Board-formed concrete and black metal cladding characterise this house in rural Ontario by Alain Carle Architecte, which was designed to complement its man-made landscape.

Named True North, the project is located near the Canadian city of Cornwall ? next to the US border. Although the landscape appears to be natural, it is in fact formed by the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway created in the mid 20th century.

"The lot where the project sits was shaped from a residual partitioning of a generic plan of development allowing for a large waterfront that emphasises the horizontal lines dominating the landscape," said Alain Carle Architecte, based in Montreal. "These man-shaped coastlines, levelled by the flooding, consequently induce very strong wind conditions for this unobstructed plane of artificial landscape."
The studio sought to highlight the contradiction of a landscape that appears to look natural, but is actually constructed. "We approach the site in all its artificiality in order to re-inscribe the human experience in the most straightforward way possible," the team said.

Orienting the home to the cardinal points, rather than to the local street grid, was one way to achieve this. "The project proposes a direct relationship to the sky, horizon and wind rather than its immediate suburban surroundings," the studio said.

Entrance is from the south, where there is a two-car garage and driveway. A short flight of stairs leads i...