The 1.6 hectare site is forested by oak and pine, growing in sandy soil, stained reddish brown by a high iron content. A wide sandy beach demarcates the edge between water and land overlooking the lake.

A palette of materials was chosen to compliment the site’s natural colour scheme, yet do so with man-made materials, that rather than polished and refined, represent a rough industrial aesthetic. Wood, steel, stone and concrete are brought inside through the transparency of the voids formed by large glazed areas separating the three pavilions. Floors are of natural slate or maple, yielding to wool in bedrooms and rubber in the gym, while ceilings vary from corrugated steel, to floating plywood and steel elements hovering below gypsum board.

Blending of natural and industrial may seem contrary, yet in northern Ontario, one is born from the other. Redwood cedar echoes the ruddy sand, the rough textured concrete reminds one of quarried limestone, exposed steel from the Algoma mills, all a continuum from the natural, to the man-made.