Going back to the Lodge: an architectural exploration of Haliburton cottage culture.

Abstract

New buildings designed by architects can sometimes be described as cold. Whereas a cabin in the woods that has been in families for generations, built by grandparents, can be described as warm. What is it about ‘Cottages’ of the past that creates this architectural feeling? The idea of the ‘cottage’ versus the ‘home’ has become conflated; there is no longer a separation of these two experiences. ‘Cottage’ and ‘home’ have essentially become the same structure in a different environment as we build more and more ‘permanent’ ‘cottages’. The change is that new families are beginning to downsize. First, there is the tiny house movement, and then the trend noticed in Haliburton, of young families renting a ‘home’ near their place of work, but owning a ‘cottage’ outside of the city