Aerial view of four black-clad A-frame buildings angled across a forested lakefront slope at Cowichan Lake

The Aera Cabins

Youbou · New Build · 2025

The client came with one idea — an A-frame — and 2.4 acres of commercially zoned lakefront on Lake Cowichan, which meant a resort rather than a house. The A-frame became a series of them, set at angles to one another and joined by flat-roofed links: a main cabin and two smaller ones, sleeping thirty. The ground falls hard to the water, so the garage and the boathouse are sunk into the grade and the buildings step down past them.

Builder
SC Smith Building Co.
Interior Design
Bidgood
Photography
Jody Beck Photography
Two stone entry pillars with backlit signage, a lake and forested ridge beyond
Front elevation of three pale A-frame gables joined by flat-roofed links, fir entry door at centre
Lit concrete steps rising to a black A-frame entry under an overcast sky
Black A-frame above a rock retaining wall with a forested mountain behind
A-frame building on a board-formed concrete podium above a sunk garage, forested slope behind
Lake elevation of paired A-frames flanking a covered outdoor room with a stone chimney
Cedar bench wrapping a concrete deck below a black A-frame gable
Dining table on a concrete terrace beside full-height glazing
Covered outdoor room with a grey stone fireplace, cedar soffit and folding glass doors open to the terrace
Great room under a pale cedar cathedral ceiling, stone fireplace at left, glazed gable open to the lake
Seating grouped on polished concrete beneath a cedar-lined A-frame slope
Grey stone fireplace wall meeting vertical cedar panelling
Long oak dining table facing a marble island and dark green kitchen under a cedar ceiling
Marble-topped island with brass fittings below a pale cedar ceiling
Oak butler's pantry with glazed uppers and a marble backsplash
Hall with an inlaid tile runner leading through fir doors to the kitchen
Fir ladder set into a wall recess beside oak cabinetry
Bedroom under exposed fir beams with the lake through a glazed gable
Bedroom doors opening onto a concrete terrace among firs
Two joined A-frame cabins in dark stained cedar, the lake visible at right
Cabin entry with a circular carved sign on dark stained cedar siding
Outdoor shower between board-formed concrete and dark stained cedar
Flat-roofed garage beside stepped board-formed concrete planters
Concrete steps climbing between retaining walls to a black A-frame
Four A-frame gables lit from within at dusk, seen from above the deck
Three pale gables glowing at dusk above a black metal roof, firs behind
Lit A-frame gable framing a bedroom behind full-height glass at dusk
Illuminated concrete steps rising to a lit entry at dusk
Deck at dusk with a stone fireplace glowing behind glazed A-frame walls
Aluminium ramp running out to a floating dock on still water at dusk, forested ridges beyond
Victoria, BC