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RESIDENCE ST IGNACE

NATHALIE THIBODEAU ARCHITECTE
CANADA

© Maxime Brouillet

PROJECT DETAILS:

Official name: Résidence St-Ignace Location: 1178 Rang St-Michel, St-Ignace-de-Loyola Clients: René Morel & Christine Leclerc Architect: Nathalie Thibodeau Team: Pascale Parenteau-Gauthier Engineer: latéral. Exterior siding: Éco-cèdre Budget: Small Project end date: November 1, 2019 Photographer: Maxime Brouillet

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A rest between two constant movements
Between the road and the river, the St-Ignace house allows you to enjoy the landscapes around it by setting up distinct experiences with unique views that border it. Quietly revealing the St. Lawrence River, it allows you to envisage nature while inhabiting it. Its openings create visual breakthroughs that enhance its environment and place architecture at the service of the landscape.

Strategic location
Located between two industrial hubs, St-Ignace island serves as a natural stopover for residents. Steeped in island traditions, its inhabitants enjoy taking advantage of the proximity of the river in their daily life. It is along a road flanked by farmland and the St. Lawrence River that we find the St-Ignace house. Rippling along the banks, the road sometimes makes way to narrow strips of land nestled between land and sea. It is in one of these breaches that the project is set up, in continuity with the linear landscape that surrounds it. The residence provides a place of respite between two continuous movements, one terrestrial and the other maritime.
The site is naturally detached from the road by a sequence of mature trees, its approach is positioned to maintain this natural screen. Once this strip of vegetation has been crossed, and despite its proximity, the river remains obscured from the view. It is towards a clump of black poplars that the eyes are naturally directed because of the positioning of the two pavilions of the residence. Thus, the arrival on the site makes it viable to highlight the beauty of the vegetation which covers it without the looks being lost, without intermediaries, towards the river.

Set back, the positioning of the house makes it possible to expand the green spaces of the site while blocking direct views of the neighborhood. Cars find themselves outside the possible visual fields from the residence, making it possible to make a break between the constant movement of outdoor life and the serenity of private life. At the heart of the project, a terrace is utilized as a means of access to the house and as a union between the two built volumes. It helps to frame the surrounding vegetation while disguising the St. Lawrence River in the background.