HouseVariety: Bowen Island House : By Sturgess Architecture

Bowen Island, Vancouver, Canada
Sturgess Architecture
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong

Photo © Courtesy of Robert Lemermeyer

The House on Bowen Island is for a return Sturgess Architecture client, whose city home is in Calgary. The house is for the couple and their two older children, their visitors and extended family. The program divided the main house from the guest accommodation and linked them under one roof.

Photo © Courtesy of Robert Lemermeyer

The steep cliff site faces North overlooking Howe Sound. Located on a six meter wide ledge, the house is tied back to the upthrusting rock face that then drops 100m to the water below. An elongated bowtie plan maximizes the aperture of glazing and view to the North, while on approach from the South, only the roof marks its presence in the landscape. Naturally finished slate, cedar shingles and copper coloured roof denote a building that challenges with form yet eases itself into the coastal context. The entrance leads through the blasted rock to a sheltered deck, and landscape features are left in their original state.