Finding studies about the benefits of nature is the easy part; the Canadian Psychological Association’s “Fact Sheet: Benefits of Nature Exposure” suggests that anything from “just a few minutes” can “boost attention” and “improve one’s mood” while a few hours per week has been “linked to better health” and reduces stress hormones. The hard part is carving out a piece of nature to return to week in and week out; of bonding with a particular grouping of rocks, trees and lapping water.
Nyla Ahmad and Rob Sandler had a connection with a piece of the Kawartha Lakes region, but no cottage.
“We love that it’s on the edge of Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park,” says Ms. Ahmad. “And it’s pretty rare to have a granite-bottom lake; the water’s really clear and clean, and so it’s a good spot. We walk through the forest [regularly].”
To be clear, there had been a cottage here. Owned by Mr. Sandler’s parents, it had been where family and extended family would congregate, celebrate and depressurize from the big city. The two-storey, unwinterized cottage was purchased the same year Ms. Ahmad and Mr. Sandler started dating, 1986, and, says Mr. Sandler, “about 10 years” after that his parents did a renovation. A contractor with a drinking problem, however, meant there “was no cement and footing; the corner of the cottage was built right into the soil.” That was discovered in the mid-2000s, when “we couldn’t open the doors and windows” and “there was mould 10 feet up.”
So, after the cottage was bulldozed, the land sat empty for a decade. And life moved on.
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As it moved, children grew up, and Ms. Ahmad met architect Heather Dubbeldam through her work. She liked her so much, she hired her to do a full renovation to the couple’s 1938, stone house at Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue West. This, luckily, meant that when it was decided a new cottage would rise, phoenixlike, on that little piece of paradise, there was no need to go architect-shopping.
“So, we called Heather, and she worked her magic,” Mr. Sandler says, “and basically built this beautiful cottage” (the construction was executed by Ortolan Building Design Ltd). It’s a “multifamily cottage,” he continues, since “Nyla has a really big family in Toronto, and [there’s] our family, so we wanted a space where everyone could come up and enjoy, and the place would be really comfortable for little kids [and] for older people.”
It wasn’t really magic, corrects Ms. Ahmad: “The project started by us going there, standing on the land, photographing very specific views … and starting with what were the things we wanted to see when we were inside the cottage … and all those trees were mapped out, and then Heather came up with this kind of cross concept [for the floor plan]. She did a really great job of putting the cottage into the forest. … We really did minimize cutting down trees.”
It’s true: even from the driveway there is a tantalizing taste of nature through the windows. Walk into the foyer and look ahead to those big sliding doors: it’s almost as if the lake attaches itself to the big deck. Walk in a little further, and the connection to nature is strengthened left and right via doors and windows at the end of each corridor. Inside the big, shared common room, beautiful maple panelling and built-ins reign supreme over tiny bits of drywall.
“This sounds banal, but cottages are subject to a lot of humidity being this close to the lake,” says Ms. Dubbeldam. “We have to make sure there’re not a lot of things that can get damp and retain moisture. … It’s also easy to maintain.”
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To maintain the mental health of the various users, it was important to create zones, inside and out, that allow for massive family meals, for smaller groups to gather, and for lone wolves to tuck into a good book. The many bedrooms offer total independence (the one with bunk beds is great for two pals to have a conversation), and the low-occupancy den that stretches out onto the deck (and therefore sits closest to the water) is where “more books are read than in any other room,” Mr. Sandler says with a grin.
Similarly, the multilevel deck offers places for boisterous mealtimes as well as shady, solo page-turning under the old tree as it pokes through planks and touches the clouds.
“It really does work,” adds Ms. Ahmad. “People can relax and there’s no judgment … go and spend a few hours on your own.”
Built with passive house principles in mind, the 2,200-square-foot, un-airconditioned building can exhaust hot, stale air in seconds via its many operable windows, doors and clerestories, and, in winter, the above-code insulation and two wood-burning stoves keep spaces warm and cozy (and unoccupied zones can be sealed off and left at colder temps).
And while there are a few stairs up to one bedroom wing and a few down to the other – the cottage hugs the landscape – a shallow pitch means a ramp can be installed when the time comes: “Accessibility was something that was really important to us,” confirms Ms. Ahmad. “Even the way that deck is designed – one day we’re going to be old, and I’m still going to want to get down to the lake.”
Already a multiple award-winner, the Ahmad/Sandler cottage is a textbook example of how to create a visually harmonious space that can perform multiple tasks – especially ones that reduce stress – well and without pretense.
“The combination of skill and humanity makes such a huge difference,” finishes Mr. Sandler as he digs into his chicken and mango salad. “I guess just like parenting or marriage or whatever, when shit happens you really find out about the person you’re working with.”