Current Project: Comox House

The Comox House, located on Vancouver Island, BC, is nearing completion, and we thought we’d share some progress photos with you as its construction winds down to the finish.  If you’re curious to learn more about the house’s design, take a look at our website to see more photos and drawings.

The existing site was chosen for its remarkable and dense cluster of mature Douglas Fir trees which traverse the beach frontage.  These trees are an exceptional environmental resource and critical to the coastal riparian habitat which has suffered significant depletion at the hands of insensitive development. The preservation of these trees became the departure point for the critical approach and formal language of the house.  The proposed residence is sited to pass between them, maintaining and protecting them. As the house squeezes between the trees searching for the oceanfront, it elevates seven feet into the air onto a series of piloti placed on an irregular grid to avoid the critical network of roots of the mature trees.  The pier foundations avoid imposition on the tree’s root systems and minimize the surface area of associated soil disturbance.  The ecology of the site was prioritized and the impact of the house was consciously offset to maintain equilibrium and habitat.