Project Details

This cottage, in Muskoka, Ontario, was designed to replace a beloved family lake house. Three generations have shared summers together at this very special place called Merry Hill. Recognizing their changing needs and looking forward to future generations, the clients wanted to both drastically change the cottage and not change it at all. The architectural challenge was to nearly double the size of the original cottage and take it from a summer house to a four-season getaway while evoking the character of the original house in a new and fresh way.

The main cottage, boathouse and sleeping cabin all have shallow-pitched, broad roofs with generous overhangs that derive their form from the mid-century predecessor. Expansive openings, wood interiors, operable clerestories, and local stone double-stacked fireplaces are all familiar to the clients but rendered in different scales. Passive strategies for cooling, such as cross ventilation in the old cottage, are incorporated into the new cottage with the enhancements of geothermal heating and air conditioning, double-glazing, and serious insulation.
The resulting form, detailing, and material selections of the new house create a seamless continuity of memory-making places for a sentimental family.