Smith House Residence – Upper Kingsburg, NS, Canada 🇨🇦

Name: Smith House
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 3
Size: 2,775 sq. ft.
Lot: 2 acres
Built: 2019

Smith House is a vacation home located on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. The home consists of three pavilions on a two-acre site with 230+ feet of Ocean frontage. The site spans from a salt pond on the east to bold oceanfront on the west. The house is a part of a proto-urban project that forms a village on the old fishing village site. This reconstituted village is dense, requiring a careful handling of views both from and to each building in order to optimize community and privacy. The village is created by the careful aggregation of simple gable-roofed forms. The landscape procession toward the project begins on gaining a hilltop overlook of the village on arrival. Then, the procession is pinched by a pair of reconstructed historic buildings.

Smith House blends classic and contemporary design for a space that is deeply rural and surprisingly urban. The design is inspired by the farming and fishing villages that surround it, using materials true to the high stakes and hard-working culture of Nova Scotians. The space between the pavilions features multiple courtyards. The pavilions are named The Gatehouse, Night Pavilion, and Day Pavilion. The Day Pavilion has a compressed foyer and frames a view to a distant lighthouse. The Night Pavilion is perched on a stone acropolis like a ruin, protected by Corten steel plate roofs. The Gatehouse shed frames a view back toward the Shobac Campus.

Smith House is less about itself than it is about the landscape cultivated around it. It is a mature expression of a body-of-work, or architectural language, developed over forty years. This project began in 1994, and it is a private retreat that reflects the culture and history of Nova Scotia. When you arrive at the front door, you experience half of the architecture because it is about how you arrive. The design lovers and wellness seekers will find both exceptional design features and the feeling of calmness at Smith House for an unparalleled living experience.