The Turkey Point Beach House was a new-build project constructed on Lake Erie. While initially it was an intriguing prospect to design a project in a rural setting: as a lake front property in a dense development, with tight lots, strict zoning restrictions and a requirement for a 30 foot wide house (including 4 foot setbacks); one quickly realized that the conditions for building were more akin to that of a dense urban setting.
Project Name: Turkey Point Point Beach House
Studio Name: Anthony Provenzano Architects
Design Team: Anthony Provenzano
Area: Custom Residential
Year: 2015
Location: Turkey Point, (Lake Erie) Canada
Photography Credits: Maris Mezulis Studio, Zurich
The client had been (from the onset) adverse to “a modern flat roof house” because “flat roofs leak” and “modern homes are too cold”. Since the best part of this site is the lake, there was the will to exploit this feature and everyone found common ground in an attitude about the lake. Architecturally, the idea was to make a grand gesture towards the water and orient the living spaces towards the lake.
To that end, the cottage adopts a single, inclined roof plane; under which everything is encapsulated. Its highest point is when it is closest to the lake (where it becomes the canopy for the Master Suite) and its lowest point closest to the road.
On the road side, the house is unassuming and the extent to which the house asserts itself on the beach side, is largely a mystery. From the beach side, there is no mistaking that this house is biased towards the lake.
The clients’ aforementioned concerns were what (ultimately) lead to the development of the single inclined roof plane and disciplined the stone and cedar material selections to “give warmth”. Internally, the routing through the house and programming always relates to the lake; windows and views punctuate the view corridors throughout the scheme.
