Residential New Build
Caledon, Canada | Completed 2024

Photographer: Doublespace Photography
General Contractor: Caledon Build

Retreat is a nature-forward 3-bedroom residence in Caledon, Ontario. The modest 1,600 sq ft. house is designed for flexible, efficient, and sustainable living, while forging a deep sense of connection to its forested and graded 1.5-acre property, framing daily life through a more immediate relationship to landscape, light, and seasonality. After years of living in a downtown Toronto condo, owners Shawn Mackenzie, a Canadian hockey broadcaster and media personality, and Sydney Hoffman, a notable blogger and influencer, eventually decided to move to Caledon, located 45 minutes north of Toronto. Driven by the couple’s desire to be closer to nature, Retreat efficiently accommodates the clients’ needs and lifestyle on a compact, single-storey floorplate.

Occupying the southwest corner of the property, Retreat consists of three fanning wings that form a C-shaped plan. The building’s siting and orientation respond to several factors: facilitating access to the outdoors, framing views of the nearby forest, establishing privacy from neighbouring properties, and washing interior spaces with diffused natural light while mitigating solar heat gain.Together, these strategies shape a more controlled and responsive relationship to its surroundings.

Upon approach, visitors ascend Retreat’s driveway and around a thicket of trees, catching only a momentary glimpse of the house’s eastern wing. In the driveway, visitors encounter imposing panelized walls that sit partially entrenched into the earth. Two entryways only briefly interrupt the walls; where they lead is obscured from view. Visitors enter Retreat through its eastern wing, which, in addition to the main living space, houses two guest bedrooms, a bathroom, and additional support spaces. Unlike the impenetrable walls found in the driveway, large expanses of glass overlook the property and frame primarily north-facing views of the forest and the escarpment beyond. The house’s horizontal window mullions are set above the ceiling and below the floor, creating a distinct sense of projecting outwards into nature. In the summer, large glass doors in the kitchen—the middle of the building’s three wings—slide open to facilitate indoor-outdoor living, offering access to the couple’s garden and an open-air dining area.

Retreat’s generous use of glazing, in concert with the siting and orientation of its three fanning wings, washes the building’s interior spaces in diffused natural light. The living room is oriented towards summer sunsets, while the principal bedroom, located at the house’s opposite end and facing northeast, enjoys sunrises. Together, the ringed shape shields Retreat’s glass expanses from the driveway and neighbouring properties, balancing expansive views with the need for intimacy and containment. The principal bedroom and bath are located in the western wing, which also includes a small outdoor terrace suited for morning yoga, offering privacy and access to early light. Throughout the interior, points of focus such as beds and fireplaces are positioned against finished walls and perpendicular to windows, creating moments of stillness within the interior.

While Retreat’s unique C-shaped orientation is most visible from above, Reflect sought to subtly communicate the house’s unique fanning effect throughout the interior. In the kitchen and dining area, a large island and oak hardwood floor cut a sharp angle, articulating the threshold between the building’s wings. This choice serves to delineate Retreat’s interior spaces from one another—particularly important due to the building’s modest floorplate—while allowing inhabitants to experience the building’s unique plan.

In line with the owners’ desire to live efficiently, Retreat is designed with sustainability in mind. The predominantly north-facing orientation of the building’s generous windows receives direct sunlight only during the day’s beginning and end, ultimately mitigating solar heat gain. The south-facing envelope is partially buried and derives thermal value from the earth’s mass to reduce heat loss. Currently fitted with all-electric mechanical systems, the house is positioned for future conversion to solar energy, extending this performance-driven approach over time.