This Vacation Home in Rural Ontario Sets a New Standard for Prefab Architecture

Set within the rolling woodlands in rural Ontario sits a growing family’s vacation home beautifully crafted from timber, stone, and glass. Designed for multigenerational living, Mulmur Hills Farm by Turkel Design is a bold vision for what prefab architecture can be at its best: a bespoke response to the clients’ way of living in which the predictability of the process helps ensure the quality, timing, and cost of the result. It’s also a celebration of past and present, combining understated modern design and impressive timberwork to honor the vernacular of the surrounding 19th-century farm buildings.

"For those who still associate prefab with a lack of customization, or with low-quality materials, our homes upend their expectations," says Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel, partner at Turkel Design. "All of our homes—even those that originate from one of our design starting points in our Design Library—are highly customized for the homeowner’s site and lifestyle." 

The couple who own Mulmur Hills Farm are successful entrepreneurs from Toronto who wanted to build a new vacation home on the 100-acre site they had owned for more than 30 years. They were driven to build the new home as a place to create lasting memories with their children and grandchildren, and the spaces are designed to encourage that type of multigenerational living.

"Our design process begins by getting to know how each homeowner wants to live," explains Oleksiuk Turkel. "We guide them through an approachable survey process that elicits the way in which they want their home to enable their desired lifestyle. Their feedback in turn guides our response to their site and allows us to develop a home that is uniquely suited to them."

During this phase of the design for Mulmur Hills Farm, Turkel Design discovered that the family likes to spend time listening to records, relaxing over morning coffee, preparing meals together, playing cards, and mixing cocktails.  

As a result, Turkel Design created an interior defined by spacious communal areas, as well as more private and intimate moments. Take, for example, the large great room that features a U-shaped kitchen island that allows the entire family to prepare meals together; and the cantilevered space with 270-degree views that serves as both yoga and art studio.

Finely crafted walnut cabinetry was also key in creating spaces that could adapt to the client’s needs. The casework design maintains clean lines throughout by concealing amenities, while ensuring that they are close at hand when needed. Notably, hidden away behind sleek walnut facades, are a fully-equipped mixology station, a record player, and an array of practical storage solutions.

Inspired by an intimate understanding of the property, built up over three decades, the couple also had very specific ideas about how the architecture should create a dialogue with its surroundings. The material palette of timber, stone, and glass echoes the material palette of a small wooden cottage and a traditional Ontario barn. "Although they're from different eras, the idea was for the buildings to share a commonality, like members of a family," explains Oleksiuk Turkel.  

The porch of the existing cottage, for example, offered inspiration for the screened porch in the new home where the family can gather on summer evenings to watch the sun set. Turkel Design also sourced regionally appropriate and sustainable materials, such as the Douglas fir glulam beams that stretch across the Western red cedar ceiling, a granite fireplace, and thermally treated ash for the exterior cladding. "Our commitment to sustainable materials is one of the reasons clients hire us," says Oleksiuk Turkel. "They’re looking for a smarter way to build."

The panelized prefab production of the structure and shell of the garage and home is another big contributor to the home’s impressive sustainability credentials. The innovative panelized solution—which saw the home produced as a series of flat panels just outside Quebec City to be assembled on site rather than more conventional prefab modules—not only significantly reduces waste but also allows for flat-packing of building components for efficient shipping and minimal trips to site. "It’s just one of the many benefits of panelized prefab over modular prefab," says Oleksiuk Turkel.

"This family loves to gather," says Oleksiuk Turkel. "This home is the place where they can continue to build on their traditions in this serene landscape. We love the challenge of applying our design principles and process to help our clients live the lives they want—and we are so pleased to have helped them shape this future."

Project Credits:

Architecture & Interior Design: Turkel Design

General contractor: Dimension Homes

Lighting Design: Tirschwell & Co. Inc.

Photographer: Maxime Brouillet