The rich topography and social consciousness of site have become the protagonists for this hundred-mile house. Situated in a suburban area in the city of Vancouver, the project is wedged between the Coast Mountains to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Building for long life and loose fit ensures this carbon neutral home is sustainable, not only environmentally, but socially and culturally: supporting the complexities in which people and communities live out their daily lives. The house pursues a dialogue emphasizing cyclical natures and tectonic uncertainty defining mans fragility in the face of nature. The weathered corten surfaces gleam their capriciously formed patina, translating a humanist world, inhabited by mortals. The evocative tectonic landscape creases and pleats the building's form, creating a spatial perception resonating life on the edge of a continent. Interchangeable spaces are organized for maximum flexibility which promotes longevity and embraces capacity for different programmes and living situations. Key spaces follow an east to west axis to unite the inhabitants to the movements of the sun. This reproduces the primordial human condition of everyday life, emphasizing further how man and nature are inextricably connected. The south façade, with its shifting skin, reflecting the golden colours of the earth's natural pigment is in stark contrast to the northern edge: an impervious, dense and solid peripheral crust, echoing the axial connection of the Canadian Cordillera. The project stratifies the social, cultural and physical, embracing local condition and geographical tension to form an authentic and ethically responsible response to place.
(Competitor's text)
2 scanned / 2 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
