Atelier Carle frames northern light and landscape at SONO residence in Quebec

Atelier Carle has completed SONO, a secondary residence in Wentworth Nord, Quebec, designed as a shared retreat where concrete walls, hemlock timber and northern light define a quiet relationship with the surrounding landscape.

Located within a broad natural panorama, the house is approached through three elongated concrete walls of different heights. Set in scale with the terrain, these walls establish a sense of permanence and give the project a measured presence on the site. A narrow opening between them marks the entrance, creating a compressed threshold before the interior gradually unfolds.

SONO was designed for two friends who wished to share a secondary residence without having to occupy every part of the house together. Rather than dividing the plan into rigid zones, Atelier Carle developed a sequence of spaces that allows privacy, proximity and retreat to coexist.

The volumes are arranged as a meandering composition. Rooms reveal themselves slowly, creating moments of visual intimacy and softening the acoustic relationship between different parts of the house. This spatial fragmentation allows the residence to support shared life while preserving a sense of individual distance.

At the centre of this arrangement, the kitchen opens fully towards the landscape. It becomes both a gathering place for the residents and their guests, and a point of contact with the natural environment beyond the building envelope.

The project does not draw from stylistic or regional architectural references. Instead, Atelier Carle approaches the house as a device for framing experience. The architecture is shaped less by fixed programmatic assumptions than by the way the body perceives light, material, distance and terrain.

Following the natural slope of the site, the interior spaces unfold across a series of terraces. Each room offers a different view, while the indirect northern light changes throughout the day. These shifts create a haptic quality within the house, where architecture is understood through atmosphere as much as through form.

The large abstract wall encountered on arrival establishes this sensibility from the outset. It is not simply an enclosing element, but a way of slowing perception and placing the body in relation to the landscape. The result is an architectural language that responds to the complexity of the real, rather than imposing a fixed identity upon the site.

The exposed timber structure was developed in close collaboration with a local carpenter responsible for producing and installing the woodwork. This relationship allowed the design team to source a significant quantity of hemlock from a site adjacent to the project.

The same wood was used across the north façade, including the columns, fascias and cladding. As a local and ecological material, hemlock supports the project’s broader commitment to responsible construction and a sensitive use of available resources.

The house is also anchored directly to existing bedrock, avoiding blasting and major excavation. This decision reduces disturbance to the site and reinforces the sense that the building belongs to the terrain rather than being imposed upon it.

For Atelier Carle, SONO also reflects a broader question about architectural practice today. The project was realised through a carefully managed relationship between the builders, consultants, key trades and clients. Trust became central to the process.

The studio sees this mode of working as increasingly important for meaningful architecture, particularly in projects where construction, material decisions and site conditions must evolve together. In this sense, SONO moves away from a linear model in which the architect alone initiates every decision. It proposes a more collective process, shaped by patience, craft and mutual confidence.

Project Credit

Project name: SONO
Location: Wentworth Nord, Quebec, Canada
Architecture: Atelier Carle / @ateliercarle
Year of completion: 2025
Area: 214 square metres
Photo: Félix Michaud / @michaudfelix_photo