Open lake views. Exposed steel and timber. A lower boathouse designed without interior posts. See what it takes to bring Twin Isle, our Muskoka boathouse on Lake Rosseau, from detailed drawings to construction.
Join Design Principal Alex Foreshew and Project Designer Massimo DeFrancesco of Foreshew Design Associates, alongside Mac Robertson and Framing Manager Zach Lyons of Sustainment Construction, for an on-site look at the structural framing stage.
With the Douglas fir timbers installed and the next phase of the roof assembly ahead, we explore the design decisions, precise detailing and collaboration bringing this waterfront project to life.
In this construction walkthrough: • How structural steel creates an open lower level with uninterrupted sightlines • The integration of exposed Douglas fir beams, steel and carefully detailed knife plate connections • A future screened-in room with a pocketing lift-and-slide door and western views across Lake Rosseau • The design of a second-storey fireplace feature for evenings overlooking the lake • The sloped drainage and waterproofing beneath the future upper-level deck • The exterior sheathing assembly and its role in creating a thermal break
Every connection contributes to the larger vision: spaces that frame the view, welcome gathering and make life at the water’s edge feel effortless. This visit offers a closer look at the work behind that experience, and the people making it possible.
Foreshew Design Associates is an architectural design studio based in Port Carling, Ontario, working across Muskoka and beyond. We design primary residences and destination homes for clients who expect more than 'standard' residential architecture.
Our work is driven by bold ideas, strong architectural language, and a refusal to replicate what’s already been done. Every project is site-specific, shaped by its environment and the way the home is meant to be lived in. No templates. No shortcuts. Nothing generic.
By integrating architecture, interiors, and technical design from day one, we maintain control over the full design narrative; from first sketch to built form. The result is architecture that is distinctive, intentional, and built to perform across demanding landscapes; on the water, in the mountains, or in the urban fabric.
Alex Foreshue and his team showcase the Twin Isle Boathouse project on Lake Rosso. The video highlights the collaboration between Foreshue Design Associates and Sustainment Construction, focusing on the complex integration of exposed structural steel and Douglas fir timber to create a high-end, open-concept architectural space.
When you always start the creative process,
you never really know where it's going to end up.
We try our very best to make sure
that we have detailed, competent set of working drawings
so that the general contractor can work off of
and eventually create what we have designed.
Hey, this is Alex Foreshue.
We are here at our Twin Isle Boathouse project.
Come check it out with us.
When we're creating those really competent
construction drawings,
it's very important to have a great team.
I want to introduce one of our team members,
a really experienced project designer, Massimo DeFrancesco,
who completed all of the construction coordination
on this project, detailed everything,
and now he's seeing this project come to life.
Super excited when this project came across my desk.
I was really intrigued by all the exposed structural steel,
how that met with all the exposed structural timber,
and how that got to frame amazing views on Lake Rosso.
A big part of the complexity that went into this boathouse
was, like I said, all that exposed structural steel
and how that was going to integrate
with the exposed structural timber.
There was a lot of coordination that went into this
in office and on site,
and we really pride ourselves with the relationship
that we developed with Mac and his team
at Sustainment Construction.
Now that we're seeing this come together on site,
you can really appreciate the amount of detail
that went into this drawing package
and this project as a whole.
Mac Robertson, Sustainment Construction.
We're currently on our Twin Isle project
with Foreshoe Design Associates.
We've been on this project going on nine weeks now,
and our scope of work is the structural framing.
We are moving on to the next phase of this project
where we have the Douglas fir timbers installed,
and we are going to be moving on to the next elements
of this roof assembly.
Zach Lyons, our framing manager,
has been on this site from the start,
and he will be until the finish.
So I would like to introduce him
as he's been a valued asset
to the Sustainment Construction team
for over the last six years.
So there's been a lot involved along the way,
going over all the detail on the plans,
a lot of structure tying in with the finish.
I think a bit more of that than a lot of our other jobs.
The majority of our team own this job,
so everyone's kind of left their mark.
A lot of intent in this design.
The job is to bring that to life and make that happen.
One thing that's very interesting here
is there are no posts on the interior side of this boathouse.
One thing that our client really wanted
is clean, open line of sight
and just mobility for really doing anything
in the lower boathouse.
So it took a lot of structural steel
and some pretty beefy beams, but we got it done.
Another pretty amazing feature of this lower boathouse
is that right now we're standing
in the future screened-in room.
You'll see this detail here
where we have a lift and slide door
sliding right to left, pocketing in this side.
And look at how amazing this Western-facing view is.
This view is exquisite, it's vast,
and you get sunset right from my right-hand side
all the way to the left every time of the year.
A really interesting detail
that we've incorporated into this boathouse
is a two-story tall fireplace.
So this lower section acts as the base or the support
and the upper section that is also open to this covered area
is gonna be a wood-burning fireplace there
with a chimney at the top.
It's gonna be a really great feature
while you're watching the sun go down.
In a lot of our projects,
you'll see a lot of exposed structural steel
and integration with structural timber.
These are all Douglas Fir solid sawn beams.
You can see that we went to great lengths
and detailing all of the knife plates
that are going into these solid sawn structural beams.
These are gonna be exposed on the inside and the outside.
It's gonna be a great looking aesthetic.
One very interesting detail that you'll be able to see here
is what goes under a flat Ipe exterior deck
on an upper boathouse.
So in order to get that flat Ipe deck,
you need to slope and apply torch down material
to the entire underside.
So you'll see all of these different slopes
and different bays where they all run to different scuppers
and drain through the walls of the boathouse
and down into the lake.
So this is an up close and personal detail
on what we specify on most of our projects.
It's Zip-R sheathing.
So it has 716 OSB sheathing on the outside
as an integrated WRB layer.
And it also has an inch of extruded polystyrene
on the inside.
We always specify this product on the exterior
of our buildings so that we can thermally break
the exterior to the interior of the project.
