[Project by ArqEstructura]
This house project is sited near the shores of Lake Ontario, Canada, in rural Prince Edward County. It is for a film producer who needs space for working at home, holding workshops, entertaining, and accommodating visiting artists. The site offers uninterrupted views onto agricultural land from both front and rear, with neighbors situated only to the sides, and is exposed to cold westerly winds in winter, necessitating an architectural form that protects from these winds while capturing solar heat in non-summer months.
The house is designed around a wind-protected, semi-enclosed courtyard open to front and back only. Separating a garage from the rest of the house, the courtyard is linked with a large living room containing kitchen and dining that is overlooked by a mezzanine with an office-library and a bedroom suite. Two guestrooms, an airlock, a hall, and a bathroom complete the ground floor. The living room can be converted into a workshop or meeting space by rearranging furniture on castors.
To maximize privacy and avoid disturbing next-door neighbours during events, all spaces –including the courtyard– have their openings orientated exclusively out the front and back of the house. The double-decker porch at the front is designed to shade the house in summer but permit winter sun to penetrate it the rest of the year. A standard Canadian wood-frame structure is clad entirely with an envelope of corrugated galvanized steel to maximize cost-efficiency and acknowledge the agrarian setting.
Rafael Gómez-Moriana 