This mid-century modernist house was built in 1956 on a ¾ acre site in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The site slopes gently to the north with views to Howe Sound and the Coast Mountain Range.

The original house was designed as a sixty foot square single storey plate centered by an open square glazed courtyard. The north wall with sixty feet of floor to ceiling glazing opened the house to the views and provided the main connection to the immediate site. The 1956 version had wonderful scale and magical light quality. Its structure was steel and Douglas fir with red cedar siding.

The mandate of the addition and renovation to the three bedroom residence was to provide new office studio space, a guest suite, with intention to preserve the scale and light qualities of the original building and increase the experience of the large site. The house was to also exhibit a growing modern art collection.

The west and east wings of the house have been extended to the south yard. A reflecting pool between the two wings, spilling out of the new landscape, becomes part of a strong axial composition connecting the living spaces, the inner courtyard, the swimming pool, the ocean, and the mountains to the north.

The exterior cladding is a rain screen of broad yellow cedar boards laid horizontally emphasizing both the length of the single storey structure and its intimate connection to the land. The interior is a simple palette of grey concrete floors and white painted gypsum board walls, respecting the simple detailing of the original house, much of it preserved in the courtyard and the north wall glazing systems. The custom designed millwork is lightly stained wood to harmonize with the floors and walls.