floating down the river

Located on an island on Lake Huron Canada on a remote island posed a set of constraints. Using traditional construction processes would have been expensive; the majority of costs would have been applied toward transporting building materials to the remote island. Instead, MOS architects worked with the contractor to devise a prefabrication and construction process that maximized the use of thee unique character of the site, Lake Huron as a waterway with the construction materials delivered to the contractor’s fabrication shop, located on the lake shore. The steel platform structure with incorporated pontoons was built first and towed to the lake outside the workshop.

The structure was then towed to the site and anchored. In total, between the various construction stages, the house traveled a total distance of approximately 80 km on the lake.

The outer skin of the house experiments with the cedar siding panels. This familiar form not only encloses the interior living space, but also enclosed exterior space as well as open voids for direct connection with the lake.

Photos Florian Holzherr