Project: Virgin Vineyard House / Location: North Hatley, Canada / Architect and Interior Design: LAMAS Architecture Ltd. / Location: Toronto, Ontario (Canada) / Project Team: Vivian Lee (Architect), James Macgillivray (Architect), Andrea Rodriguez Fos (Project Manager) / Landscape: Paysage Lambert and Oscar Hache / Photographer: Felix Michaud / Contractor: Construction Yves Lessard
Situated between an old logging road and a working hillside vineyard, the Virgin Vineyard House derives its name from a farm whose ruins once stood above the site. The client approached LAMAS Architecture Ltd. with interest in building a new residence with minimal disturbance to the vineyard. The clients also wanted a house that would capture views overlooking Lake Massawippi in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, provide the ability for her to age in place and accommodate her daughter’s growing family.
To design the house, the architects drew inspiration from the prevalence of fieldstone walls in the local agricultural landscape. “Gathered stones start as a landscape feature separating the house from the road, ultimately comprising the north wall of the building,” the firm’s project statement says. “The architectural element is but a secondary feature clipped on to this stone wall, sheltering the living spaces from the road, the northerly winds and discreetly tucking them into the hillside.”
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The length of the wall enacts the sequence throughout the house, punctuated by windows, chimney, entry and courtyard. Moreover, the south side of this long linear residence is open to lake and vineyard views under a large protective overhang.
Measuring 155 feet long, the house conveniently organizes the private bedrooms at either end, while the central gathering spaces are located in the middle. The walls dividing each room are purposefully rotated for views facing the lake.
“This simple geometrical twist creates an oblique relationship between the rooms and the roof ridge line, making the rooms feel like private sheds, each with its unique volume directed towards the lake,” the architects says.
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In plan, the rooms are arranged in a sawtooth formation, creating recesses of semi private spaces under the large roof overhang to contemplate the view. Within this seemingly simple building are two large voids–one a courtyard framing the angle of the logging road and the other a roof deck overlooking the vineyard.
The building is meant to elucidate a relationship between a stone wall and wood tectonics, the architects note. Aside from the heavily insulated stone wall on the north side, the majority of the construction materials are wood. For the main part of the house, it uses light wood framing, either with studs, engineered lumber or deep joists. On the south facade, however, wood is used structurally in the mullions of the wood triple-glazing system throughout.
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Wood construction was of interest in order to keep the embodied energy and carbon footprint down, but also to allow for a well-insulated envelope, the Toronto-based firm says in the project statement. Beyond the environmental aspect, the lumber, hemlock cladding, stone and even the high performance glazing systems were all locally procured in Quebec.
Even the choice of the geothermal ground source heating was an unconventional choice but a particularly advantageous element in Quebec, where plentiful carbon-free municipal electricity can power the heat pumps. Foremost in the architects’ minds was this connection to the location through materials and craft, as well as traditional forms of Quebec architecture. The owner also continued the sustainable focus, working with a local horticulturalist to plant indigenous flora to support the natural habitat of the site.
