Minimalist cabin in Canada designed by Nature Humaine to bring us closer to nature
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 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
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
DAB 1α electric motorbike is the first product from French manufacturer DAB Motors
The DAB 1α is an all-electric motorbike born out of industrial design, gaming culture and aviation technology, and now available to order
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The 2024 Ivor Novello nominations for songwriting have been revealed
77 British and Irish songwriters and composers make up this year's nominees, announced tonight at London's Groucho Club
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Why Bollinger’s La Grande Année 2015 champagne is worth celebrating
Champagne Bollinger unveils La Grande Année 2015 and La Grande Année Rosé 2015, two outstanding cuvées from an exceptional year in wine-making
By Melina Keays Published
-
Downs House II inspires West Coast Modern campaign in Vancouver
Downs House II, currently on the market in Vancouver, inspires a West Coast Modern campaign to save the modernist landmark
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
MOCA is a self-sufficient mobile home offering freedom to work (and roam)
MOCA (Mobile Catalyst) is a sustainable mobile home designed by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, and taking remote working to a new level
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Toronto’s Rolex boutique wows with dynamic façade
This Rolex boutique in Toronto features a dynamic, wavy façade in CNC-cut limestone created by local architecture studio Partisans
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Promenade Samuel-de Champlain is a riverside boulevard championing urban green
Promenade Samuel-de Champlain in Quebec gives the city’s river back to its community, transforming a previously neglected urban space
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Chez Léon is a contemporary Canadian retreat in the Quebec countryside
This Canadian retreat, an elegant update of the classic cabin in the woods, is part ski lodge, part tree house, combining traditional materials and stunning views with a light footprint
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
A nest house in the Netherlands immerses residents in nature
Buitenverblijf Nest house by i29 offers a bird-inspired forest folly for romantic woodland escapes in the Netherlands
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
House in High Park is a Toronto home to be discovered slowly
House in High Park by Ian MacDonald Architect is a new-build home in Toronto that takes a problematic plot and transforms it into an exhilarating, contemporary residence
By Ellen Himelfarb Published
-
Is this the shape of wellness architecture to come?
Explore the future of wellness architecture through trends and case studies – from a Finnish sauna restaurant to UK cabins and a calming Canadian vet clinic
By Emma O'Kelly Published