A 1970s Ontario Chalet Reborn: UUfie's Belfountain House Turns a Steep Hillside Into a Four-Storey Walk
A 1970s chalet perched on the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario has been expanded and reimagined by Toronto architecture studio UUfie into Belfountain House — a four-storey home that keeps half the original structure and transforms the rest within the same footprint (Dezeen, 21 August 2026).
The property sits on roughly 3.21 acres of land in Belfountain, Ontario, a village within the Niagara Escarpment — a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve that arcs across the province. UUfie, a studio founded by Irene Gardpoit and Eiri Ota, preserved the northern portion of the original chalet while rebuilding the southern half. A single elongated roof spans both sections, following the natural slope of the site.
The result is 430 square metres (4,628 square feet) of interior space packed into a 238-square-metre (2,561 square foot) footprint — a tight footprint that climbs rather than spreads. The house is organised around movement up and down the steep hillside, with four storeys stepping from the road above to the forested slope below.
Gardpoit said the design was approached "sectionally" — thinking in cross-section cuts through the building rather than in plan view — to work with the slope and its changing ground conditions. Ota described the experience of moving through the house as being like a hike, with spaces unfolding through gradual transitions and shifting views.
The upper side of the house holds bedrooms and family spaces — kitchen, dining room and living room — under a gable roof pierced by two staircases. Below, the lower side cascades down the hillside in open tiers. Skylights punch light into these lower sections, where the slope would otherwise leave rooms in shadow.
One detail in particular catches the eye: a suspended net between the dining and lounge areas and the hallway and recreation room below. It serves as both a barrier and a hammock — a playful touch that sits between floors rather than a conventional railing or wall.
The exterior mixes white stucco and black-stained wood volumes, tied together by black metal balcony railings, roof lines and window frames. The contrast between the pale and dark surfaces reads boldly against the surrounding greenery.
The project was first featured in Architectural Record on 10 February 2026 and received a detailed feature from Dezeen on 21 August 2026. What makes Belfountain House stand out is its refusal to flatten the site. Where a conventional renovation might level the ground or build outward, UUfie chose to build along the slope's grain — letting the hill dictate the circulation, the roof line and even the furniture, in the case of that net suspended mid-air between two levels.
For anyone who has lived on a hill, the logic is intuitive: you go up and down far more than you go side to side. Belfountain House simply takes that seriously, all four storeys of it.
