Canadian studio Alain Carle Architecte has embedded a black, sculptural dwelling into a sloped site overlooking the St Lawrence River.

Called La Charbonnière, the home is part of a housing development on a mountainside in Cap à L’Aigle, a resort village in Quebec‘s Charlevoix region.

The site had been cleared by the developer to provide views of the St Lawrence River – a condition that made designing the home “more complex, given the over-exposure of the land”.

“The resulting monumentality of the landscape is as spectacular as it is difficult to appropriate on a residential scale,” said Alain Carle Architecte, a Montreal-based studio.

“This situation is not unrelated to the long tradition of settlement in the Charlevoix region, characterised by the modest scale of the dwellings set against the immensity of the St Lawrence River and the rolling landscape.”

Integrating the home into the landscape and establishing a domestic context were guiding concerns. Traditional rural complexes, rather than suburban developments, influenced the design.

Embedded in a sloped site, the home consists of sculptural volumes connected by a slender bar – all of which wrap a terrace.

One wing is single storey with a flat roof, while the other has two levels and a sloped roof.

“The exterior volumetry is abstract and intriguing,” the architect said. “It emerges from the soil, like a sculptural object, facing the river’s monumentality.”

The 225-square-metre home was constructed using wood and steel. Exterior walls are clad in blackened wood, which was charred using a Japanese technique known as shou-sugi-ban.

“The charred cedar walls are free of windows on the side facing the road and contribute to the strangeness of this form, which divides the landscape without imposing itself,” the studio said.

Black houses are becoming a trademark of Alain Carle Architecte. The firm’s previous projects that feature dark exteriors include a residence comprising a cluster of blackened-wood volumes and black-painted brick house – both also in Quebec.

The interior layout of La Charbonnière is meant to feel organic, “like beautiful rural homes designed without an architect”.

The entryway leads into the two-storey volume. The kitchen, dining area and living room were placed on the upper storey. The lower level houses a bedroom, game room and laundry area.

Windows set within a black grid provide sweeping views of the terrain and a strong connection to the outdoors. “The living room is designed like a contemplative retreat, opening onto the riverscape,” the team said.

A slender bar, which houses a dry sauna, connects to the single-storey volume, where the architects placed a large bedroom.

Throughout the home, the team used stone flooring and white textured walls and ceilings.

“The aesthetics of the indoor spaces have a rustic stamp,” the team said. “The materiality refers to our roots – more rustic than modernist, closer to the earth.”

Other homes in Quebec include a countryside dwelling that steps down a hillside by MU Architecture and a black lakeside cabin with white interiors by La Shed Architecture.

Photography is by James Brittain.

Project credits:

Architect: Alain Carle Architecte
Team: Alain Carle; Alexandre Lemoyne, assistant
Contractor: Demonfort
Flooring and millwork: Demonfort
Doors and windows: Alumilex

The post Burnt cedar clads mountainside home in Quebec by Alain Carle appeared first on Dezeen.

Mexican studios André Escobar Arquitectos and Taller Arquitectónica have completed a pitched-roof home that sits atop a stone plinth in the woods of Tapalpa, a small town in the western state of Jalisco.

Two families share the three-storey Casa PE, and an annex pavilion can accommodate extra guests.

“Each family has their own private areas, but shares the social areas such as the dining and living rooms,” said André Escobar Arquitectos,

The home is characterised by a monumental stone plinth, which forms a base for the dwelling. This large feature wraps around the home, creating an elevated terrace.

The second and third storeys sit atop this feature, and contrast it with their black brick cladding and steeply pitched roofs.

“Sharp geometrical structures and a notable contrast between materials and textures were the result of a meticulous design process,” said the firm.

Visitors enter on grade with garden, through a brightly lit foyer that contains the home’s main staircase.

On the ground floor, expansive glass doors open the home’s common areas to the outdoors.

The intermediate level contains four bedrooms, and as many bathrooms. Each room enjoys a private tapanco – a type of mezzanine that roughly translates to attic.

During construction, which completed in 2013, the architects chose to preserve the site’s lush surroundings.

“The topography and numerous trees on the property were a major challenge for the design, as a decision was made to preserve the site intact,” the studio said.

“The natural slope allows the private rooms on the second floor as well as the common spaces on the ground floor access to the gardens.”

The choice of stones from Galicia, Spain, forming the plinth is due to the material’s high thermal mass, which retains heat during cooler times of the year.

“Artificial heating sources were not easily accessible,” said the architects.

The interiors of the home display a modern, yet rugged palette of stone, local tile, and wooden accents.

“The interiors are a modern take of traditional elements, expressing a cozy yet refined environment,” André Escobar Arquitectos said.

Other project in Mexico include a vacation home with solid masonry walls and a dramatically sweeping roof located outside of Mexico City and a duplex that combines a home and studio for architects in Queretaro.

Photography is by Lorena Darquea.

Project credits:

Architects: AE Arquitectos, Taller Arquitectónica
Architects in charge: Andrés Escobar, Sergio Romo and Enrique Partida

The post Two families share wooded Mexican retreat by AE Arquitectos and Taller Arquitectónica appeared first on Dezeen.

Core77’s editors spend time combing through the news so you don’t have to. Here’s a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.

My Unhappy 48 Hours as an Astronaut

“Volunteers are trying to live like astronauts on Earth in preparation for manned missions to Mars, but face isolation, confinement and terrible food.”

Yeah, space doesn’t sound like it’s for me. I’ll pass.

—Emily Engle, assistant editor

Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive

1000’s of illustrations from various editions of Shakespeare’s plays, originally printed in the UK. The archive can be sorted by category, character, play or keyword. All the illustrations are free to use under a Creative Commons license.

—Stuart Constantine, publisher and managing partner

Buzz Aldrin Becomes First Astronaut to Walk at NYFW: Mens

The 87-year old legendary moon walker took his talents to the catwalk last Monday to sport space-inspired, Neal Graham-designed attire at New York Fashion Week: Men’s. Joining the strikingly youthful octogenarian on the runway was fellow science/space enthusiast and all-around smart person Bill Nye, who also served as the show’s announcer. The show, themed “Life on Mars: Fall-Winter 2035,” featured an opening lecture by Nye, which addressed his thoughts regarding the feasibility of human settlement on the red planet. In short? No $@%&-ing way.

—Alex Russell, senior producer

Circulation: 250,000 rate base; 428,000 total audience Frequency: 6 times a year Special issues: None Background: You don’t have to be a Michelin-starred chef to appreciate Saveur (pronounced Sa-ver, like “cat fur”). Like the mouthwatering recipes and food porn that fill its pages, the magazine—and its website—satisfies a broad range of tastes. “It can be for anyone,”…

The post How To Pitch: Saveur appeared first on Mediabistro.

This here, is the Professional Hair Dryer, by Andy Kim. It does look professional, doesn’t it? It looks cutting edge, honestly.. It doesn’t look A. Inexpensive, and B. Like it would fail. Why’s that though? Let’s break down what exactly makes products look premium.

For starters, the matte body works well against the hair dryer’s simple shape. Simple shapes and matte go along pretty well, whereas complex contours look good with a gloss finish (take cars for instance). To balance the matte reflections, you’ve got a swirled metal disc on the side. Metal, obviously, is synonymous with a more premium experience. Look at metal versus plastic phones as an example. Plastic is a material of mass production. Metal, not as much… making it feel more exclusive. The radial reflections coming from the spun metal just give your eye some good, controlled reflections to look at. On a matte body, the reflections off the disc are welcome, and stand out like a work of art on a blank canvas. Lastly, and most importantly is the palette. The hair dryer does a wonderful job of selecting colors that just work. The black and white ones are classic, while the navy blue and golden combo give the product a royal feel. The shade of pink works well too, given that hair dryers are usually used by women… but the exact pastel hue seems to be a derivative of the rose-gold trend found in today’s technology.

All these reasons combined are what make the Professional Hair Dryer look truly, well…professional!

Designer: Andy Kim