Summer Home on Shoal Lake, Manitoba, Canada

I do not look the twilight bear, loping toward Maem Slater-Enns and his daughter, then six months, as she intends to sit in the waters of the Enns family perhaps living in tents in their isolated island in the summer, came home on Shoal Lake, which stretches from the borders of Manitoba and Ontario. Instead, they are easily protected by the flag of the gracious hand of her husband, Herbert Enns, professor of architecture at the University of Manitoba, where he also directs the Integrated Media experimental program.

The couple bought 24 acres of the island shortly after his return from a hiking holiday in Ethiopia, Kenya, India and Nepal, where she had an epiphany passengers classic: “The greatest aspect of Canada’s landscape is and has been with the wild and remote place more important than owning a house, “said Herbert. Icelandic Blueberry Nicknamed by the family (Herbert had the nickname favored
“Manhattan”), two hours on the island his home in Winnipeg, and a boat ride of three miles of the continent. The family spent many happy summer camp on wooden platforms before the bear Cameo invited more permanent digs. “And it was not just the bear,” says MAEM rehabilitation therapist. “At night, the beavers gnaw trees that would have crushed. At the same time, we did not want to conclude that for nature. This experience was a rare opportunity for Herbert and build what he meant was that it cost more than $ 1,000 non-delivery. ”

“At the time, I reflected on the work of Hans Scharoun, and Tadao Ando court house where you had to negotiate the weather and go walking beneath the stars, between buildings,” said Herbert, structures compact built as a “springboard to the natural world.” has mostly from recycled materials without benefit of power tools, flag sleeping 10-by-21-foot Herbert MAEM, Sara, 16, and 13, Jamie together, Who sleep on a loft. A few years later when another Ursus americanus appeared at the kitchen tent, Herbert borrowed a generator and a flag 12 feet by-24 cabin guests dining / mass 25 ft. deck and sidewalks. The master bathroom and toilets for guests are made on the lake (just add biodegradable soap) and a prefabricated building latrines.

discourage mid-way between the tents and huts, creatures great and small buildings, while remaining transparent to the landscape in part by the balance of transparent and opaque windows. plywood hinged open to let in air, and there is no insulation, “It’s basically a wooden frame in a vertical two by fours wrapped with two horizontal, with a herringbone pattern wood bracing and port decorated cedar, plywood, glass and fiber glass to absorb sunlight and rain, “said Herbert. A roof window is facing cuts in North Star the dining pavilion, an eight-foot square wall corrugated fiberglass slides open. The nine to ten meters attic, the rooms feel vast, vital for these to be great family of basketball players and former current.

Somehow, the cabins in the region feel more than ever embarked tents. “There is nowhere to storm,” said MAEM. “You can not hide the fire, if you put your head under the pillow, then you still have to shake the feeling of the building.” Light poured in (as 04.30 and as late as 11 clock hours, day of the summer solstice) and fiberglass screens to project images of shadows of trees, plants and animals.

Some are comfortable with a 45 watt solar panel on the roof of the pavilion restaurant, halogen lamps and fluorescent and low-power outlets for laptops and music feeds mounted on a single 12 volt battery cycle deep. Clean, clear water of the lake is pumped into the kitchen and empties into a septic leach water Grey. If the propane refrigerator broke down, he was left with two steel Coleman cooler filled with ice, which replaces and adds to the weekly output of food.

Although some young buck on stolen a summer of video games and shopping malls long, could Sara and Jamie variety. “I used to long for television,” said Sara, “but now I can not wait to come home.” .. For Jamie, the island offers endless possibilities: “In the city, I can see the end of my backyard where you are more independent and resourceful than one billion, many of my friends have vacation homes with satellite TV and microwaves, we have a 50-year furnace. I like it a lot better. ”

Gatherings revolve around the 1955 white porcelain stove propane Herbert pointed out, the same as the Eames House in Pacific Palisades is. “In this pristine environment, there is a superposition of civilization that we do not eat berries and roots!” Friends can often divide five-course meals and drink wine from old Bohemian crystal at the table ten feet cedar planks will be displayed. “Boat people and gear from one camp to another. It’s more like a village of peasants, we are keeping an eye on each other. “