The name came before the drawings. Lantern Cottage would be visible from the water at dusk — warm light filtering through timber frames and generous glazing, a building that announces itself through warmth rather than mass. Designed by Snøhetta in collaboration with our office, the concept was rooted in a single conviction: that the best cottage is the one that belongs most deeply to its site.

Snøhetta — the Oslo-based firm behind the Norwegian National Opera and the 9/11 Memorial Museum Pavilion — brought a particular discipline to this project. Their design process begins with landscape and works inward. CPD served as architect of record, carrying the concept through municipal approvals, adapting it to Lake Joseph’s site conditions, and assembling the trades capable of executing it in Muskoka. The result is a building that feels considered at every scale.

At 3,500 square feet with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, Lantern Cottage is generous without being excessive. Scott Custom Building led construction with a deep bench of Muskoka’s finest trades — Ovvio’s custom windows and doors, DDM Lighting, Miller Roofing, Muskoka Aluminum’s metalwork, and Ironside Welding’s custom fabrication. Every material decision was made in service of a building that weathers well and settles into its site over decades, not years.