ED BURTYNSKY
CANADIAN ARCHITECT 08/22
42 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL IN ARCHITECTURE
POINT WILLIAM COTTAGE Point William, Muskoka, Ontario Shim-Sutcliffe Architects PHOTOS Scott Norsworthy, except where indicated LOCATION
ARCHITECT
Point William Cottage is a laboratory for living, offering a rich spatial experience that moves fluidly between interior and exterior spaces, while demarcating a place in the Canadian landscape. Located on the Canadian Shield, Point William is one of three slender peninsulas jutting into Lake Muskoka, and carries a rich geographic and cultural history. This project draws inspiration from the building culture of this part of Ontario: from sophisticated Muskoka boats and elaborate Victorian cottages, to underwater infrastructures made from heavy timber. The cottage replaces an existing 1960s building that occupied the tip of the peninsula, and is sited to reveal a large rock outcropping that was covered by the previous structure. The modern house has always been linked to the remarkable experiments that define the modernist project. In a similar spirit, Point William Cottage begins with architecture, and then expands its territory to include landscape, furniture, lighting, hardware and fittings. Design invention, material exploration, and a sense of delight take place at multiple levels. The scale of a door handle and of an architectural section are explored simultaneously.
CA Aug 22.indd 42
The building’s exterior palette combines local granite, weathered atmospheric steel, untreated ipe wood, and bronze-clad windows—all choreographed to create four distinct elevations, which are syncopated to respond to each orientation and program. The material palette was selected to ensure longevity, gracious aging, and anticipation of weathering over time. The building’s spatial sequence begins with an entry porch, framed by a series of deep weathering steel fins that straddle indoors and outdoors on one side, and weathering steel panels washed by natural light on the other. Canadian granite is pulled inside, defining the floor plane, while the skylit ceiling plane is shaped by natural light sweeping across Douglas fir panels. The cinematic space created by the deep weathering steel fins continually frames and reframes views of the landscape. Light is manipulated and sculpted through the articulated sections in this project. The reflected ceiling plan is an important dimension of this building, contributing a rich spatial sequence of interrelated and overlapping spaces. Several J-shaped double-glazed windows create poignant moments of transition throughout the project. The living area is located
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