Under its bark of burnt wood, the Chalet du Marin shelters rooms paved with rocks. The La Shed team revisited the work of Quebec modernist architect Roger D’Astous for this unifying place, built on a peninsula in the Laurentians where interior and exterior merge naturally.
The house is set in a century-old hemlock forest on the shores of Lac des Iles, in the heart of the Laurentians. It is in this region, where he spent his childhood vacations, that the Montreal owner chose to come and recharge his batteries on weekends, in the company of his friends, by acquiring a vast piece of land with a chalet built in the 1950s. If nothing remains of it, too dilapidated and modest to stay there in summer and winter, the architects found some ideas there which they used for the new construction.
Mirrors hide the entrance to the Chalet du Marin, where the snow seems to have invaded on this winter day. This trick among others helps to lure visitors or, more precisely, to better integrate this recent project by the architects of La Shed into its extraordinary natural environment.
The typical codes of chalets in the region have fueled the project. As well as those, more singular, inherited from the modernist architect Roger D’Astous, whose imprint is found in the corner of Estérel, a stone’s throw away.
This intention has resulted in lines and materials that give a rustic, but also undoubtedly contemporary character to the house.
To ensure that the new chalet would best respect the terrain located on a peninsula, a forest engineer came to study it rigorously. It is its woodwork and landforms that have, for the most part, guided the approach to La Shed. Splitting the house into two volumes has thus made it possible to keep the clumps of trees in good health while offering different points of view to the owner and his guests.
A central block, invisible from the outside thanks to a trompe-l’oeil effect obtained using mirrors, connects the living rooms to the bedrooms. Two monumental constructions lined with burnt wood, echoing the landscape, open onto an interior with slate floors and walls whose irregular surface brings nature right into the house.
The kitchen counter in untreated soapstone also aims to blur the lines.
The abundant light, brought in through large windows and the long roof slopes pointing towards the entrance, offers interesting plays of chiaroscuro, a bit like those that can be observed in the forest with the canopy and carpets. leaves, mosses and rocks. A large unifying fireplace, placed in the masonry between the kitchen and the living room, also brings warm notes to the decor. This central element of the house, intended to be convivial, is indicated as soon as it approaches thanks to a column of slates similar to those found inside.
It is this same concern for contrast that is at the origin of one of the most zen corners of the house. A small interior garden has been laid out near the guest rooms on the ground floor which can, thanks to a dormitory, accommodate 10 people. Plants are waiting to take a bath there by means of a shower installed for them. “This contemplative space allows you to isolate yourself to take care of the plants or read in peace”, specifies the architect.
Each room here naturally has a balcony to enjoy the landscape quietly at all times. A sauna has also been provided upstairs to leave regenerated from this idyllic place. The invitation can hardly be declined.
