Creemore Farmhouse, Ontario Rural Building, Canadian Country Home, Architect, Photos

Creemore Farm, near Toronto

Ontario Farmhouse, Canada – design by PLANT Architect

8 Aug 2011

Creemore Farm

picture from architect

Design: PLANT Architect Inc.

The Creemore Farm is a renovation and extension to a turn of the century farmhouse north of Toronto near Creemore, Ontario. The project involved the removal of an existing addition and the creation of an entirely new, two-storey tower form built on, and cantilevering off of the existing foundations.

The site overlooks a range of rolling hills and farmland with expansive views of farms and barns to the South and East. The new 85m2 addition reorients the house toward the view, presenting tall panoramic corner windows in the sitting area at the ground floor, and the master bedroom at the second floor, both framing the vista to the Southeast. The deck extends this interior space to the exterior and overlooks the pond below. The tower addition allows for increased ceiling heights and a more generous volume of space over the small existing footprint – it stands tall, taking in the valley and sky. Next to the existing historic farmhouse form, the simple tower form has a contemporary expression, yet mirrors the sense of stark simplicity of the traditional farmhouse, and the traditional barn and silo relationship.

pictures from architect

Program:

The 85m2 wood frame addition to this weekend house comprises a vestibule, powder room, kitchen, storage and sitting area at the ground floor and is connected by a new stair to the new second floor master bedroom suite and original bedrooms. The owner was looking to rethink the house for retirement on a frugal budget. The project proposes a total reconsideration of the house orientation, proportion and form within a new tiny and efficient floor plate to create a lofty, light space that uses its relationship to the landscape to make it feel far larger than it is. To preserve funds, the new floor plate was founded on the existing foundation of the previous addition, though slightly overhanging it, to free it from the original form that had ignored the view. The illusion of space would be made not by increasing square footage, but instead by the room and window heights, and the orientation to the sloping land of the valley, thus making the space feel even taller and generous.

The historic farmhouse needed a new weather envelope, and a face-lift – it had been badly clad in brick. The existing farmhouse and new addition were reconceived in a light material that instead would be lofty against the sky. A tapestry of grey/blue horizontal and vertical siding provide texture and differentiation of the contrasting building volumes, while still marrying them together as a whole. The exterior sunshades ensure the interior space is open to the landscape, but not blinding. The interior form is simple, with the changing seasonal landscape as primary decoration framed and accented with bamboo millwork and dark offcut-hardwood flooring.

Creemore Farm – Building Information

Contractor/Cabinets: Porter Skelton & Associates Ltd., Clearview Woodworking
Engineering: Blackwell Bowick Engineering
Photos: Matthew Hartney/PLANT, Peter Legris
Team: Chris Pommer, Lisa Rapoport, Heather Asquith, Judy Sanz-Solé, Jane Hutton, Jessica Craig, Matthew Hartney

Creemore Farm images / information from PLANT Architect Inc.

Location: Creemore, Ontario, Canada