Contemporary Minton Hill House by Affleck + de la Riva Architects
Located in Minton Hill, the site was originally a rest stop on a nineteenth-century bridal trail. The lookout provides a dramatic 180-degree view over the northern end of Lake Massawippi and the surrounding countryside. This house have a balance between the engaging of its panoramic hilltop position and the provision of a protective domestic environment.
The essential elements of this project are roof, the stone hearth, the wood shell, and the sun window. The floating roof is the project’s defining symbol. Its generous southern overhang provides the solar control of a vernacular Eastern Townships farmhouse in a contemporary architectural form.
During the summer the house is shielded from the high, hot sun by the roof overhang and the stone hearth provides cooling to the main living spaces. During the winter the stone hearth takes advantage of the low seasonal sun and a hot-water coil under the floor slab to become a passive heat sink.
Anchoring both ends of the house, the wood shell is a largely opaque cedar-clad volume that creates protected spaces for the more private accommodations of the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the home office and the kitchen. The sun window is a commercial aluminium curtain wall that opens the southern wall of the main living area generously onto the landscape. It provides eyes on the world for the house’s owner while welcoming summer light and winter sun into the heart of the house.
