Vancouver-based studio Battersby Howat Architects has designed this contemporary retreat on Gambier Island, an island located in Howe Sound near Vancouver, British Columbia.
According to the architects: “Explorations of this steeply sloped, wooded site overlooking a small private stone beach in Center Bay suggested a switchback organization of spaces where the slope has been extended and combined with a newly created meandering path that offers an introduction to the site. This pathway purposefully links together the architecture of internal rooms and outdoor spaces with discoveries of the site’s varied landscape features.
One third of the space within the house, made up of guest rooms, an office and the main entrance, is located at the lower level adjacent to the base of an existing one storey rock embankment. The overhanging mass of the building and its canted wall defines the main entrance and creates a covered space for unpacking and packing – a familiar cabin ritual associated with those important moments of arrival and departure.
A vertical strip of glazing at the entry and lower stair landing captures an extended view of a lone arbutus tree. Family spaces are located on the upper level. The internal stair rises up alongside a central concrete wall that extends the pre-existing rock embankment into the house’s internal landscape. This wall rises up to support cantilevering roof rafters which counter intuitively support the ridge that is centered over the hall leading to sleeping quarters along the back of the wall.
