Omar Gandhi wraps corrugated-metal home and studio on PEI

Omar Gandhi Architects has completed a corrugated-metal house and workshop for furniture maker Brodye Chappell in Marshfield, on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The two-part property sits just outside Charlottetown, in an agricultural area, and settles along the property line facing Chappell's parents' horse farm. OGA designed the form and exterior palette; Chappell did a great deal of the rest.

"The intent was to create somewhat of a line in the dirt on the top of the agrarian landscape," studio founder Omar Gandhi told Dezeen. "There was an ambition to create a minimal response, and a striking silhouette in the farmstead landscape."

How does a client end up on the design team?

Easily, when the client builds furniture for a living. Chappell — proprietor of Brodye Chappell Builds and Chappell Custom Homes — provided ongoing design input, crafted the interior millwork and furniture, and led the piecemeal construction on evenings and weekends. Friends, colleagues and island tradespeople helped. The design team credit reads: Omar Gandhi, Brodye Chappell, David Greenwell.

Gandhi, whose offices span Nova Scotia, Ontario and Germany, reached for the regional lexicon. "The architecture borrows from rural vernacular building forms – elongated rooflines, agricultural profiles – then abstracts them into something leaner and more contemporary," the studio said. "A gable roof pairs with a hyper-extended hip, producing a familiar silhouette sharpened into new form."

Think of a barn profile run through a strict diet.

What does the metal skin actually do?

Plenty, on an island with three hostile seasons. Light-grey corrugated metal (a cladding of folded metal sheets) runs down the roof slope and along the walls, shielding the interior from summer sun, rainy shoulder seasons and winter snowfall.

Vertical stripes of glass and black detailing break the surface. The metallic finish reflects the surrounding sky and helps the building sit quietly above the grassy fields.

The plan splits duties around a courtyard:

• The primary suite opens to a small porch beneath the hip roof's slope.
• Shared family spaces occupy one courtyard edge.
• The workshop occupies the other, dissolving into wooden slats that fold open as a concealed garage door.

Inside, the two programs diverge sharply. "The interior palette is warm and bright with wood, crafted pieces and a collection of art and fixtures from friends and colleagues," Gandhi said. "The garage is quite raw – concrete floors, exposed structure and enough wall space for tools and materials."

The house gets walls and delicate pendant lights; the workshop gets skateboards and a glass garage door.

A house built slowly

OGA frames the project as a family labour. "The Chappell Residence is a home built slowly, with intention," the studio said. "Rooted in land, labour and family connection, it stands as a place lived in and made by hand – an architecture where work and life form one continuous narrative."

The firm's recent regional output includes a Corten-steel cabin, a coastal cedar house and a cascading cedar lake property in Nova Scotia. The Chappell Residence tightens that trajectory: one client, one architect, one continuous line drawn in island dirt. Photography is by Felix Michaud.