Williamson Chong Architects
Rather than ruin the natural views of hilltops on their property, the clients for the House in Frogs Hollow, located in Grey Highlands, Ontario, Canada, instead chose to hide most of this 2,000-square-foot stacked box residence behind a hillside. Avid cyclists themselves, they cut in mountain biking trails around the property, recognizing the importance of the terrain as a community recreational asset. The house comprises two floors, with a living room and bicycle maintenance workshop at ground level, and bedrooms, bathrooms, and a family room on the second level. A digitally fabricated stair enclosure joins the two floors, allowing otherwise-wasted understair space to become a widened entryway with a modulated rhythm that subtly references the surrounding landscape. “You get this iconography of grasses in the stair,” juror Gregory Hoss said. The exterior cladding of the upper level, stained in iron oxide pigment, blends parametric design with more traditional shiplap siding. Juror Cary Bernstein was impressed with how the architects took commonplace elements such as the cladding as opportunities for “exploring new technologies for fabrication and integrating [them] in a really great way.”
Click here to see all of the winners of the 2014 Residential Architect Design Awards.
Drawings
Project Credits
Project House in Frogs Hollow, Grey Highlands, Ontario
Architect Williamson Chong Architects, Toronto—Betsy Williamson, Shane Williamson (partners)
General Contractor Wilson Project Management
Structural Engineer Blackwell Engineering
Photography Bob Gundu
Project Size 2,000 square feet
Construction Cost $250 per square foot
Materials and Sources
Bathroom Cabinets Custom birch veneer by WCA
Bathroom Fittings Grohe grohe.com
Bathroom Fixtures Duravit duravit.us; Toto totousa.com
Countertops Wilsonart (laminate) wilsonart.com
Dishwasher Blomberg blombergappliances.us
Exterior Siding Custom milled pine by WCA
Flooring Polished concrete; Pollock’s Flooring pollocksflooring.com
Kitchen Cabinets Custom birch veneer by WCA
Kitchen Fittings Grohe grohe.com
Lighting Fixtures Gehry Cloud Light vitra.com
Oven Dacor dacor.com
Paints and Finishes Benjamin Moore & Co. benjaminmoore.com
Refrigerator Fisher & Paykel fisherpaykel.com
Roofing Two-ply modified Bitumen
Solar Energy System Passive solar
Windows Loewen loewen.com
