House With Big Shingles / D'Arcy Jones Architects

Site - This project is in Sandy Cove, a small West Vancouver neighborhood in a mature coastal rainforest filled with mature Douglas fir and Western red cedar trees. The unique site has three "front" yards, facing Cypress Mountain to the north, Burrard Inlet to the south, and Lighthouse Park to the west. The site's complex geography is cradled by rough, lichen-covered granite. This house replaces a distinctive Ron Thom-designed house that was as sharp and ragged as the site with an innovative hexagonal grid inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian floor plans. Unfortunately, the previous house from the 1960s was demolished after a contentious battle between heritage preservationists, local politicians, and land speculators.