The 1.6 hectare site is forested by oak and pine, growing in
sandy soil, stained reddish brown by a high iron content. A
wide sandy beach demarcates the edge between water
and land overlooking the lake.
A palette of materials was chosen to compliment the site’s
natural colour scheme, yet do so with man-made materials,
that rather than polished and refined, represent a rough
industrial aesthetic. Wood, steel, stone and concrete are
brought inside through the transparency of the voids formed
by large glazed areas separating the three pavilions. Floors
are of natural slate or maple, yielding to wool in bedrooms
and rubber in the gym, while ceilings vary from corrugated
steel, to floating plywood and steel elements hovering below
gypsum board.
Blending of natural and industrial may seem contrary, yet in
northern Ontario, one is born from the other. Redwood cedar
echoes the ruddy sand, the rough textured concrete reminds
one of quarried limestone, exposed steel from the Algoma
mills, all a continuum from the natural, to the man-made.