Design Solution: Toronto-based LAMAS (Lee and Macgillivray Architecture Studio) looked to the language of vernacular farmhouses when designing this house: stone partitions, simple economical forms, and timber framing. As the plan reveals, a linear masonry wall doubles as the north facade as well as a privacy screen that extends beyond the house’s footprint.

Parallel shear walls, set off at an oblique angle from this stone wall, begin to organize rooms, focusing their views toward a lake and a nearby vineyard. This strategy also results in a sawtooth south facade along a porch that is tucked underneath a deep eave. Abstract geometries—a chimney treated as the tangent to a half circle window; a trapezoidal cut into a monolithic roof plane to form a patio—heighten intimate moments in an otherwise singular composition.

Photo © Félix Michaud

Structure and Materials: Virgin Vineyard House aims to make an ecological case for the rural domicile as a product of its site, with hyper-locally sourced materials. Other than the stone wall, wood framing is the primary construction system. A high-performance envelope (with triple-glazed windows throughout), combined with common-sense siting, keeps operational energy low and lessens the house’s carbon footprint.