Sat along rolling wheat fields in Mulmur, Ontario is the Sommerhus (Summer House), a country home designed by Wanda Ely, a Toronto-based architect known for her modern residential projects crafted from a careful meditation of aesthetics and function.
The owners, a Danish family, wanted their vacation home to be simple and functional, embracing the core principles of Danish design and the local vernacular.
Barn-like in form, the home is composed of two volumes connected by a glass-enclosed corridor. Its black wood-clad exterior is the complete opposite of its interiors. Bright, contemporary, and restrained, the inside of the house is a serene cocoon of white walls and pale wooden floors, with double-height volumes and charming slanted roofs. Glass openings open up to an L-shaped courtyard, a convivial outdoor space for family and friends to gather around in during favourable weather. The private spaces are housed in the smaller structure, mirroring the clean material palette of the rest of the home.
The use of black and white in this project, according to Ely, “keeps the focus on the spatial qualities of the rooms, and the views out to the surrounding landscape.”
Photography © Scott Norsworthy