Ghost Architectural Laboratory in Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia by Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited

Article source: Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited

The Ghost Laboratory is sited at the LaHave River estuary on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast, where Samuel de Champlain made his first landfall in the new world in 1604. This landscape was re-cleared from forest by the architect over the past 25 years, revealing its historic ruins and its 400 years of agrarian history.

Ghost Architectural Laboratory

• Architects: Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited
• Project: Ghost Architectural Laboratory
• Location:Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia
• Building: Gordon MacLean Builders
• Consultant: Columbia University; University of Minnesota; Wendell Burnette Architects; Juhani Pallasmaa Architects; Marlon Blackwell Architect; University of Washington; Lake/Flato Architects; Peter Buchanan(author); The Miller Hull Partnership; Deborah Berke and Partners Architects; Architectural Record; Francis Kéré Architecture; Tom Peters (author); Arkitecktur N; Peter Stutchbury Architecture; Ghost students
• Engineer: Campbell Comeau Engineering Ltd.
• Photography: Manuel Schnell, Brian MacKay-Lyons, James Steeves

Ghost Architectural Laboratory

The Ghost Lab is an architectural education center in the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin or Samuel Mockbee’s Rural Studio. The permanent structures which now occupy the site among the ruins – tower, studio, cabins, barns and boathouse – are, in part, products of the design/build curriculum itself. They provide accommodation for the program and a venue for community events.

Ghost Architectural Laboratory

Each component started as a two-week project; from design, to foundation, to framing, to sheathing. The tower, which marks the south corner of the courtyard, and the barn, are sited just outside the fence and are built on wood post foundations. The studio and four cabins inside the fence are heated structures on concrete foundations. Each of the cabins is a prototypical and modest, 700 square foot, two bedroom structure comprised of a ‘servant’ box and a ‘served’ shed, clad in eastern cedar shingles. The 90 foot long, metal clad studio is dominated by a 40 foot worktable and a 72 foot totemic cedar cabinet. The 72 foot Ghost 9 barn contains an equipment shed and free stalls for horses, while creating a second working courtyard. The historic octagonal Troop barn, which has been moved 200 miles and redesigned to fit its new home, contains a community gathering hall on top and sheep stables below.

Ghost Architectural Laboratory

Ghost Architectural Laboratory

Tags: Nova Scotia, Upper Kingsburg

Categories: Architectural Desktop, Laboratory and Office

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