Modernist West Van home boasts cleverly hidden structural details

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Couple’s meticulous dwelling design imaginative and prescient involves life

Printed Oct 12, 2024 • Final up to date 1 day in the past • 4 minute learn

This three-storey fashionable West Vancouver dwelling sits on a sloped website, with two varieties intersecting – the highest flooring oriented north-south, sided in louvered cedar slats and cantilevered over the decrease, which is oriented east-west, permitting open views to the ocean. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

Alnoor Bhura had constructed three customized homes earlier than his present West Van property. With every one, his tastes leaned extra minimal. “Each time I’d do a home, my concepts would change and change into extra refined,” he says.

By spherical 4, he and partner Kate Nova had been craving area to strive one thing completely different. They discovered it in a forested lot off Marine Drive that checked all of their different bins, too; shut sufficient to city for comfort, but set in nature — with towering cedars and ample room for setback, to dampen site visitors noise.

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At almost 300 ft deep by 100 ft vast, the lot would enable them precisely the inventive flex they wished.

Getting the house’s design proper would show more difficult, nevertheless. After misfires with a few different architects, the duo employed Openspace Structure and principal Don Gurney to steward their imaginative and prescient.

By this time, the pair had a crystal-clear thought of what they wished. Bhura, an engineer by vocation, even sketched out the construction, envisioning “two lots assembly”: an higher flooring oriented north-south and a two-floor decrease phase positioned east-west, following the positioning’s pure slope, and permitting uninterrupted views all the best way from Marine Drive to the ocean.

In the living room, a hefty concrete fireplace serves as both focal point and structural support for the home's minimal form. — In the lounge, a hefty concrete fire serves as each point of interest and structural assist for the house’s minimal kind. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

A glass-enclosed walkway leads from the main house to an office, where the owners work from home. — A glass-enclosed walkway leads from the principle home to an workplace, the place the house owners make money working from home. To align the bridge roof to the road of the “forehead” that runs across the main-structure home windows — leaving solely six inches of area for structural components — Openspace Structure principal Don Gurney and his staff needed to get inventive, utilizing a particular aerospace gel as insulation, as an example. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

A stream feature flows around and under the house, complemented by natural-looking rockwork. — A stream function flows round and underneath the home, complemented by natural-looking rockwork. Picture by Ema Peter {Photograph}

“He introduced some single-line-drawing sketches that he’d given numerous thought to. It was a really completely different expertise for us, working with a shopper who had such a powerful imaginative and prescient for a mission,” recollects Gurney. However it was inspiring, too. In Bhura’s sketches, Gurney noticed glimmers of favorite modernist masterpieces, such because the Kaufmann Home in Palm Springs by Richard Neutra.

Dedicated to minimalism, Bhura and Nova settled on a palette of concrete, metal, wooden and glass for the interiors and exteriors.

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“What I’ve observed with numerous homes is that the outside and inside are disconnected,” says Bhura. “Kate and I made a decision that we’d be disciplined. We’d use a easy palette of supplies, and attempt to maintain the design quite simple.”

However “easy” design typically requires complexity underneath the floor. For example, the house’s main- and lower-floor partitions are virtually solely made from glass, which disappears seamlessly into the ceiling, requiring higher beams to be cleverly hid. A metal “forehead” operating alongside the highest of every glass panel homes drop-down motorized blinds.

“With these sorts of properties, the magic is within the particulars,” says Gurney. “The roof, the forehead aspect that carries the blinds, the bridge that goes over to the workplace space, the floating bed room on the higher flooring — all of this required numerous structural gymnastics and really specialised detailing to take care of [the home’s] low profile.”

In the office, a custom floor-to-ceiling bookcase complements understated office furniture, while plush Ottoman Armchairs by Ligne Roset and a Rais gas fireplace assemble to create a simple lounge space, with views all the way to the ocean. — Within the workplace, a customized floor-to-ceiling bookcase enhances understated workplace furnishings, whereas plush Ottoman Armchairs by Ligne Roset and a Rais fuel fire assemble to create a easy lounge area, with views all the best way to the ocean. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

In collaboration with Botanica Design, the homeowners designed landscaping to complement the natural terrain and attract pollinators. — In collaboration with Botanica Design, the householders designed landscaping to enhance the pure terrain and appeal to pollinators. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

Clean-lined millwork and cabinetry carry the simple lines, with small touches creating visual interest. — Clear-lined millwork and cabinetry carry the easy traces, with small touches creating visible curiosity. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

A Vibia Match light fixture in the dining room. — A Vibia Match mild fixture within the eating room. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

To drag all of it off, Gurney and his staff created a digital info mannequin, a 3D rendering containing not simply design components, but additionally nitty-gritty particulars of the house’s structural and mechanical programs, to make development as easy as potential.

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The aforementioned bridge — walled in glass — leads from the principle home to a serene workplace area behind the constructing. Right here, a customized floor-to-ceiling bookcase homes a mini-library for a household of avid readers, together with desk area and a small lounge space. With solely glass and slim beams to the south, backyard and ocean views greet the attention.

Within the dwelling’s open-concept residing area, a concrete fire serves as each point of interest and assist. “This was very integral to the design, as a result of there aren’t numerous locations the place the roof will be supported structurally,” says Bhura.

All through the residing and eating areas, low-profile and minimalist furnishings in taupe, black and glass complement spartan millwork and cabinetry. Sturdy hemlock slat ceilings add heat to an in any other case cool palette, transitioning from inside out to a lined patio with a wood-burning fire. Sliding glass doorways roll open to a porcelain-tile patio, infinity pool and vast ocean views.

Perpendicular lines meet rolling terrain. — Perpendicular traces meet rolling terrain. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

An infinity lap pool with a Baja ledge transitions to porcelain patio tile. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

Low-profile furnishings in delicate shades maintain concentrate on the view. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

Plush Ottoman Armchairs by Ligne Roset in the office. — Customized floor-to-ceiling bookcase and understated furnishings within the workplace. Picture by Ema Peter Pictures

The house’s higher flooring cantilevers over the principle, housing a visitor bed room relatively than the first suite. This was an unconventional selection — however Bhura and Nova wished their non-public area to have direct entry to the backyard. “For us, it was actually necessary to not be closed in on a second flooring and unable to step outdoors,” says Bhura.

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The result’s shut every day contact with nature. A trickling stream flows instantly outdoors the bed room, enveloped in a tableau of inexperienced. Ocean views full this image of tranquillity, whereas nook home windows roll open vast within the ensuite. “You possibly can sit within the tub and simply hearken to the stream,” provides Bhura. It’s clearly a particular area for the couple — and symbolic of their larger achievement; finishing their dream sanctuary after years of labor and planning.

For Gurney, the uniquely shut collaboration created a lovely piece of design structure.

“The best way the home is built-in with the panorama, and the way softly it rests on the land, is basically noteworthy,” he says. “In my thoughts, this isn’t spectacle structure. It’s a really cool modernist mission nestled into a really pretty website.”

Structure and interiors: Openspace Structure

Building: Hart+Tipton Building

Panorama Structure: Botanica Design

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