REAL MAGIC
Perched on high ground in Charlevoix (Canada), overlooking the St. Lawrence River, Anne Carrier Architecture, designed Residence Le Nid.
This second home is located on a shared private drive; accordingly, the more opaque secondary volumes by the roadside are oriented to protect the privacy of the living spaces, which face breathtaking views of the majestic landscape. On entering the site, the building is barely noticeable: all mature vegetation was preserved, and the colour of the wooden exterior blends into the colour of the bark on the nearby trees. The house sits delicately on a narrow escarpment located below the access road, creating the illusion of inaccessibility, like a bird’s nest in a tree. A large opening in the building reveals a superb view of the Massif de la Petite-Rivière-St-François through the glass railing of the walkway leading to the master bedroom and covered porch. This is the first contact the house enables with its bucolic surroundings.
A bridge attached to the house invites us to enter the landscape under a canopy of hundred-year-old pines. This walkway, made of cedar, crosses the main volume toward a spectacular lookout. Before they even reach the main entrance, visitors are irresistibly drawn to the panoramic view. The original intention was to shape the site so that users would be living inside an artwork that would constantly change with the seasons, weather and time of day – a source of pleasure under the radiant June sun, or the shimmering auroras of September. According to the owners, the magic is real.
