African Butterfly House — Belleville
The African Butterfly House is a speculative residential project that explores contemporary domestic architecture through biomorphic form, aerospace logic, and controlled concealment. Conceived as a camouflaged object within a suburban cul-de-sac, the house remains visually restrained from the street while revealing itself as a sculptural, highly expressive form within the backyard landscape. Its segmented massing and aerodynamic geometry draw inspiration from spacecraft engineering and high-performance automotive design, translating speed, precision, and efficiency into inhabitable architecture. Material contrasts between a rugged exterior shell and a warm, luminous interior create the sensation of a protective cocoon. The project experiments with architecture as discovery, an intentional, hidden presence that balances nature, technology, and domestic life.
-
Location: Belleville, Ontario, Canada
-
Project type: Speculative residential architecture
-
Site context: Suburban cul-de-sac / rear-yard condition
-
Role: Architectural designer; concept and formal development
-
Scope: Site strategy, massing studies, architectural concept design, exterior and interior spatial experimentation
-
Status: Unbuilt (design research / speculative project) - Prototype for future custom design option, elsewhere.
-
Key themes: Camouflaged architecture, biomorphic form, aerospace and automotive influence, experiential domestic space
-
Why it mattered: The project investigates how contemporary houses can operate as both discreet urban interventions and highly expressive architectural objects, challenging conventional suburban form while remaining contextually sensitive.


