Overlooking the neighbouring ocean and the distant Gulf Islands, the designers coaxed the experiential high points from the site’s existing, natural condition to create immersion within the West Vancouver surroundings. Working closely with the client, the collaborative outcome is a minimal, contemporary home with spaces warmed by natural light, texture, and wooden materials.

The home’s external, public face uses concrete horizontal planes and wooden louvers to conceal the spaces within. Simultaneously, the home also offers a hint of the experience to come with transparent views that pierce through the architecture and into the Pacific Ocean landscape. The architectural composition reveals its balance between a comfortable enclosure and spacious, open expanses.

Upon entering the five-bedroom home, the experience is shaped by the use of floor-to-ceiling glass: abundant transparencies dissolve inside-outside boundaries, define interiors that are private, yet open, and maximize the visual potential of the sloping site. Textured wooden soffits warm interiors, while the main floor space opens to extraordinary, 240-degree views of the West Coast landscape. Additionally, glass sliding doors enable the main living space to extend onto an outdoor, ocean-facing plaza and infinity pool. The connection to the natural exterior is continued in the home’s study, which is spatially and psychologically separated from the main floor by a floating bridge that crosses over a trickling stream. The transparent bridge creates experiential effects by reflecting the site’s gardens, while also framing distant ocean views.

Separated from the main floor by a thin strip of glazing, a cantilevered bedroom level creates a feeling of lightness by appearing to float above the building’s massing. The entire “floating” volume is clad in vertical cedar louvers in sharp contrast to the transparency of the spaces below, allowing for privacy and a play of natural light and views.

The main floor’s second staircase descends into the master bedroom, which despite being on the site’s “lower level”, engages the site’s topography to create, in essence, a second ground level. With an abundance of natural light, trees, a water feature, and the sounds of a moving stream, the master bedroom’s “sanctuary” allows for the further retreat into the building’s surroundings and the enhancement of its natural connection.