Kicking off the Fall 2016 Session, MADS Home Tours visits Vancouver, BC to explore the most unique modern residential spaces in the area.
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2016 Vancouver Modern Home Tour Homes
ALL HOMES OPEN 11AM TO 5PM, RAIN OR SHINE!
A – Laurel St.
Architect/Interior Design: One SEED Architecture + Interiors
Builder: Vertical Grain Projects
Photography: Janis Nicolay
Re-Generation House is named in honour of the three generations who have called it home as well as the regenerative impact of the contemporary renovation. The 1957 bungalow in Vancouver’s Oakridge neighbourhood was the homeowner’s boyhood home, and now where he and his wife are raising their two sons. They have a passion for modernism and a courageous willingness to re-envision all aspects of their previously understated home. The renovation honoured what was working with the house, such as its size and general plan, while creating a whole new look and some very special spaces.
The renovation literally raised the roof…. right off. New and higher roofs of wrapping planes create a drastic visual transformation while reusing almost the entirety of the existing house’s shell. The large projecting folds create depth and visual separation on what were largely flat elevations. Beauty is found in the spaces resulting from the stacking and joining of these extruded boxes. It is hard to believe it is the same house when you see the ‘before’ photos.
The new roof forms allowed for over-sized windows and dramatic volumes throughout the home. The lower ‘box’ to the left of the front door was converted into a luxurious master suite with eleven and a half foot ceilings. Despite the street frontage, the huge windows still provide privacy due to their high sills. The second ‘box’, just above, incorporates a new band of clerestory windows which are open two storeys below to the entry, providing daylight and framed views of the sky and tree canopy. This extrusion carries through to the back of the house where the boys’ bedrooms are given soaring ceilings and views to the east.
Frank Lloyd Wright had many great quotes about the importance of a house relating to site, among them we like the idea that “hill and house should live together, each the happier for the other.” This house did not have a hill and it was most certainly not happily integrated with the relatively expansive and flat site. Instead, the house was plunked down, right in the middle of it, with a short and simple run of steps at front and back. The front yard has now been reclaimed through the addition of an outdoor living space off of the living room and entrance. It embraces a feature tree and is shielded partially from the street by a concrete landscape wall allowing for larger windows from the living room onto the semi-private space. Welcoming large format concrete slab steps cascade from the front door, out into the yard, transitioning between private living spaces and the more public street front. Another contemporary concrete wall and wood screen element define an intermediate courtyard outside of the master bedroom suite, providing a private view to a landscaped oasis.
The back of the house melts away at the dining room, where an eight foot high scenic door folds away leaving an opening almost twelve feet in width. Outside the dining room is an at-grade patio with built-in bench seating and lighting as a continuation of the indoor living space, and as a great place to take in games on the backyard basketball court.
The design process for the Re-Generation House was a true collaboration with the homeowners, as the architectural language from the exterior carries through into the interior of the home.
B – Worthington Drive
Designer & Builder: Lanefab Design/Build, Bryn Davidson
Photography: Colin Perry
The 760sf Edlund lane house is a 1br, 1bath live/work unit that was built for a freelance graphic artist.
The small home is built behind an existing Vancouver house, and features numerous green components including a rain garden which captures and stores rainwater.
C – West 22nd Ave.
Interior Design: Project 22 Design, Denise Ashmore
Architect: Measured Architecture
Photography: Janis Nicolay (Interior), Andrew Latrielle (Exterior)
Completed in 2015 this new single family home & laneway studio was built on a typical 33’ x 122’ building lot. Perched above the park it feels as much a treehouse as it does a family home. As my own home it was as you would imagine designed from the inside out a rare and awesome opportunity. Our family had lived on the property for a few years during the planning process so it was easy to layout the house.
Dealing with the sloped lot and creating a form that was inherent to its location was where we decided to consult a professional. Measured Architecture was hired not in their typical capacity as prime consultant but rather as a valued consultant on the design team.
The home itself is 2760 sf (of an allowable 2818 sf) overall it expresses the owners love of industrial and mid-century design with its exposed structural steel I beam and wood ceilings, 3 sided fireplace and walnut millwork throughout. The bedroom level is modest in size at only 740 sf of interior space, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and stacking laundry. Conveniently at the top of the stairs the upper deck makes for a great place to enjoy a cup of tea, fold laundry and has space for small protected herb garden that can be used year round. Most of the allowable building area (1100 sf) was spent on the main floor where the family spends most of their time together. The open floorpan allows the family to be together in one space while doing their own thing, be it cooking, eating, reading, or doing homework. The main floor was designed for entertaining with polished concrete floors and high ceilings and integrated music. Although the kitchen is tucked toward the back of the house it still enjoys the view of the trees out front through the metal mesh screen, a deliberate choice that was tested for transparency. This industrial element connects the exposed structural I-beam that divides working spaces and relaxing spaces. Downstairs is 960 sf of young teenager heaven complete with a games room, ping pong table, TV room & patio with fire pit. In addition to the main house a single level 320 sf laneway studio (home to project22design) was built out
back complete with bathroom, kitchenette and living space.
The new home with its expansive glazing embraces the park and mountain views and invites the inside out as much as the outside in. For this family of 4 this home has just the right amount of indoor/outdoor living space for today, with built in flexibility for future living possibilities with a basement suite and laneway on the same site!
D – Chancellor Blvd.
Builder: Natural Balance Home Builders
Architect: Frits de Vries
Photography: Ema Peters
Located in the ‘Little Australia’ neighbourhood of the UBC Endowment Lands, in Vancouver, this 4,650 sq.ft residence was conceived as an exclusive, for-market home.
Located directly adjacent to Pacific Spirit Park, the project team identified the forest setting of the neighbourhood as a driving design element. The house is conceived as a pavilion in a park – a loose arrangement of simple, bold elements that float in a park-like atmosphere.
With ample garden and courtyard spaces, the design puts emphasis on outdoor living, with strong visual and physical connections to the natural forest landscape; privacy meticulously balanced with views.
The stone-clad, ‘solid’ half of the house contains the bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms and other services. The transparent, ‘pavilion’ half contains the Living and Dining rooms, and the upper floor roof terrace. The house is sited to the east of the property to allow more natural light into the home, and enables the garden to wrap continuously around the house, creating a naturalized setting for the house that blends with the nature of the parkland. An excavated and landscaped garden courtyard gives the lower floor of the pavilion a direct connection to the garden, while a more structured garden courtyard in the rear allows natural light to lower-level guest bedrooms.
A garage resides to the periphery of the rear garden. Visually connected to the main house by utilizing similar slatted wood cladding, and a cantilevered roofline, this small building encloses the rear yard to enhance privacy, while its living, green roof provides a visual connection to the parkland across the street from the upper floor of the main house.
This is a LEED Gold for Homes Certified project that project team achieved through a holistic approach to sustainability. Rather than relying on ‘bolt-on’ technology, an integrated approach was taken with this house using both passive and active strategies to comply with LEED, while creating an exciting, vibrant home for living.
The strategies include:
- Siting of the home to the East allows more natural light onto the site and into the home.
- Windows and skylight located for cross ventilation and heat stack effect and to control heat gain.
- Low-e performance glass and thermally broken window frames.
- In-floor radiant heating.
- Air-to-air heat pump.
- Heat recovery ventilation.
- Roof-mounted electro-voltaic solar panels.
- Waste water heat recovery system.
- Locally-sourced and durable materials.
- Low VOC Paints, millwork panels and glues.
- Energy efficient lighting and appliances.
- Low-consumption plumbing, including toilets, faucets, showers, dishwasher and washing machine.
- Green roof on garage.
- Rainwater harvesting for irrigation.
- Durable natural stone is hung on engineered rails and pre-cut to minimize waste.
E – Eastcot Rd.
Architect: Michael Gottschalk
Photography: Kristen McGaughey
Described as ‘The New Architectural Renaissance’, this home represents a new, modern way of thinking about architecture and our place in it.
Modern Italian elegance can only begin to describe this beautiful British Properties home. Upon entering the 8,000+ sq ft home through the custom 4′ x 10′ door, an appreciation for the superior level of planning and design is immediately evoked. The great room, with 14 ft ceiling and large linear fireplace, features expansive tilt and turn glass windows and steel structural elements, which complement concrete feature walls that are carried through all three levels of the home.
The dining room features a dramatic Artemide Italian light fixture and expansive double doors that open onto a 497 sq ft balcony with in-built fire pit and its own matching Artemide light fixture, in addition to views of the 16′ x 32′ swimming pool below.
The designer custom kitchen with 10 foot ceilings features matching Artemide chandeliers, custom Italian cabinets and auto LED lighting when cupboards are opened. Bianca Carrera marble counter tops, Blu Bathworks electronica digital touch faucets, built-in Miele appliances and Miele induction cook top are just some of the many high-end features. An additional family room and linear fireplace are just off the kitchen, leading to a hidden office on the other side.
The home has 6 bedrooms, each with their own ensuite. The luxurious 715 sq ft master suite boasts a walk-in closet with enclosed cabinets, partial city views and a beautiful ensuite with custom designed Blu Bathworks blu•stone™ soaker tub and Italian-crafted vanities.
The lower recreation floor features 9’6″ ceilings throughout, a media room with linear fireplace, concrete polished floors, recreation room and bar. A full gym and additional nanny or theatre room and two of the bedrooms are located on this floor.
