A place to cherish East Coast charms
Contemporary summer home uses locally sourced materials to mirror landscape outside
When building their summer home in Nova Scotia, the Swiss owners of Sluice Point wanted to take full advantage of the area’s swimming, fishing, boating and hiking.
Plus, they wanted a home that would be durable and easy to maintain.
Sluice Point, named for its location at the province’s southern tip, offers all of those things — plus a stunning view of the Tusket River. Added bonuses are that it also provides protection from winter winds and prying eyes.
The long, horizontal structure is one storey and uses a palette of natural and local materials to blend with the landscape.
The home has an interior space of 2,750 square feet and a semicircular design with a central indoor/outdoor great room space. Its living areas and kitchen/dining space take advantage of the view.
The children’s bedroom is at the back of the living area, with the master bedroom and ensuite to one side and the guest bedroom to the other. The home has two decks — an open morning deck off the master suite to best enjoy sunrise and the other a covered space for entertaining that’s an extension of the living room and takes advantage of the rotating fireplace.
It’s built entirely from locally sourced wood, including spruce and eastern white cedar on exterior cladding. The main living area ceiling is clear spruce; local clear spruce and birch millwork highlight the great room.
Sluice Point took five years to design and build and was completed in the summer of 2017.
Architect Omar Gandhi, of Omar Gandhi Architect Inc., answers a few questions about the modern design:
What was the goal?
The clients wanted to build a remote summer home . . . The design needed to accommodate room for a guest and potential guest family. The design/finishes needed to be durable to withstand wet boots and fishing/ boating gear. When the clients were not in the country, the building needed to be secure and shielded from both climate and trespassers. Above all else the cottage was required to be minimal and not detract from the natural landscape.
How did you go about achieving respect for the surrounding environment?
We designed a low-lying structure that seems to disappear into the point’s banked boundaries. The shingle-clad exterior jacket, which greys over time, becomes camouflaged in its surroundings.
What about privacy, considering the large windows?
Privacy is a major concern — both when the cottage in inhabited and when vacant. From the road, you can’t really tell if anyone is home. From the private side, the walls of glass are protected by automated metal louvres which enclose the building.
How did you make the space versatile and flexible?
An open, airy gathering space with a program that is movable: the fireplace rotates, the sliding doors conceal technology.
The boundary between indoor and outdoor is intentionally blurred, with entire walls opening up to the exterior.
Explain the design of the doorway?
It derives from a traditional vernacular found throughout Nova Scotia . . . entry enclosures to protect the door from being blown around and allow for the door to be opened even during high snowfalls. The “wind break” tunnel entry is also an integral part of the procession and narrative through the space. By exaggerating the tight vertical dimensions, the wide horizontal dimension is heightened at the climax when the visitor enters the main space of the house.
What were the biggest challenges in building it?
The roof structure, and co-ordination of construction and detailing around the roof — no two trusses are the same. Additionally, the seamless expanse of windows with the structure of the building pulled inside the usable space.