With sustainability at the forefront of the design process, the requirement of material durability was paramount. Careful detailing of local materials achieves this. The ground floor of the house is clad in 3-1/2” thick Algonquin limestone. The coursing is designed to highlight the compression that forms this sedimentary rock. 12” tall stones at the top compress to 4” at the bottom. The horizontal joints are raked deep to emphasize the horizontality. Milled cedar clads the upper volumes of the house. The boards were milled with thin shadow lines that create depth in the material and emphasize their verticality. A three-part finishing system extends the life of the wood and reduces the required maintenance work. Pairing cedar cladding and local limestone on the exterior with white oak floors, cabinetry and spiral stair on the interior, connects this modern house to the Southern Ontario landscape. Wood’s inherent warmth, strength, lightness, and malleability combine to create everything from the structural framework for the house to a variety of finish conditions. The figural spiral staircase connects the living room to the second-floor suite. The curvature opens as it rises and becomes the ceiling of the adjacent wing, connecting it to the parents’ suite and tying the spaces together. Structured with laminated plywood, the thin curved railings become structural elements that bridge between the floors. Two thin curved steel plates were required for strength, but they are connected across with the wood risers and treads effectively treating the tight, inner spiral as a post.