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In Chester, an oceanside village on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, a 125-m2 (1,350-sf) upside-down house was realized for a woman living in Seattle, who wished to return to Canada. The minimal and modest home is designed as a “house within a house.”
Designed by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, the residence’s ground floor features two bedrooms and a staircase constructed of an origami-like folded perforated steel plate. This leads to the upstairs, which features only one principal room. The living and dining area form a central open space, with secondary spaces creating a thickened perimeter around—a kitchen, a washroom, a covered balcony, and a bay window.
The downstairs wooden base creates an inversion in this upside-down house. Challenging the notions of traditional living, the bottom floor is where the bedrooms lay. Refuge and privacy are created in a sheltered and quieter environment, forming protection for the user. The wooden base creates a solid and secure place.
A fireplace forms a central gathering place. This space is surrounded by protective thick walls inspired by Irish tower houses. These encompassing smaller elements help to mediate between the central room and the outside world.
The upstairs living space, surrounded by glass, lets in light in the form the shadows and offer a panoramic view of the forest. Small punch windows create vignettes of intimate landscape features. The dwelling submerses occupants with nature, through the sounds of the babbling brook and sunlight through the canopy cover.
The upper storey is a weathered steel sleeve that appears to slide over its wooden base. With the interior sparsely furnished, the homeowner enjoys watching the light and shadows sweep across the monochromatic surfaces.
Minimally detailed eaves, corners, and openings both underscore and elevate the architectural simplicity. A glass entry bite forms a porch reversed, an elevated blockhouse perspective in the treetops.
This two-and-a-half-storey house is a prototype in the practice of modest living. Culturally and economically appropriate to its setting, the site transcends into the local culture, blending into the landscape. The goal in the design process is to set out and make a home of minimal form, cost , and material.
