Trail’s Edge is a monumental new family home: a British Columbia house that conceals its substantial size through its immersive relationship with its natural surroundings in a wooded plot in Whistler.
Openspace Architecture designs this British Columbia house
Designed by North Vancouver’s Openspace Architecture, a practice founded in 1998 by Don Gurney and Eric Pettit, the new house is one of a series of spectacular residences the studio has built in the Pacific Northwest.
At 8,200 sq ft, the house occupies the southern part of a wedge-shaped plot south of Whistler Creek. The plan is tapered to follow the property line, with floor-to-ceiling glass looking out onto the trees and a relatively obscured and sober façade facing the public road, cloaking what is within.
The relationship with nature is emphasised by the decks that wrap around the forest façade. They are covered by a prow-like roof that sails off into the trees, and are supported by a row of tall steel columns that evoke the region’s arrow-straight cedar and pine trees. The lower deck wraps around the house and includes a hot tub and a fire pit, while the upper deck level is a more private space accessed from the principal bedroom suite.
Throughout the project, the architects have used chunky basalt stone cladding to define key areas of the interior and exterior, which contrast with the fine joinery used throughout for floors, ceiling, cabinetry and key pieces of furniture.
The architects describe this blend of solidity and openness as a way of achieving ‘the psychological comforts of shelter’. The interior is similarly subdivided, with thin wooden slat screens serving as partitions between the fluid series of main living rooms, which circulate around the main hallway.
These include a living and dining room, a family room, games room and office, with a downstairs guest suite and a dedicated space for ski storage and changing.
Upstairs there are five more ensuite bedrooms, with a double-height stairwell that rises up above the main entrance hall. The architects write that the ‘architecture immerses its inhabitants into the site's environment and offers a calming remedy to the cacophony of urban life’.
-
What is the future for design in Africa? Designer Hicham Lahlou shares possibilities for the continent at largeThe Moroccan designer celebrates 30 years of his practice. Here he speaks from his studio in Rabat about his own career and the creative possibilities for design in Morocco and the rest of Africa
-
Philadelphia’s 'Grande Dame' reopens with a dazzling French twistThe Bellevue Hotel has been restored to its former glory through a stylish renovation by design studio Ward + Gray
-
Louis Vuitton’s duo of Osaka exhibitions celebrate the house’s deep-rooted relationship with JapanUnfolding in Osaka this summer, ‘Visionary Journeys’ is a transporting trip into the house’s history, while ‘Yayoi Kusama – Infinity’ promises an immersion into the works of the Japanese artist, who is a longstanding Louis Vuitton collaborator
-
In Canada, The Nest is a three-dimensional puzzle redefining remote livingOn a wooded site on the country’s West Coast, this prefabricated retreat designed by Daria Sheina Studio is a nurturing space for low-impact living
-
Discover Canadian modernist Daniel Evan White’s pitch-perfect homesCanadian architect Daniel Evan White (1933-2012) had a gift for using the landscape to create extraordinary homes; revisit his story in an article from the Wallpaper* archives (first published in 2011)
-
A new Québec house blends open-plan living with far-reaching viewsThe Mountainside Residence is anchored into its sloping site by a concrete plinth, above which sits a main living space with tall ceilings and walls of glass
-
Four super-refined Nova Scotia ‘bunkies’ are unforgettable architectural retreatsMacKay-Lyons Sweetapple has completed a collection of elevated guest cabins – named Ridge On The Chimney – on the rugged Nova Scotian coast, all bookable for a stay
-
Smoke Lake Cabin is an off-grid hideaway only accessible by boatThis Canadian cabin is a modular and de-mountable residence, designed by Anya Moryoussef Architect (AMA) and nestled within Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario
-
Ten contemporary homes that are pushing the boundaries of architectureA new book detailing 59 visually intriguing and technologically impressive contemporary houses shines a light on how architecture is evolving
-
Explore the Perry Estate, a lesser-known Arthur Erickson project in CanadaThe Perry estate – a residence and studio built for sculptor Frank Perry and often visited by his friend Bill Reid – is now on the market in North Vancouver
-
A new lakeshore cottage in Ontario is a spectacular retreat set beneath angled zinc roofsFamily Cottage by Vokac Taylor mixes spatial gymnastics with respect for its rocky, forested waterside site
