Hospitality in the wild

Atelier L'Abri unveiled Territoire Charlevoix, a singular concept of experiential camping set in the Canadian wilderness. The remote location offers spectacular panoramic views of the magnificent Charlevoix region of Quebec and its infinite landscape.

Shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter entrance
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter in the meadows
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The unique experience proposed by Territoire inspired the designers to develop an architectural response deeply influenced by its context. This led to a series of structures that are simple, yet varied; familiar, yet unusual. Immersed in nature, these site-adapted constructions provide rest, comfort, security, escape, and entertainment. Minimalist by design, the rustic installations integrate themselves in perfect harmony with their natural surroundings. The various modules imagined by Atelier L'Abri include camping shelters, viewing platforms with communal kitchens, and a visitor center that houses a forest buvette. Territoire operates twelve months a year, giving visitors the chance to enjoy, discover, and rediscover the different landscapes and activities that each season offers in the region.

Intimacy, minimalism, and immersion

Shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Panoramic view
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Approach to the shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The five shelters are small, autonomous buildings that offer an intimate encounter with nature in complete comfort, both in summer and in winter. Balancing rusticity and modernity, they are warm and functional spaces, conductive to tranquility and evasion.

Sunrise
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Their orientation, carefully chosen location, and generous openings provide ample room for nature. Perched on slender legs, the small cabins blend into the wild landscape with minimal impact on the ground. The lack of traditional foundations avoids the use of heavy machinery, unsuitable for the isolated and wild environment, and thus limits the deforestation required for the development of these forest constructions.

Detail
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter in forest
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The volume of the shelters is distinguished by its single-slope roof, which follows the natural topography of the site. This bold form is reminiscent of the shape of large dormers, or old cameras. This large glass pane spans the entire width of the interior plan and tilts lightly towards the valleys below, creating a plunging view of the territory.

Shelter entrance
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Bird's eye view of a refuge
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Rest area detail
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The layout is compact and functional to reduce the building's impact, but meticulously optimized in its interior design to offer a generous and comfortable space. The shelters are equipped with a kitchenette, a small dining table, a wood stove, and a large bed directly in front of a bay window. Bench spaces are integrated into the floor's changing levels. A built-in space also enables the placement of an additional mattress, making it possible to accommodate three people in a shelter. These height variations give a hierarchy to the spaces and create, without cluttering the plan, a separation between the work area of the kitchen and the rest area of the bed. Each shelter also includes a covered outdoor dining area adjacent to the interior volume. This terrace features a large table and a workbench, providing a protected entry area for occupants.

Shelter in the forest
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Approach to the shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Rest area
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The interior design is sleek and warm. A series of integrated furniture modules was designed to maximize space usage within a reasonable budget. These simple and utilitarian modules are inspired by the modernist explorations of the early last century, while the use of economical and standardized materials, such as plywood, evokes the pieces of Donald Judd. White wood paneling softens the experience and invites tranquility, offering a contrast with the exterior wood cladding's raw and natural finish, in harmony with its surroundings. The outdoor program of the shelters is completed by a fire circle, a log shelter, and a wooden dry toilet.

Detail
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Shelter in the forest
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Dining area
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Finally, the reception building serves as a basecamp for campers, hikers, and other visitors coming to participate in various outdoor activities, nature observation, or gastronomic discoveries organized on the site. The building is split in two by a central breakthrough, oriented towards the landscape. On the reception side is the “Oui Oui” forest buvette, which enables the sharing of good food and fresh air, either inside the warm environment of the dining room, or outside on the long terrace. Opposite, the utility side of the building includes a sanitary block with showers and bathrooms.

Shelter
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Rest area
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

Reflection of the forest
Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The main challenge of such a project lies in the delicate balance between nature and architecture. It presents an opportunity to explore and push the design concepts of simplicity, minimalism, and efficiency in service of a sincere experience with the environment. Living in the buildings of Territoire Charlevoix inspires us to slow down and embrace degrowth. These simple structures, made with limited means, bring us back to the essence of our needs, while offering a tremendous opportunity to reconnect with nature. They encourage us to reconsider our relationship with construction and the reduced impact our buildings could have on our world, without sacrificing what is essential to our well-being and our complex relationship with our territories.

Atelier L’Abri

Atelier L’Abri is an architecture and construction firm based in Montreal. The award-winning workshop specializes in ecological, healthy, and sustainable construction. It advocates for innovative architecture solutions, putting forward wellness and the human and social character of our environments. Through its design-build approach, L’Abri delivers turn-key projects combining quality and performance. L’Abri’s designs are resolutely contemporary, unique, and at the human scale.