The U.S. midterms. An Alberta referendum. Municipal elections across Ontario. ’Tis the season for voting, and, not to be outdone, Ottawa housing design enthusiasts have cast their ballots for the winner of the annual All Things Home People’s Choice Award.
A key part of the yearly Housing Design Awards, a glamorous affair organized by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA), the much-sought-after People’s Choice trophy this year was awarded by public online voting to a spacious waterfront custom home designed with its natural surroundings top of mind.
The 7,430-square-foot home is the creation of Ardington + Associates Design, Maple Leaf Custom Homes, and Cedar Ridge Designs & Custom Cabinetry. Along with the People’s Choice Award — for which there were 13 finalists this year — the project was a finalist in three other categories and captured the trophy for custom home, 3,001 sq. ft. or more.
The People’s Choice award is the only one voted on by the public. As always, the 2026 version showcased a range of finalists, from kitchen makeovers and whole-home renovations to custom homes, builder model homes and others.
This year’s competitors were drawn from finalists in the prestige categories of the 2026 Housing Design Awards: production builder of the year, custom builder of the year, designer of the year and renovator of the year.
MORE: 13 finalists compete for the 2026 People’s Choice trophy
At one with nature
Anchoring a prominent waterfront property with sweeping views across the river to wooded hills, the residence was “designed for a young family looking to establish a legacy home rooted in its landscape,” according to the awards submission. The layered outdoor spaces that help define the home align with the owners’ goal of enriching family life, their penchant for entertaining, and their love of the landscape and changing seasons.
With considerations including the site itself, the vistas, and conservation authority setbacks informing the design and placement of the home, decisions such as preserving a stand of trees on the property’s border and creating a driveway with a winding approach fell into place naturally.
Expansive windows and sliding door systems on the river-facing elevation dissolve the borderline between the home’s interior and the landscape surrounding it. Carrying that theme of a borderless structure even further, all the major interior spaces were organized around a connection with the water.
Like the home’s other indoor/outdoor spaces, a fully screened pavilion designed around a wood-burning fireplace and adjacent to the kitchen and dining room includes its own dining and lounge areas while providing a sense of openness and views of the water no matter the weather or season. The pavilion’s warm wood interior enhances the visual tie to the landscape.
MORE: The sold-out 2026 Housing Design Awards
Layered living
Constraints like regulated setbacks, preservation of trees and the owners’ wish for multiple outdoor zones without compromising views of the water sparked creative design rather than limiting it.
For example, the pavilion anchors the design and, from it, outdoor spaces unfurl with slight elevation changes toward the water’s edge. They include a dining terrace just beyond the pavilion and slightly lower than it, so furniture and guardrails don’t obstruct river views from the pavilion, which is the primary gathering space.
Just past the dining terrace is a cabana with an outdoor kitchen and shaded lounge areas for larger gatherings.
Lastly, there’s an expansive river-oriented outdoor pool terrace that visually links the property and the water beyond it.
Grading, sun exposure, sightlines and more all went into the design of the whole to ensure cohesion and connect architecture, the landscape and life on a waterfront.
Masonry as mass
An enticing sculptural quality, an aura of permanence and a visual grounding within the landscape point to how, in the words of the submission, the home “is organized around a single architectural idea: treating masonry as mass rather than surface.” (Merkley Supply was a co-submitter with Ardington and Maple Leaf in the exterior details category, for which this home was a finalist.)
Rather than applying brick as a finish, the exterior was designed as a sequence of thickened walls that project and recede across the façade. That’s in keeping with the thrust and pull of, for example, natural rock landscapes and it creates shadow lines that bring visual depth and richness that morph as light and seasons change.
Warm linear brick, dark metal roofing and black-framed glazing all continue this alternating approach to massing, while the roof design, including sloped parapets, enhance the home’s sculptural qualities.
It all adds up to a home intrinsically connected to its surroundings and its owners’ respect for and love of nature.
