Residence Designed to Weather Along British Columbia Coastline

"Seven years of development allowed Openspace Architecture and landscape designer Paul Sangha Creative to thread a 10,000-square-foot single-story home through mature forest without sacrificing the canopy that defines the site's character - a constraint that ultimately generated the building's gently curving plan and its sequence of connected spaces opening to Saanich Inlet views. The design draws from mid-century West Coast Modernism's timber traditions while incorporating Japanese structural principles that extend beyond aesthetic reference."

"Openspace Architecture employed tatami mat proportions to establish the organizational logic governing window grids and floor patterns throughout, creating spatial rhythms that feel measured rather than arbitrary. Deep eaves and low-pitched rooflines acknowledge Pacific Northwest rainfall patterns while the Japanese timber frame construction allows for the wide spans necessary to dissolve boundaries between interior volumes and exterior terraces. Material choices reinforce this dialogue between shelter and exposure."

"Western red cedar wraps siding, ceilings, and structural elements in a unified envelope designed to weather and silver over time. The repetition of oversized natural limestone slabs from interior floors onto outdoor terraces eliminates the typical threshold that signals transition, while Café Canal sandstone grounds the composition in tones that mirror the surrounding forest floor and coastal geology. Paul Sangha Creative's landscape architecture operates through layered garden zones that mediate between cultivated and wild."

Seven years of development produced a 10,000-square-foot single-story home threaded through mature forest that preserves the site's canopy and opens to Saanich Inlet views. The curving plan and sequence of connected spaces respond to that constraint. Design references mid-century West Coast Modernism and Japanese structural principles, using tatami mat proportions to organize window grids and floor patterns. Deep eaves and low-pitched roofs address Pacific Northwest rainfall while a Japanese timber frame enables wide spans that blur interior and exterior. Western red cedar, oversized limestone slabs, and Café Canal sandstone unify materials. Layered garden zones transition from woodland to cultivated plantings and coastal edges.

Read at Design Milk