Best of show: Residential

A client couple with a bustling family in Ontario’s cottage country requested a separate sleeping cabin for their personal use where they could watch the sunset in bed.
The project comprises a single, 275-square-foot room with a built-in bed and an outdoor deck and shower.

The hideaway gets year-round use, heated with a wood-burning stove augmented by an electric heater. Three walls of the cabin have floor-to-ceiling glass, wrapped by a horizontal cedar screen on two sides for privacy and sun shading. As the sun sets, the varied gaps within the screen filter the light into random patterns on the interior surfaces. A larger cut-out in the screen provides spectacular views of the setting sun from the built-in bed.

The cabin has cedar windows, doors and cladding, and birch plywood panelled interior surfaces. All storage is built in, including the bed and pullout drawers below and continuous cabinets on either side of the bed along the one solid wall. A green roof allows the cabin to blend into the landscape. This was deemed desirable because the cabin is visible from the main house atop a hill. The floor of the cabin extends outside towards the lake to become a deck with access to an outdoor shower, also enclosed by a cedar screen.

Alsop: The walls bring in the great sunsets. That’s why you go to a cottage.
Banse: I like the random quality of the slats.
Daoust: I love the quality of light.
Robbie: If you’re going to build a bunkie, this is the way to do it. It has a floating quality overlooking the lake.
Schleeh: These sweet details will weather nicely in 15 or 20 years.