House in Frogs Hollow

Project Details

Project Description

Custom Home / Under 3,000 Square Feet / Citation
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.” —Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA