Beginning with a boathouse in 1996, Toronto firm Shim-Sutcliffe has completed a series of projects for clients Gerald Sheff and Sanitha Kachan on a property north of Toronto. The most recent project, a replacement of the main cottage, was completed in 2018. Photo by Edward Burtynsky
Chronicling the evolving vision of a site in Muskoka over several decades, The Architecture of Point William: A Laboratory for Living (ORO Editions, 2021) is the latest of surprisingly few monographs on the work of Toronto firm Shim-Sutcliffe. An ode to the powerful force of time, the book is as richly layered as the project documented within its pages.
From 1996 to 2018, Shim-Sutcliffe collaborated with clients Gerald Sheff and Shanitha Kachan?the former an architecture graduate himself?to develop a property north of Toronto, with the goal of creating what Sheff and Kachan describe as a ?warm and inviting point of connection for family and friends.? The 22-year-long design journey started with the construction of a boat house which garnered a Governor General?s Award. Next came the guest house, the main cottage, and finally a garage. Each building is constructed roughly on the footprint of an existing structure. In the process of removing the original 1960s cottage, a large, granite outcropping was revealed, which has become the focal point of both the site and the buildings that inhabit it. Great care was taken throughout the designs to acknowledge the local vernacular and trades of the Muskok...