A two-and-a-half hours drive from Toronto, Cherry Valley offers the kind of Canadian rural idyll that celebrates nature and offers a calming daily life between the region's seashore and a burgeoning wine-making industry. Within this lush countryside setting, Toronto based StudioAC, crafted a new retreat for a private client, set in minimalist architecture within a green, meadow-like plateau that descends towards the serene waters of a nearby lake.
Cherry Valley: a rural retreat at one with its setting
Designed as a low, long volume that feels respectful to both its natural surroundings and the region's traditional vernacular, the home spans across a single level, sunken into the ridge. Large openings bring the interiors at one with the site's thriving flora and leafy views.
'This panoramic view immerses the viewer in the landscape rather than placing them on top of it, allowing observation of the strata of nature from soil, fern, tree, and sky,' write the architects, headed by studio founders Jennifer Kudlats and Andrew Hill.
Inside, a carefully planned spatial sequencing and seating concept makes for a flowing, open plan living interior that takes up the majority of the programme. Meanwhile, set on the footprint's edges, private quarters span three bedrooms and a selection of auxiliary spaces.
'Brick and cedar celebrate the duality of the site,' the architects continue, talking about the Cherry Valley house's soft Douglas fit cladding and defining exposed masonry.
'Brick is used on the solid wall that holds back the hillside into which the house is nestled, while a cedar roof wraps down the facade facing the water, engaging in a dialogue with the trees that frame the lake views.'
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The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthFrom Malibu beach pads to cosy cabins blanketed in snow, Wallpaper* has featured some incredible homes this month. We profile our favourites below
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Explore the riches of Morse House, the Canadian modernist gem on the marketMorse House, designed by Thompson, Berwick & Pratt Architects in 1982 on Vancouver's Bowen Island, is on the market – might you be the new custodian of its modernist legacy?
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Cosy-up in a snowy Canadian cabin inspired by utilitarian farmhousesInspired by local farmhouses, Canadian cabin Timbertop is a minimalist shelter overlooking the woodland home of wild deer, porcupines and turkeys
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Buy yourself a Sanctuary, a serene house above the British Columbia landscapeThe Sanctuary was designed by BattersbyHowat for clients who wanted a contemporary home that was also a retreat into nature. Now it’s on the market via West Coast Modern
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La Maison de la Baie de l’Ours melds modernism into the shores of a Québécois lakeACDF Architecture’s grand family retreat in Quebec offers a series of flowing living spaces and private bedrooms beneath a monumental wooden roof
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Peel back maple branches to reveal this cosy midcentury Vancouver gemOsler House, a midcentury Vancouver home, has been refreshed by Scott & Scott Architects, who wanted to pay tribute to the building's 20th-century modernist roots
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A spectacular waterside house in Canada results from a radical overhaulSplyce Design’s Shoreline House occupies an idyllic site in British Columbia. Refurbished and updated, the structure has been transformed into a waterside retreat
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Hilborn House, one of Arthur Erickson’s few residential projects, is now on the marketThe home, first sketched on an envelope at Montreal Airport, feels like a museum of modernist shapes, natural materials and indoor-outdoor living
