Project: Private Vacation Retreat
Architects: BattersbyHowat Architects
Location: Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia
Year 2019
Photo Credits: Ema Peter
Text by BattersbyHowat Architects
Set on the Malaspina Strait with a view of Texada Island, this one-level, private vacation retreat is situated on a waterfront acreage north of Gibsons. The coastline of this property features an inset bay that cradles a protected pebble and sand beach area downslope from the new house location. This curved and intimate beach area is framed by stunning moss-covered granite bedrock promontories rising above the sea on both sides that have been cultivated by sparse and hardy windswept shore pines.
Accessed off the Sunshine Coast Highway, a long gravel driveway gently winds through established arbutus and fir trees with an understory of ferns and salal, immediately creating a context of seclusion in nature. The sequence of experiencing sunlit clearings and shadowy forest scenes was the inspiration for the materiality of the home using high contrast white and black stained wood elements.
