Located on the shore of Lake Joseph in Ontario, Canada, a single-story wooden house and houseboat designed by local architecture and interior design studio AKB Architects sits in a seasonal beachfront rocky enclave. This year-round getaway for a multi-generational family, inspired by the surrounding rugged beauty, creates a warm, elegant, eco-friendly home. Viewed from the lake, the cabin's design blends gracefully into the rugged terrain, while the boathouse maintains calm above the water. At the same time, the home offers the Metrick family a tranquil oasis with panoramic views of the lake and shoreline.

The design of the main cottage consists of three distinct yet connected ‘pods’ comprised of an open, communal space, flanked by a master bedroom suite on one side, and a two-bedroom suite on the other.

The residence was carefully situated in the landscape so that the bedrooms face a stone ridge on either side, creating a visual boundary that extends the perception of space while providing privacy. At the same time, each pod is slightly angled from each other in order to capture the longest view to the Lake from the central pod where the family congregates.

Each pod has a gabled roof with deep overhangs and exposed wood joists that run across the space. A rustic, semi-charred fir was used to clad the building, contrasted by large expanses of glass openings and a refined, standing-seam, metal roof.

The interior floors, walls and ceilings are wrapped in torrified ash, baked to achieve a deep brown colour. The use of this single material unifies the interior volumes and gives the appearance of being carved from the inside-out. In the communal pod, a stately, stone fireplace delineates the interior living space from the exterior screened porch. The passages between pods are distinguished with basalt stone floors.