The Halfway Hill House is a new Newfoundland structure, modest in scale but offering a cinematic overview of its surroundings. Designed by Chris Woodford of local studio Woodford Architecture, this contemporary cabin packs a lot into just 950 square feet.
With far-reaching views across the Bonavista Peninsula and Trinity Bay on the North Atlantic Coast, the compact building is also intended to be as sustainable and energy efficient as possible. The open plan living space takes up the entire top floor, set beneath a steep asymmetrical pitched roof. A full-width deck opens off this space, looking across the Bay to the nearby small communities of Champney’s West, Port Rexton and Trinity.
Far-reaching views are available from the upper deck at the Halfway Hill House
The house contains two double bedrooms on the entrance level, reached by a raised walkway and wraparound deck, accessed from each bedroom. A large storage shed, finished in the same dark soot pine cladding as the main house, doubles up as a windbreak to shield the front door from the region’s strong winds. The resulting covered porch is angled to frame a view straight ahead across Trinity Bay to Fox Island. The house feels truly immersed in the landscape; from the cedar wood deck on the upper level, one can see all the way to the historic lighthouse at Fort Point, dating back to 1871.
The Halfway Hill House has been orientated to frame distant views
The wooded site makes for a dramatic backdrop, and the house stands silhouetted against the sky and the jagged treeline. The form provides a subtle tweak on the conventional domestic archetype with its dark wooden cladding, frameless double-glazed windows, and charcoal-coloured metal roof that seals the whole unit into a solid, monolithic composition. Inside, finishes have been kept spartan and low-key. The white painted spruce boarding that covers the walls and ceilings was locally sourced, as was the natural black stained spruce flooring. The birch plywood used to make the custom kitchen was also local, with light grey tiles used on the lower floor bathroom and foyer.
The open plan living space at the Halfway Hill House in Newfoundland
The house was originally designed as a retirement retreat for a couple from Toronto with family roots in the area. By the time the project was completed, it was clear this would be a perfect full-time house and it has now become their primary residence.
The Halfway Hill House in Newfoundland seen from the approach road
The Halfway Hill House in Newfoundland by Woodford Architects
INFORMATION
-
The first-ever lava lamp has been reissued, alongside a new giant versionThe manufacturer of the 1960s design icon presents a new, 3m-tall lava lamp, as well as a limited-edition take on the first ‘Astro’ lamp, in collaboration with Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis
-
These are the best design exhibitions to see in Paris this weekAs Design Miami Paris and Art Basel Paris make their return, we round up the best design exhibitions to discover in the city
-
Spice up the weekly shop at Mallorca’s brutalist supermarketIn this brutalist supermarket, through the use of raw concrete, monolithic forms and modular elements, designer Minimal Studio hints at a critique of consumer culture
-
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
-
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
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthWallpaper* has spotlighted an array of remarkable architecture in the past month – from a pink desert home to structures that appears to float above the ground. These are the houses and buildings that most captured our attention in August 2025
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coastBishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
