Zigzag Rooftops of Canadian lake house by Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster

The zigzag profile of this Canadian lake home allows natural light to enter deep into living spaces in skylights while assisting orient solar panels to maximize their efficacy.

Situated beside Ontario’s Stoney Lake, the 3,100 square-foot (290 square meters) Sky House nests to a steep site leading to the water. To respond to this condition, the architects stacked two volumes in addition to each other at irregular angles.

“The lower quantity nestles into the landscape, so it is barely visible as one first approach the home,” said architects Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster.

On the top floor, the architects laid out all the house‘s social areas, which are comprised of a longitudinal band. The open-plan kitchen, dining and living area overlooks the lake.

An exterior walkway runs along the south facade of the house, and the reduced level’s roof forms a terrace outside the primary living area. “A covered walkway sunglasses the main walls of glass from sunlight while admitting lower sunlight to passively heat the dark-dyed concrete floor,” the architects said.

Out of concern for guests in wheelchairs, as well as the occupants’ long-term utilization of this construction, the team comprised all the amenities necessary to live exclusively on this ground, including a study, bedroom, along with a commercially available bathroom.

The shape of the sawtooth roof which tops the building has a dual function. “The factory-inspired skylights are rotated to admit north light without heat gain when orienting the solar panels due south so the house can create all of its electricity,” Jamrozik and Kempster said.

Blue furniture components, such as a built-in brick platform to get a wood-burning stove, a glowing sofa and hanging light fixtures give a playful feeling to the interiors.

The lower level accommodates three extra bedrooms plus a den.

Plywood panels lineup this hallway and also the master bedroom, unlike the upstairs spaces, which can be left in white. A swing set hangs from beneath the upper quantity as it cantilevers in the lower portion.

Different substances clad the upper and lower levels of the home. For the base, the architects chose standing-seam metal panels with a reflective end.

The upper level was completed in petrified wood planks, which have enhanced weather resistance. “Simple, low-maintenance, long-life substances are utilized on the facade,” said Jamrozik and Kempster.

Last summer, the duo finished an installment for the yearly International Garden Festival at Jardins de Métis. Named Vertical Line Garden, the pavilion comprised thousands of vibrant textile strips hanging out of a simple metal framework to offer shade.

Other waterfront houses in Canada include a black cabin with Mu Architecture with a two-story boathouse, and a wooden home by Atelier Pierre Thibault made up of two volumes attached by a bridge.

Floating Farmhouse In Rural New York by Tom Givone

Designer Tom Givone has overhauled a farmhouse in rural New York, together with the accession of a glass-fronted extension overlooking a creek.

Self-taught designer Tom Givone changed a dilapidated building in Eldred — a little city in upstate New York — to make a large, light-filled house with generous kitchen, dining and lounge areas.

The expansion also offers a veranda that jobs out across the face of a neighboring creek, thus the name Floating House.

The two-story house was constructed in the 1820s and has first colonial revival touches, such as white-painted timber cladding, original wood floors, and beams, double-hung sash windows and a tiny arched attic window.

Givone overhauled the inside, exposing first beams and hardwood floors, and adding a new wood-burning stove in the kitchen. The residence is finished by polished concrete floors, a vaulted ceiling and massive amounts of natural light, brought in through the new glazed wall.

“Sited in the edge of a pristine creek, with a waterfall cascading over an ancient dam of hand-laid rock, the Floating Farmhouse was a sinking boat when first discovered,” explained Givone.

“After a design and renovation process spanning four years, the 1820s manor house is currently a study in contrasts: entirely restored to its period grandeur while featuring purely modernist components, including a curtain wall of skyscraper glass in the kitchen, and polished concrete and steel finishes,” he said.

The floor plan was reconfigured, letting a large living space to takes up much of initial ground-floor footprint. A double-height fireplace centers the distance, together with the kitchen addition on its other side.

Also on the ground floor is a separate entry, a utility room, a tiny bathroom and a bedroom. Two separate staircases lead upstairs, where there’s a large master bedroom with a fireplace and a private bath, as well as another bathroom and two bedrooms that face the road.

Antique bits feature in the bathrooms, like an Italian marble hand-chiseled sink from the 18th century.

Givone discovered that in a hillside on the outskirts of Rome. “I mean hillside literally; it had been lying in the dirt on a grassy slope littered with other ancient stone artifacts,” he said.

“The expectation at the beginning was to combine archaic and contemporary elements throughout the home in a way that improves the inherent elegance of each by its comparison with all the other.”

A heavy steel angle bracket is concealed in the wall to maintain the sink.

The wood and copper tub dates back to the late 1800s and was salvaged from a tenement residing in the Lower East Side of New York City.

“I wrapped the bathtub in stainless steel to emphasize its clean architectural lines and recast it into a modern context,” said Givone.

Floating House bears a few similarities to a renovation job that Givone has finished — a curvaceous expansion to a conventional house in rural Pennsylvania. Both endeavors combine antique furniture pieces with white, light-filled spaces.