cjwho: Esquimalt House, Vancouver, Canada by Mcleod Bovell | via This house is located on a steep, e
cjwho: Esquimalt House, Vancouver, Canada by Mcleod Bovell | via This house is located on a steep, extra wide property with views of downtown Vancouver, the Lion’s Gate Bridge and Burrard Inlet. The building flows laterally with a gently stepped horizontal navigation across and down through the site. Twenty feet of vertical distance between the street and the main floor entry is divided into three distinct experiences in order to alleviate, what would otherwise be, a relentless downward movement. First, a set of concrete platforms through a small ornamental orchard, then down a single run of stairs overhanging a pond, and finally through a courtyard over a bridge to the front door. The courtyard with its wide reflecting ponds creates a distinct space out of what would otherwise be a compressed valley between the street and the face of the building. In accordance with the couple’s needs, the house operates simultaneously as a private place of retreat, a place of business, and a large-scale, quasi-public entertaining space. The office is reached via an exterior access ramp beside the reflecting ponds so that business can be conducted apart from the living spaces. Dramatic interior and exterior entertaining spaces that accommodate gatherings of the client’s Ismali religious community comprise one half of the site, while more intimately-scaled spaces for private living and personal contemplation form the other half. CJWHO: facebook | instagram | twitter | pinterest | subscribe -- source link