Montreal-based architecture practice Nature Humaine has designed a cabin for a rocky mountainside in the Eastern Townships that aims to bring a direct and timeless experience of nature to its inhabitants through its cantilevered form and minimalist interiors.
The architects were inspired by the address of the project, Crowhill road, and perched their cabin on a ledge, ‘observing the landscape’ like a crow. They also used black burned-wood exterior cladding ‘reminiscent of their jet black and glowing plumage,’ say the architects.
Anchored into the rocky cape with concrete foundations, one volume features a living spaces while the second has two bedrooms, with entry to each space in the middle. The orientation of the cantilever faces out into the landscape, with the view from inside enhanced by the overhanging roofs that also act to reduce solar gain during summer.
The entranceway to the cabin.
The architects – who have a series of minimal, highly-crafted residences and a timber-lined Aesop store under their belt – believe that architecture has the ability to carefully balance an ecosystem.
With this project, they chose to balance simplicity, economy and integrity within the design: ‘With deliberately modest dimensions, we tried to show that architecture, whatever its dimensions, may be oneiric, and control the scale so it might seem that this small chalet was simply been dropped there,’ say the architects.
While the cabins look like a couple of cubic crows just landed on their ledge, it was actually carefully crafted by Nature Humaine’s client, a dynamic design enthusiast and local to the area, who was both the client, general contractor, and builder too.
He requested a design that could be a model he could re-built elsewhere. It was their client’s minimalism that inspired the interiors that feature ceramic flooring with a concrete finish: ‘The idea was almost to make people forget the minimalist design, and instead put the emphasis on the surrounding landscape.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Nature Humaine website
-
The return of the bullhead: the watch design that refuses to conformLittle known outside of watch circles, but enthusiastically collected within them, bullhead watches have always been divisive. Identified by the crown at 12 o’clock, it made design sense – no digging into the wrist, allowing easier function as a stopwatch - but remains a speciality. But now, the bullhead is back
-
Tour Peridot, Hong Kong’s hypnotic new barLocated on the 38th floor of The Henderson, Studio Paolo Ferrari’s latest project is a study in ‘light, refraction, and intimacy’
-
Lighting designer Andi Watson on creating Mitski’s sculptural stage for 'The Land'In Mitski’s live show and new concert film, a single beam of light becomes her dance partner. Lighting designer Andi Watson discusses turning shadow, movement and restraint into the architecture of feeling
-
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?
-
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
