Perched on a high ocean cliff on a partially forested two-acre property on Mayne Island, Shor House expresses all the language of a cabin retreat reimagined in a contemporary design.  Alchemy is the transmutation of a base material into something more valuable. A central principle of the Shor House on Mayne Island is a kind of alchemical transformation of dis-used wood obtained from multiple sources. Just as the most energy efficient building is conserving one already built, the most progressive edge of designing with wood is to recycle it into continued use.

1. IDEA

Shor House grew from a desire to not only develop a personal family retreat, but a place where a growing extended family of friends and artists could come together in creative work. At the heart of this project is the goal to utilize it as a testbed for Measured to explore appropriate responses to challenges such as salvage and reuse; sensitivity of construction in a natural setting; and layering in of environmental principles in a non-overt way.

2. BUILD

The goal of this house could not have been achieved without the firm commitment of a series of hand-selected makers. Measured is deeply indebted to the level of commitment and exploration of the general contractor and devoted team working on this project in an island constraint. Our collaborative approach has enabled us to challenge the norms of what has worked, and to consider what will work over time in a changing global condition.

Cuddington describes the years-long process of scouting for materials and working with deconstruction specialists this way: “There was a whole set of site assets that we needed to harvest and use—a patchwork quilt that we threaded back together.”

We employed a zero-landfill approach to dismantling the property’s existing house and barn, salvaging and reusing as much material on site as possible. We also took this approach with landscaping, minimizing excavation where possible and repurposing any unearthed rock in creative ways. With a goal of minimizing land disturbance, the house was landed on top of the existing foundation. While the setting of the original house was maintained overlooking the ocean, it was reconfigured to use only half the original foundation. Rather than maintain a typical broadside response towards the ocean, a narrower building was developed reaching back to the forest, extending the side yard to create a varied experience of different landscaped zones along the length of the house.

3. LIVE

Shor House is comprised of a simple massing of three buildings—main house, studio, and guest house—extending 180 feet from forest to ocean, with breaks in between allowing for an undulation of the ground plane beneath. A cantilevered deck, built from salvaged, untreated yellow cedar from a dismantled railway line in Victoria, extends off to one side. Below, a fire pit sits within a rock landscape, crafted by an expert stonemason from material revealed on site.

The structure’s mute, modest, Corten steel exterior embraces a richly textured interior. At the front end, the ocean view is framed in one large floor-to-ceiling window, surrounded by walls of venetian plaster and concrete flooring. Throughout the space, varied textures from salvaged material including exterior siding and flooring from the previous house on site, offer a warm, lavish-yet-rustic quality. A studio loft hovers over the open living space and is connected by a bridge to two back bedrooms overlooking the forest. A set of stairs leads to the connected guest house, with two additional bedrooms and an AV environment set on a subterranean level of the main house. While this house achieves a balance between analog and smart home, solar panels and technical components are eliminated from view to maintain a natural environment.

Making gold out of lead was the ultimate goal for the alchemists, but at its basis, their magic was more spiritual than chemical. The alchemy of the Shor House is to build from a palette of otherwise discarded or under-used materials, shaping a dwelling that is grounded to site in its very materials, and the strong historical narratives that adhere to them. The house is a collage which imparts unexpected importance to its components, carefully proportioned and set in adjacency.