Montreal studio ACDF Structure has designed a low-slung, modernist-style house with massing formed to encompass an apple tree and supply strains of sight by means of the dwelling areas.

The venture is situated in St-Donat, a rural space close to Montreal that serves as a well-liked getaway from town.

The all-black house, surrounded by a boreal forest, is made up of a sq. surrounding a small courtyard that accommodates an apple tree that reminded the consumer of their childhood.

“The proprietor embraced vivid childhood recollections of rising up in an orchard setting,” the architects defined.

“The apple tree was symbolic of his earliest encounters with nature as a toddler, and of the continuity of that connection years later whereas choosing apples along with his personal kids,” ACDF added.

Glass partitions all through the general public areas of the house give sightlines of the tree and the opposite dwelling areas from a wide range of completely different positions.

These views of the courtyard had been designed to offer residents a deeper connection to the pure setting round them.

Its three bedrooms had been constructed inside opaque volumes clad in black wooden siding.

In a single quantity are two kids’s bedrooms, whereas the first suite is seperate. A 3rd field accommodates the storage and repair areas.

Within the main suite, a separate lounge space acts as a secondary lounge for the mother and father.

This connects to a lined porch close to the apple tree. This exterior space, in flip, leads again to the primary dwelling and eating space, forming a steady circulation across the tree.

“The house is designed for connectivity, and glances in each path present views throughout openings to different areas,” mentioned Maxime-Alexis Frappier, considered one of ACDF’s founders.

“That being mentioned, the bins had been designed to respect the necessity for privateness, and their wall placements are intentional of their choices of solitude.”

Inside, a minimal palette of supplies defines the house.

The ceilings of the communal areas are lined with wood battens, which offer some visible heat to the house whereas serving to with the acoustical high quality of the house.

The flooring all through the house are polished concrete, which contrasts the stark black color of the constructing’s exterior.

“The primary point of interest is the fantastic thing about the nice outside, evolving by means of 4 seasons, and framed by the complete transparency of the Apple Tree Home’s glass partitions,” mentioned ACDF.

“To keep up that stability, furnishings had been fastidiously chosen for his or her neutrality, together with an Italian-made, stable wooden eating desk that includes easy strains and black and clear wooden finishes that complement the general design scheme,” the studio added.

ACDF has accomplished a spread of tasks because it was based in 2006. Others embody an intensive renovation of a historic railway station into workplaces for a software program firm and a chalet with a protruding terrace that’s paying homage to a ship’s hull.

The pictures is by Adrien Williams.

Undertaking credit:

Architect, inside design and panorama: ACDF Structure
Staff: Maxime-Alexis Frappier, Martin Champagne, Mireille Létourneau
Normal contractor: Marion Gauthier
Structural engineer: Poincaré – Paul-Henry Boutros