Chalet Forestier

Overt city dwellers, the clients of this chalet wished to build a secondary residence in woodlands nearing Montreal for their leisurely use throughout weekends and holidays. They then found a site set on the eastern face of mount Pinnacle in the Eastern townships of Quebec. Their requirements were modest: an easy-to-maintain residence in which its spaces were largely open to the surrounding nature, and be built from Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), which would, in turn, project a robust and brutish image.

Consequently, a large volume composed of three programmatic subspaces – parent/living, loggia and children – requires for its residents to step outside in spite of the harsh winter climate in order to access adjacent spaces. This proposition which was promptly adopted by the clients enhances the occupants’ relation to nature, all the while being economically viable by only heating occupied spaces. As a result, the loggia allows for the two entrances to be covered, an exterior eating area protected from insects, as well as forming an access to the eastern exterior corridor whose composed colonnade recalls the trees of the forest.

Formally, the project presents itself as a considerably sized monolithic fragment placed on site in an illusional manner. Far from blending in with the landscape, the black mass lends its place to the surrounding nature by way of stark contrast whose effects of light and shadow never cease to transform depending on the angle from which it is approached.

Atelier Barda