the interior design is in service of the residents’ art collection.
Repeat
The crux of the concept, or parti, is its form. “It’s like the Canadian barn. And we liked the appeal of that, because it was rudimentary as a shed for art and a shed for living,” say, co-founders and principal architects of the atelier. “And then to create the same shed, but with different intentions by giving it completely different programs, was something that also the client really enjoyed.”
Each of the four lengthy forms are oriented to maximize waterfront views while breaking up the sprawling 15,000-square-foot ground floor plan into manageable spaces to be used as needed: outdoor kitchen, dining, lounge, and water feature; indoor kitchen, dining, living, and music lounge; main quarters with en suite primary bedroom, adjacent office, and powder room; and guest quarters with four en suite bedrooms.
And each comes with its own nuances. The summer terrace celebrates life on the lake al fresco with an all-encompassing 100-foot-long shelter. The fully enclosed winter home showcases a breathtaking open plan unobstructed by traditional mullions in the windows. The main living house is punctuated by clerestory windows to provide plenty of light and informal thresholds between each structure. Even the guest quarters are equipped with access to a private garage.
Notable elements tucked neatly into the otherwise liminal spaces include a walk-in pantry and specialized wine storage modeled after a traditional wine cellar – housing an excess of 1,200 bottles, specifically crafted according to the unique shape of a Bourgogne bottle and modeled after French caverns with the gravel on the floor. The basement comprises a smattering of secondary spaces including a private gym and guest lounge lined in a deep blue velvet corduroy curtain.
While seemingly simple, this robust solution makes every volume its own microcosm within a larger system where independent dwellings are relatively autonomous and occupants have the agency to come and go as they please without disturbing their adjacencies.
(Re)Frame
The architecture is articulate in communicating art’s value to those who visit, and the ethos of homeowners who appreciate personal expression as much as they love to entertain. Its ability to reflect those intangibles is matched by its ability to inflect aesthetic concepts and function.
The first viewport is established upon entry where guests are greeted by an 11-foot-tall wood door that opens into the main gallery while also hinting at scenes to come. Reinforced concrete, steel structuring, and brick walls create multiple frameworks for viewing the landscape, and in one condition secure a custom motorized glass system spanning 55 feet of unadulterated grooves of any kind. A shift from enclosed rooms to generous glazing marks the home’s transition from focusing on the clients’ private collection to featuring the vista as the programming approaches the lake.
Reveal
The residence serves as the medium mitigating a shift in desire from expansive views to intimate moments with art. Strategically positioned surfaces pace movement through site, scale, and space. A series of gallery walls and in situ installations are seamlessly integrated into circulation and hallways with floor-to-ceiling windows elsewhere conspire to become viewports of the surrounding landscape and artful exterior.
Interventions like niches between each of the four pseudo-dwellings break up architecture with the arts, or perhaps marry the two. “When you build a house in brick, very often you almost don’t see it from the inside,” the designers say. “You don’t really look at the house when you’re inside. So this way was also compelling to be able to see those very nice brick walls.”
Created by Simon Hughes, the powder room is fully lined with a custom mural depicting the four seasons and playful collages abstracting events plucked from the owners’ lives. An oil rubbed bronze vanity and lavatory stand in the center, lightly reflecting jewel tones cast off the walls. A second, more conceptual installation by the same artist graces the outdoor water feature, which depicts floating iceberg mosaics.
Life Arts On
Site, space, surface, and scale. Few residential projects carefully consider these intricate complexities so deeply, or find themselves responsible for such a multiplicity of functions including cultural repository and dynamic domestic space.
“We designed the home with art – most art has a place. But there were also some instances where the homeowner said, ‘I know I want a sculpture here, but I don’t know what it is yet.’ So there’s this evolution with the house now that we’ve left,” the designers add. “The idea is that the house has… It gets a life of its own even after we’ve gone, which I really like that the clients can make it their own.”
To see more of the studio’s work, visit atelierechelle.com.
Photography by Maxime Brouillet.
