Panov—Scott

The room feels slightly too small, not uncomfortably so, but still there is something about the space.

The combination of the threshold head height, the steps down into the space and the slope of the ceiling give a vague feeling of pitching forward, an insinuated disquiet.

The internal finishes are neutral, timber below white painted plaster. Curiosity is focused, everything leads to the window that pushes forward into space above the garden.

Within the bay window, right at the edge, there is a place to stop, at the scale of a person, or to share intimately with another. It is a place to notice life in the canopy, the scallop pattern of the crashing waves on sand, movement on the ridge, or the whoop of approaching guests.

In working deliberately with proportional juxtapositions and heightened bodily experience we had in mind the architectural technique employed at the Laurentian Library. There, before a grand stair, within a foyer somehow too small, a slight discomfort is evident, which dissipates on entering the serene beauty of the long reading room, made more impactful by what went before.

The project called for three additional rooms and a new entrance stair, to an existing house by the beach for extended family and guests. The works are largely under the footprint of the existing house, so as to minimally impact the surrounding landscape.

Over the years of design and construction these three small rooms in addition have become emblematic for us of the act of doing very little. A low-resolution architecture that eschews virtuosic technical making but nonetheless enables heightened experience and facilitates an enduring connection with country.