Dell Lake Cottage and Site
The Dell Lake Cottage is comprised of five buildings on a 300-acre property near Parry Sound Ontario, built for a three-generation family of artists and designers. At the core of the complex are three buildings forming a solar forecourt referred to by the client as the Zen Court. The core building ensemble is complemented by two additional outlying studios for painting and sculpture. The primary living area has a glass-house transparency, recalling mid-20th century modernist classics such as the Farnsworth and Johnson houses. The project employs passive environmental strategies for thermal comfort and energy efficiency, use of local materials and differentiated thermal zoning, allowing varying use of parts of the main building and out buildings in the winter months. Large overhangs on the south-east and south-west building faces allow for summer and winter solar thermal management of the building. This project satisfies the client’s needs for a durable, architecturally elegant and understated building of subtle luminosity.
Photos by Scott Norsworthy.
