A Toronto couple has created a stunning 19,000-square-foot family compound along Lake Joseph in Ontario's remote Muskoka region, enlisting renowned architect Siamak Hariri of Hariri Pontarini Architects to design their dream summer sanctuary. The sprawling five-structure complex, completed in May 2023, serves as a retreat for the couple's extended family, including three children and several grandchildren, in an area known as cottage country for affluent Torontonians seeking escape from city life.
The project began when the couple discovered a published cliffside getaway in Kincardine on Lake Huron's Canadian shore, also designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects. "That house had all the things we felt would be interesting to have on a lake," the husband explained. "It didn't look like anything already in Muskoka, either." This discovery led them to invite Siamak Hariri, one of the founders of the Toronto-based firm, to visit their fern-covered wooded site and begin planning their vision.
The design process started with Hariri asking the couple a simple question: "Just where would you like your living room to be?" Together, they explored the property and identified an ideal spot offering views through dense trees toward a small archipelago. However, the location presented a challenge – they were standing about 20 feet too high on a granite mound. The solution required substantial excavation, which not only allowed proper house placement but created a dramatic arrival experience through a crescent-shaped canyon carved from solid rock.
The main house, named Riverdale by the owners, emerges as the first structure visible after passing through this rocky chasm. Initially appearing as a modernist glass box with minimal silhouette and deep overhangs, the building reveals surprising details upon closer inspection. Chimney stacks wrapped in textured Algonquin limestone rise above the roofline like miniature buttes, while timber battens encircle a distinctive volume that peeks over a wall near the entrance.
Hariri's design philosophy embraces a curious duality that defines the entire complex. Strong orthogonal principles govern the layout, with axial relationships and intersecting horizontal and vertical planes shaping the spaces. Hard-edged volumes hover above boulders, barely touching the ground while maintaining their clearly man-made character. Yet this geometric precision is softened by organic elements that seem to grow from the landscape itself.
"This is the top layer, the crust. Quarries used to throw it away," Hariri explains, gesturing toward the limestone speckled with eons of geological activity. "It's one of those materials that I fell in love with and have been using for decades." The stone becomes camouflaged against surrounding rocky outcroppings, while extraneous walls stretch outward from structures, gently curving like ground-creeping tendrils trained toward the sun. Serpentine stairwells wind upward, their undersides clad in copper panels resembling snake bellies.
Hariri speaks almost mystically about his architectural approach, discussing concepts of beauty, order, and tactility without hesitation. "You can have something contemporary, but you also need softness," he notes. "Alvar Aalto could reduce a handrail to a pipe, but he needed to wrap it in a little leather too." This philosophy – a delicate balancing act reinforced by shared architectural language and materials – unifies all Riverdale structures.
South of the main house, positioned on a promontory, stands the guesthouse where the owners' children stay. This kinked structure runs largely perpendicular to the shoreline, featuring two suites at either end. The middle section dramatically rises above the tree canopy with a double cantilever, providing the elevated third suite with uninterrupted lake views. Between the main house and guesthouse, a pathway leads to the lakefront, where two follies – a boathouse and cabana – serve as socializing spaces and welcome areas for guests arriving by water.
The interior design shares the exterior's sensibilities, as Hariri Pontarini handled all aspects of the project. "Architecture is also landscape, furniture, interiors, light, proportion – all those things that are intangible and immeasurable," Hariri explains. "Opportunities like this one, to do it all in a single project, don't come that often." The firm designed custom furniture pieces throughout, while oiled bronze surrounds doors, windows, and mantels. Oak and granite appear as flooring materials, and the main house's 14-foot-high ceilings with expansive glazing create remarkable indoor-outdoor connectivity.
Special attention was paid to the terrace and screened porch, which serve as frequent gathering spaces for the entire family. However, the abundance of hard surfaces presented acoustical challenges. The solution involved installing undulating slats suspended from acoustical panels overhead, with both systems working together to reduce reverberation. This prefabricated panelized solution, manufactured in Toronto, mirrors systems used in other Hariri Pontarini projects, including their Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford, Ontario.
The project team included Patrick Cox, Jeff Strauss, Edward Joseph, Kurt Brabson, and Andrea Norris as the design team, with Siamak Hariri serving as design lead and partner in charge. Engineering support came from Thornton Tomasetti for structural work, RDZ Engineers for mechanical systems, e-Lumen for electrical, and de Koning Group for dock construction. Landscape consultants included Holbrook & Associates and Rockscape, while specialized services were provided by Quantum for geothermal systems and HLD Muskoka for blasting operations.
"It keeps us, the family, together," the wife reflects, standing in the very living room that initiated the project. "That's the best part of it. There's something for everybody." With the complex now complete at 19,425 total square feet, the family looks forward to many more summers in their carefully crafted retreat, where contemporary architecture and natural landscape achieve remarkable harmony in Ontario's pristine cottage country.
