Quebec architect Jean Verville never shies away from bold graphic gestures. He first caught our eye with a gloriously colourful Montreal loft interior, and has since experimented with his residential designs, from houses to micro dwellings. So it comes as no surprise that a cottage in the Eastern Townships of Quebec should be just as jaw-dropping.
Created for a couple with two young kids, the 176-square-metre FAHOUSE plays with bold geometries in both envelope and interior – where a blast of colour also resides.
Clad in black corrugated steel, the cottage features two pitched roofs that rise side by side, and almost resemble twin conifer trees given a stylized treatment. The architect derived the shape after many conversations with the occupants, and by observing the parents’ relationship with their children. Hence, the dreamy, childlike geometries and playful, irregular windows.
The roof overhang of the larger triangular prism creates a canopy over the terrace; the home was built on sloped terrain, so an outside staircase leads down from a hill that hugs the back of the house. Adjacent the terrace, the living area is outlined in glass walls that blur the boundaries between indoors and out.
The living room leads into the kitchen, which features a generous island and a rustic picnic-style table. Throughout the home, the floor is natural concrete, and the stair, ceiling and kitchen cabinets are in Baltic plywood. Lines of light are recessed into the ceiling, adding to the home’s sense of multifaceted perspective.
Upstairs, the kids and the parents each enjoy bedrooms under attic-like pitched roofs supported by rafters. The bathroom, lined in tile, recalls the geometries and black-and-white grid quality of Superstudio’s Continuous Monument – the showerhead adding a further graphic touch.