Residence 1       2006-08

This home is located on a hillside site that enjoys a panoramic view overlooking the city of Vancouver. The building mass forms an L shape, affording privacy from the street for the homes outdoor spaces. The living room is the short leg of the L. It sits, almost separate from the main building, in a garden atop the garage. This location both allows it to screen the view to the pool, terraces and lawns beyond, and affords it the most panoramic view on the site. As the surrounding plantings mature, it will look increasingly inviting, like a small pavilion sitting on a grassy outcropping of rock, facing the sea.

Beyond the living room lie the other public rooms of the home. These rooms all face the ocean view and open onto the pool and terrace areas. All of the homes bedrooms are located on the upper floor and also face the ocean view.

The design of this home owes something to both the architecture of Asia as well as the early prairie homes of Frank Lloyd Wright. In all, roof forms are used to establish a strong character for the building. Here, this character has been reinforced through the extensive use of VG fir as soffit material, wall cladding and trim.

This home has incorporated many principles of sustainable design. This is an exposed, south-facing site and the wide overhangs provide excellent weather protection for the walls, and a significant reduction in solar gain through the glazing. The glazing itself is high performance glass. Heating and cooling for the home are both provided by a geothermal field, and the pool and spa are heated by solar panels backed up by gas. Wood veneers, rather than solid stock, are used extensively both on the interior and exterior, maximizing the use of every tree. Most of the homes soffit is veneer. The finished wooden flooring is a manufactured veneer product with an environmentally friendly natural oil finish. The plumbing fixtures are all low volume, and all of the cabinetry in the home is formaldehyde free.

Materials used in this project include basalt, slate, limestone, granite, onyx, fir, red and yellow cedar, wenge, African and American cherry.