Architects: Julia Manaças Architecte + o y a m a
Area: 240 m²
Year: 2023
Photography: Alex Lesage
Lead Architects: Julia Manaças, Theodore Oyama
General Constructing: Construction Quadra
City: Val-Morin
Country: Canada
House MN, a residential building designed by Julia Manaças Architecte and o y a m a in the Laurentians, Quebec, addresses the challenging terrain of a mountainous region with a 45% slope. Completed in 2023, the project skillfully integrates the natural landscape with a split, rotated, and scaled rectangular plan, creating two distinct volumes connected by a glazed passage. The design maximizes privacy and views, with the smaller volume featuring a kitchen and terrace, while the larger volume includes communal areas and a walk-out basement with bedrooms.
House MN is located in the wooded, mountainous Laurentians, Quebec. The client’s land posed significant challenges, with only a small buildable footprint due to zoning setbacks, environmental factors, and privacy concerns. The site features a 45% slope.
The design began with a typical rectangular plan with a hip roof, which was transformed through a series of operations. The volume was split, rotated, and scaled to adapt to the site. The resulting twin shapes are positioned toward the high point of the lot, nestled into the rocky terrain to the east and framing views to the northwest. A fully glazed passage connects the two volumes, offering transparency through the house, visible from the entrance and within.
The smaller volume includes a generous kitchen opening onto a cantilevered south-facing terrace. A perforated wood screen conceals stairs leading to a painting studio and seasonal greenhouse. The larger volume comprises communal spaces on the ground floor, with bedrooms and a main bathroom in a walk-out basement carved into the hill.
The second floor features a spare bedroom and open mezzanine for the couple’s two young children. Cathedral ceilings and skylights provide natural light, filtering down to the living spaces. The house is clad in local eastern cedar boards treated with a natural stain, with a corrugated roof echoing the vertical lines of the cladding and soffit.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Val-Morin, Les Laurentides Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
