a chalet reconstructed along the cliff
UUfie‘s Belfountain House is located within the wooded slope of the Niagara Escarpment in Belfountain, Ontario, Canadawhere was a 1970s chalet worked again in a modern family home. Tucked away among a sprawling, wooded site, the residence retains the northern portion of the original structure and extends the southern half along the existing footprint, allowing the project to grow through reuse, excavation and sectional adaptation.
The house was designed for a philosopher, an artist, their children and a dog, and this combination of work, play, study and movement defines the house. Instead of treating the hillside as a backdrop, the team uses it as an organizational structure. Floors follow the ground, rooms open to varying levels, and the building is gathered under a long roof that stretches up the hillside.
images © Emma Peters
movement inside the house
THE architects in UUfie layout the Belfountain House with gradual arrival. Visitors pass the pool and the artist’s studio, a separate building further into the forest, before the house appears among the trees. The entryway begins in a compressed, wood-paneled foyer and then opens into a lofty living room where exposed beams extend toward the exterior vault. The shift is immediate and natural, moving from enclosure to height.
Diagonal red steel beams cross the interior, giving structure to the opening while bringing a lively line through the wood. Above the lounge, a large hanging net becomes part guard rail, part hammock and part play surface. It gives the main room a more relaxed social edge, where kids can climb upstairs while adults stay connected downstairs.
UUfie remodels a 1970s chalet in this home in Belfountain, Ontario
one roof on four levels
With a single elongated roof, UUfie unites the four-level Belfountain House, but the experience inside is fragmented. Compression, release, rise and fall shape how each room is read. UUfie describes the work through this sense of movement: ‘Belfountain House is designed as a residence shaped by movement and everyday life. Its spaces unfold through ascent and descent, pause and release, creating an architecture closely tied to the land it inhabits.‘
This idea comes through most strongly on the stairs. A staircase is carved into the hillside, while another is held above ground with a lighter touch. Together they create two different encounters with the same inclination, one integrated and heavy, the other floating and open.
a long roof gathers the four-level house under a continuous span
a hanging net becomes a place to rest and connect
the design retains some of the original structure while extending across its footprint
