Omar Gandhi designs house and studio with "striking silhouette" for furniture maker

Omar Gandhi Architects has collaborated with furniture maker Brodye Chappell to build a house and workshop with a corrugated metal facade on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Located in the agricultural area of Marshfield, just outside Charlottetown, the two-part property touches lightly on its surroundings.

"The intent was to create somewhat of a line in the dirt on the top of the agrarian landscape," Omar Gandhi Architects (OGA) founder Omar Gandhi told Dezeen.

"There was an ambition to create a minimal response, and a striking silhouette in the farmstead landscape."

The client – proprietor of Brodye Chappell Builds and Chappell Custom Homes – provided ongoing design input, crafted the interior millwork and furniture and led the piecemeal construction on evenings and weekends, leveraging help from friends, colleagues and tradespeople on the island.

Omar Gandhi, who has offices in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Germany, designed the building's form and exterior palette.

Previously, the pair had collaborated on Gandhi's personal house in Halifax.

The sleek forms pull living and working spaces into dialogue with each other, divided by a central courtyard shielded from the wind.

Settled along the property line, the spaces look out to Chappell's parents' horse farm.

"The architecture borrows from rural vernacular building forms – elongated rooflines, agricultural profiles – then abstracts them into something leaner and more contemporary," OGA said.

"A gable roof pairs with a hyper‑extended hip, producing a familiar silhouette sharpened into new form."

Light-grey corrugated metal runs down the slope of the roof and along the exterior walls, shielding the spaces from summer sun, rainy shoulder seasons and winter snowfall.

Broken by vertical stripes of glass and black detailing, the metallic finish reflects the surrounding sky and helps the house blend into its surroundings, where it sits just above the grassy fields.

On one end, the primary suite opens to a small porch underneath the slope of the hip roof, while on the other, the workshop dissolves into wooden slats that fold open as a concealed garage door.

The shared family spaces are on one edge of the courtyard, while the workshop is on the other.

"The interior palette is warm and bright with wood, crafted pieces and a collection of art and fixtures from friends and colleagues," Gandhi said.

"The garage is quite raw – concrete floors, exposed structure and enough wall space for tools and materials."

While walls and delicate pendant lights give the house a soft finish, the workshop is outfitted with skateboards and a glass garage door.

"The Chappell Residence is a home built slowly, with intention," the studio said.

"Rooted in land, labour and family connection, it stands as a place lived in and made by hand – an architecture where work and life form one continuous narrative."

Other homes OGA recently completed in Nova Scotia include a Corten-steel cabin, a coastal cedar house and a cascading cedar lake property.

The photography is by Felix Michaud.

Project credits:

Architect: Omar Gandhi Architects
Design team: Omar Gandhi, Brodye Chappell, David Greenwell
Construction + millwork: Brodye Chappell
Collaborating trades + suppliers: Tim Myers Excavation, Control Air Systems, High Valley Plumbing & Heating, EJS Concrete, Doyle Electric, Campbells Carpentry & Roofing, Metro Building Supplies, Kennedy Metals Inc., Wildwood Cabinets, Jeldwen Windows & Doors, Markan Woodmillers, Gypsum Joe Drywall, Flooring Canada Charlottetown, Adam Arsenault Welding & Fabrication, Graves Quality Painting, Nic Roe Designs, Atlantic Doors Inc., Scotia Custom Homes, Concord Custom Lighting, Corrigans Stove Center, Dekko Concrete

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