What if your home wasn’t just architecture — but a sculpture you could live inside?
Hidden within a Canadian forest, the House of Sculptor by YH2 Architecture redefines what a home can be. Designed in collaboration with artist Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz, this vertical residence blurs the boundary between art, architecture, and nature.
Rising like an extension of the surrounding trees, the house explores height, light, and material as a continuous artistic experience. A dramatic vertical glass incision connects all floors, a sculptural staircase floats through space, and a three-story glass façade transforms the house into a glowing lantern at night.
Rather than simply occupying the landscape, this home grows from it — creating a living experience where space, form, and perception constantly interact.
This is not just a house. It’s a new way of experiencing architecture.
Architects: YH2 Architecture Lead Architects: Loukas Yiacouvakis Location: Canada Area: 160 m² Year: 2013 Photographs: Francis Pelletier
A house can simply be a shelter, or it can be a habitable sculpture.
In the middle of a Canadian forest, among tall trees and a silent lake,
stands a residence that was not merely designed, it was created as a work of art.
The House of Sculptor, developed by YH2 Architecture in direct collaboration with
sculptor Jacek Jarnoskewicz, is a home that questions the very meaning of dwelling.
Here, architecture and sculpture stop being separate disciplines and begin to exist as
a single language. The house occupies a vast site surrounded by coniferous forest,
with views toward a lake and the surrounding mountains.
The natural context is not just a backdrop, it completely defines the project.
A central element intensifies the spatial experience. A vertical glass incision cuts
through the floors, creating a sense of vertigo and visually connecting all levels of the residence.
A lightweight metal staircase follows this void, reinforcing the idea of movement and suspension.
On the main floor are the social areas, living room, dining area, and kitchen,
organized as a single continuous space.
This configuration expands spatial perception and reinforces a sense of freedom.
The main concept is verticality. The house rises as a slender presence within the landscape,
echoing the growth of the trees around it.
Its tall, narrow form feels almost like an extension of the forest itself.
The creative process behind the residence was unusual. Architects and client worked together
following the surrealist principle of cadavre exquis, a method in which each participant
continues the work of the other in sequence.
The result is an architecture that evolves as a collective artistic process,
where volumes, materials, and spaces emerge through successive creative interpretations.
The house was conceived as a composition of fragmented masses,
formed by two main volumes clad in wood, one light and one dark.
This duality creates a dialogue between opacity and transparency,
weight and lightness, presence and disillusion.
The materials reinforce this intention.
The use of red cedar and dark pine emphasizes the vertical geometry
and establishes a direct connection with the natural environment.
Their textures and colors interact with the surroundings,
allowing the building to visually integrate into the landscape.
A large glass facade extends across three levels,
fully opening the house to light and to the exterior.
During the day, the interior merges with the forest.
At night, the residence transforms into a sculptural lantern among the trees.
The house's verticality is not only formal but experiential.
Spaces develop upward, guiding both the gaze and the movement of the body toward the landscape.
On the upper level, a mezzanine functions as a contemplative space for observation.
From there, a large covered terrace can be accessed,
serving simultaneously as a panoramic lookout and a wildlife observation tower.
From a construction standpoint, the residence explores a clear tectonic expression,
where spatial composition takes priority over conventional functional solutions.
The house is organized not only for efficiency but for artistic intention.
This approach transforms the building into a habitable sculptural object,
where every element—structure, material, light, and form—participates in the architectural narrative.
More than a residence, the House of Sculptor represents a dialogue between art,
architecture, and nature.
Its design demonstrates how domestic space can transcend its basic function
and become an aesthetic and sensory experience.
Here, living means inhabiting a sculpture—an architecture that not only occupies the landscape
but grows with it, reacts to it, and reveals new ways of perceiving the surrounding space.
A house where the boundary between art and dwelling simply disappears.
