Project: Cranley Drive Residence
Architects: Architecture Building Culture
Location: West Vancouver, Canada
Size: 3200 ft2
Year 2016
Photographer: Andrew Latreille, Mark Ritchie (photo 9)
Text by Architecture Building Culture
The Cranley Drive Residence is a single story house that takes its cue directly from the topography as it climbs the sloping property in four large steps. The design reinterprets many of the hallmarks of West Coast Modernism: a simple roof form, an open-plan layout, planar walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and glazed doors that afford an abundance of natural light and bind the inside with outdoor terraces and views.
The family relocated to British Columbia in 2008. The new residence was designed after the family had lived in the existing house for two years and learned how they and the seasons interacted with the site. The design was centered on a strong need for light, sun, and both visual and physical connections to all the available outdoor space, and culminated in a single-story house where every room accesses south light and a garden.
The living quarters is at street level. Each bedroom is accompanied by its own terrace that links to the courtyard area, with the master bedroom situated at the top. The living space is framed by large matching glass sliders and windows that face the front and back yards allowing for ample natural light during the grey winter months, as well as expansive views extending from the forest and cliffs to the rear, through the house to the front garden, the street, and ultimately the neighborhood. Neither orientation, front or back, is over-emphasized at the expense of the other, so that living in this house is as much about enjoying a private landscape as a shared one.
