Hippopocampe

The timing of my visit on Ile Verte was great not only weather wise, but I also had the chance to follow quite closely a bit of the construction of a house my friends are having built (they designed it) on the island. They’ve been there for a while, supervising construction between writing a thesis, hanging out with the baby and enjoying the local smoked fish.

This is the view not only looking onto the St-Lawrence river and surroundings but also what will be the house’s terrace layed over an adjoined guest quarters. When I was there, they had just put the walls up, but you could immediately feel it all, the open ground floor spilling over through the patio door onto a future cedar planked terrace.

Using traditional barn materials—vertically cedar planked walls, steel clad roofing—, the two story house will be elegantly bare of unnecessary architectural ornamentation. It is all in the details: a few quirky window positions and sizes here and there, the roof finishing flush to the walls (no gutters)… Incidentally, the construction guys on the site were referring to that extra detail work as du fuckage. The house will resonate with, but won’t be exactly like the other houses on the island: