Atelier Échelle reinterprets Quebec’s vernacular barn for a collector’s residence

On the western shores of Lake Memphremagog in Magog, Quebec, a new residence by Atelier Échelle reframes the rural barn as a contemporary domestic landscape. Rather than replicating the agricultural archetype, the Montreal based studio fragments and reassembles it, producing a composition of four gabled volumes that read as both familiar and quietly radical. Cedar roofs, dark brick walls and elevated glass bridges bind the ensemble into a single architectural narrative, one that oscillates between permanence and lightness.

Designed for an art collecting couple, House on the Lake spans 13,000 square feet and is calibrated to the rituals of gathering, contemplation and seasonal change. Facing west, the residence captures the long arc of sunset across the water. Through expansive glazing, the lake becomes a shifting mural, a living canvas that transforms with weather and time.

The project unfolds as four distinct yet interdependent volumes, each scaled and articulated according to its program. Closest to the water, a summer pavilion extends nearly 100 feet along the shoreline. Conceived as an outdoor home, it integrates an exterior kitchen, dining terrace, fireside lounge and heated pool, blurring the line between architecture and landscape.

Further inland, the winter home forms an open plan interior defined by kitchen, dining space, lounge and piano bar. Clerestory windows introduce soft daylight while preserving the sculptural clarity of the roofline.

The living quarter contains the primary suite, office, wine cellar, pantry and powder room. The guest quarter, positioned furthest from the lake, accommodates five bedrooms and a children’s lounge. Glass bridges connect each structure, hovering lightly above the terrain and reinforcing the perception of separate pavilions in dialogue with one another.

Constructed from reinforced concrete, steel framing and brick infill, the residence balances mass with transparency. A bespoke structural system allows motorized glass panels spanning more than 50 feet to retract, dissolving the threshold between interior and exterior. The 11 foot tall wood entry door opens into a gallery space aligned precisely with the lake beyond, transforming arrival into a choreographed visual axis.

In the kitchen, floor to ceiling glazing replaces upper cabinetry, privileging the horizon over storage. The gesture underscores the home’s central premise: architecture as a device for framing landscape rather than enclosing it.

Atelier Échelle selected materials with an eye toward erosion and patina. The exterior is clad in dark, water struck clay brick sourced from Denmark, whose irregular texture deepens under shifting light. Oversized roof shingles were custom fabricated locally, amplifying the barn reference while asserting contemporary precision.

Stonework across terrace, garden, exterior kitchen and fireplace employs locally sourced Cambrian granite in tones of black and gray. Inside, the kitchen island is carved from a single block of rough stone, topped with a charred live edge walnut slab that rises to bar height. The palette privileges tactility and weight, inviting time to leave visible traces.

Art is embedded into the architecture rather than appended to it. In the powder room, a mural by Simon Hughes encircles the walls, depicting the four seasons. To preserve uninterrupted surface, a bronze vanity stands as a freestanding column at the room’s center. At the pool, Hughes translates the motif into tilework suggestive of floating icebergs, a poetic counterpoint to heated water.

The wine cellar holds more than 1,200 bottles, organized around the distinctive silhouette of the Bourgogne bottle. A micro fluted glass and bronze door opens into a chamber clad in compressed white oak millwork, suspended between gravel flooring and a reflective bronze ceiling. Recessed lighting and mirrored surfaces produce a warm glow that amplifies depth and reflection.

Elsewhere, the billiards room introduces a more intimate register. Deep blue corduroy drapery and walnut millwork envelop the space, while black felt surfaces echo in the suspended light fixtures above, creating a subdued and tactile environment.

Founded in 2019 by Veronica and Mathieu Lemieux Blanchard, Atelier Échelle has quickly developed a reputation for architecture rooted in place yet open to cross disciplinary influence. With backgrounds that bridge Montreal and New York, the studio approaches design as a synthesis of structure, material and lived experience.

House on the Lake encapsulates this ethos. By abstracting the archetype of Quebec’s rural barn and reconfiguring it into a series of seasonal pavilions, Atelier Échelle produces an architecture that is at once contextual and forward looking. It is a residence shaped by climate, art and ritual, where vernacular memory is not preserved as nostalgia but translated into contemporary form.

Project Credit

Project name: House on the Lake
Location: Magog, Québec, Canada
Area: 13,000 sq ft
Design firm: Atelier Échelle / @atelier.echelle
Photo: Maxime Brouillet / @maximebrouillet

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