BOATHOUSE · LAKE JOSEPH, ON · 2021
A Structure Lit From Within
The Lantern Boathouse began as a study in controlled light — how a waterfront structure could dissolve the boundary between dock and dusk. Set on Lake Joseph, the 650 sq ft boathouse was designed from the water up: slip bay below, living space above, and a clerestory lantern that washes the interior with afternoon light long after the sun drops behind the tree line.
Timber-frame construction, hand-selected cladding, and a collaboration with Scott Custom Building produced a building that reads as part of the shoreline rather than imposed upon it.
Precedent & Palette
The design drew from vernacular boathouse typology along Georgian Bay — simple pitched volumes, board-and-batten cladding, open slip bays — reinterpreted with contemporary detailing and a material palette sourced to age well at water’s edge.
Black Stained Cedar
Board-and-batten cladding
Douglas Fir
Exposed timber frame
Standing Seam Metal
Dark charcoal roof
Ipe Decking
Dock and water surround
From Sketch to Shore
Three design iterations refined the lantern volume, the slip bay proportion, and the lakeside elevation — tracing how the structure moved from concept to shoreline.
Early massing — roof pitch and lantern proportion
Mid-development — lakeside elevation and slip bay geometry
Final rendering — as proposed to the planning authority
The 3D Structure
Before a single timber was cut, the Lantern Boathouse was fully resolved in three dimensions. This structural model traces the timber frame, the lantern clerestory, and the slip bay configuration from foundation to ridge.
Related Work
The full CPD portfolio — boathouses, cottages, and waterfront buildings across Muskoka and Georgian Bay.
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CPD takes on a small number of new projects each year. If you’re planning a boathouse, cottage, or waterfront building on Muskoka or Georgian Bay, we’d like to hear from you.
