PROJECTS

The site is a sloping waterfront lot on Burrard Inlet overlooking Stanley Park and Downtown Vancouver to the southeast, and Vancouver Island on the southwest. The Ocean provides a constantly shifting tapestry of light, microclimate and view against the backdrop of the North Shore Mountains. It sits at the apex of an extensive natural drainage pattern, starting at the mountaintop. The owners requested an open but spatially defined plan. The existing 1970’s post and beam house required a substantial technical, environmental and programmatic upgrade. The transformation of the regular post and beam structure into a spatially dynamic aggregate of spaces was a primary focus of the project. Within the existing site and building envelope, a pattern, relating to the original 6’ x 6’ grid, begins to inform the placement of strategic programmatic and symbolic aspects of the Villa. References to the rich architectural vocabulary of this type pervade throughout, reinterpreted as the result of site specific needs. The Garden, the Wall, the Floor and the Window under go subtle transformations as they respond to orientation, views, environment and the spatial requirements of the modern house. A series of spatial events occur throughout the project, coinciding with moments of stillness as one occupies the centre or perimeter of each indoor or outdoor ‘room.’ The Great Room, for example, incorporates the Kitchen, Family Area, Dining and Recreation and is the symbolic centre of the Villa. North-facing rooms enjoy the trees of the formal Entry Garden; their south-facing neighbors and immediate view of the terrace deck and the Inlet. Every space within the house is related to every other in spatial form, detail and enclosure, and is contiguous with an immediate event outside in the natural or constructed landscape. The north wall transforms from a balanced composition of windows, to a west side trellised deck, to a south face which is completely glazed, with substantial overhangs for rain and sun protection.  The existing structural system of posts and Glulam has been retained by lifting the beams into the interstitial space of the ceiling. Thus the former structural expression of the building is reinterpreted with an interior spatial system where each space can be independent yet interrelated. 

In 2018 we were asked to complete a 2^nd complete transformation of this home from the Classic Modern style to a completely modern style.