Loschnig Residence

Loschnig Residence

In the town of Wiarton, Ontario (yes, the home of Wiarton Willie), in the Northern Bruce Peninsula, there was an unfortunate event. The old, circa 1850 residential home, caught fire, and burned overnight to bring it down to ashes. The owner desperately tried to rescue some building materials still smoldering the next day for possible future use, but to no avail. The debris was moved to the rear of the site leaving a footprint of the foundations where the house once stood. In the neighbourhood, this house was known as 'Old Weber place'.

The Loschnigs, now living in a rented mobile trailer on their 2 acre property , approached AKa with a plea to resurrect a vanished dwelling to an icon that would pay homage to the traditions of the past and promise of the bright future for generations to come. The owner added, 'the house is part of the nature, and natural landscape is a star!'.

The schematic design utilizes a two-fold approach: the essence of 'lost or perished' and 'rebirth', the springing of 'new and green'. The former is expressed in its material, the charred wood siding, or 'Shou Sugi Ban' whereas the latter is manifested in light, airy, warm and transparent. Interior in contrast is open and filled with natural light, a marriage between old and new, dark and light. It is metaphorically understood as a 'new sprout of a green leaf raising up from the decaying forest floor'.

Like all designs, this one is packed with the green building principles. A sustainable approach such as use of low maintenance reclaimed materials from the escarpment, utilizing cross breezes from Georgian Bay by vast clerestory windows, 'mass rocket' heater and solar panels for a 'net zero' approach.

This project is currently in a design development stage.