Toronto practice Building Arts Architects used a small watercraft and boats to transport prefabricated elements to build this boathouse on a site only accessible by water in Ontario.
Building Arts Architects designed the boathouse on Kawagama Lake, which is about a three hours drive north of Canadian city Toronto. Because of this remote setting, the studio designed the structure so it could be assembled offsite and then transported.

The boathouse comprises a steel and glass construction that was built off-site over the winter, and then quickly erected in warmer months once the snow had melted. In total, it took two years to build and was constructed only over weekends in between the months of May and October, when weather permitted.
"The project was constructed by hand and brought to the site by small watercraft and barges," said Jason Smirnis, who co-founded the studio with David Jensen. "We designed the structure such that all connections where bolted and that could be lifted and erected by hand with only two people."

The two-storey, rectangular unit features dry slip boat storage accessible by a marine railway.
A footbridge bridge leads to the upper glazed level of the boathouse, which perches on a hilly, forested plot.
Encasing its steel supports is Douglas fir. The two materials were chosen for their aesthetics, as well as their durability and performance in the freezing and thawing conditions typical to the area.

The lower level of the boathou...