Enough House is a four-season cabin on Brian MacKay-Lyons? rural property near Halifax. Photo: William Green
PROJECT Enough House, Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia

ARCHITECT MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

TEXT Joseph Burkett

PHOTOS James Brittain, unless otherwise noted
On a narrow peninsula along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Brian MacKay-Lyons is building a village. Beginning with the design-build exercises known as Ghost, the site has long been the research lab for the residential side of his practice, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects. The property has been gradually built up through a combination of the relocation and restoration of aging structures, and the design and construction of new ones.
Wood framing is left exposed throughout much of the house, which is a model for a minimal dwelling. Enough House falls into the latter category. Its name comes from an early conception of the project as a reaction against excess. It is meant to be a prototype for a ? minimum? house, with the essential elements of a house arranged in an economical footprint.
My first in-person glimpse of the cabin came at the end of a long journey. After being chosen for this year?s Ghost Residency, I put most of my belongings into storage, packed up my small pickup, and made the trek from North Carolina to Canada. MacKay-Lyons? property, which he calls Shobac, sits nestled among glacial formed drumlins. It is bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other by Mosher?s Bay a...