The newly built project consists of a two-bedroom home plus laneway studio located in Vancouver’s picturesque Point Grey district. Texturally rich and highly crafted, while remaining dutifully utilitarian, the dwelling’s form is a response to its challenging site conditions and its inhabitant’s vision for simplicity, flexibility, and expression.  

To address the unusually narrow, long, and steep site, the building is conceived as a set of stacked offset volumes extending across three floors, which maximize natural light while offering privacy and framed views. 

Throughout the home, a mixed palette of poured-in-place terrazzo and custom ash wood millwork provides both calm and warmth. Sliding walls are incorporated on each floor to help create multi-functional spaces and meet the client’s vision for flexibility. 

Each floor follows an open plan design to provide inhabitants with a seamless encounter with the home’s breathtaking natural surroundings. Meanwhile, personalized details are incorporated throughout the design to reflect the owner’s artistic disposition and close ties to Brazil—such as the use of playful black and while tiles on the home’s hot tub exterior reminiscent of those used on the fabled boardwalks of Rio’s Copacabana. 

Many sustainability strategies mitigate the project’s impact on the environment, including:

• Triple glazed windows

• Solar hot water heating system and hot tub heat recovery system

• 1,700-gallon cistern for capturing rainwater to feed toilets, landscape, and green roof

• Passive cooling and ventilation strategies (no air conditioning)

• Natural lighting through atrium and stairwell

• Use of FSC certified wood throughout