Views over the St Saint Laurence river have the same vast horizons as the great Canadian plains. Unless you have experienced such views the scale is difficult to appreciate or quantify. MU Architecture have conceptualised these views and this scale, and reconciled them with the domestic scale, to provide the essence of the Marée Basse (low tide) house.
The unfolding of the view begins when one approaches the house. Two simple cubic volumes clad in cedar shingles are blind save for a modest entrance and a board walk inviting you to pass between and beyond the boxes to take in the view from a position something like a belvedere. There is no revelation of the scale of the residence beneath.
Internally, the wings of the house pivot around a celebratory spiral stair. In the upper, entrance level are four bedrooms where the views are rationed through punched windows. On the lower level, the vastness of the view through the glazed lounge walls is enough to sate the desires of the most ardent lover of seascapes.
