permanence and impermanence

The retreat is sited near Taconite Harbor where the forest meets the Lake Superior shoreline. There is a sense of old and new, an ageing beauty in the materials that reflect both permanence and impermanence. It is an encounter of something unexpected, of things that are in opposition.

Clad with black paper-resin composite, repetitive cedar battens provide each otherwise stealth structure a sense of scale, warmth and resemble adjacent birch tree trunks. Native grasses encroach on the path from the sides and through the gaps in random sized stone pavers. To the right is a traditional white-washed masonry sauna with outdoor baking oven which I’m sure have warmed many gatherings.