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The Third Annual “The Best of LaCantina” design competition showcased extraordinary projects from around the world that integrated LaCantina Doors‘ remarkable open space products and solutions. A specialist in manufacturing large opening door systems and windows, LaCantina has an innovative and comprehensive product line designed to enhance indoor-outdoor living. Each of the competition’s winners made good use of these products, forming a stunning array of projects that blur the line between people and nature.
One winner stood out above the rest, scooping the “Best in Show” and “Best Rural Project” awards this year. Tozer Design’s High Desert Butterfly is a breathtaking private residence in Bend, Oregon with extraordinary views of the Cascade Mountains. The architects utilized multiple iterations of LaCantina’s thermally controlled, aluminum multi-slide doors, resulting in a home defined by natural light and expansive views of the majestic Pacific Northwest landscape.
“La Cantina was the best choice for maximizing the cascade views, and the clean aesthetic, modern profiles and symmetry worked well with the design concept,” said the architects. “Having the option for varying leg heights helped create the seamless indoor/outdoor transition we were looking for. Also having the option to pocket one side on the zero-post system allowed us to maximize the opening in a unique, dramatic manner.”
The doors integrate seamlessly into the space’s design, which employs passive design principles and biophilic design to create year-round living spaces that invite and blend with nature. Biophilic design promotes positive interactions between people and nature, encouraging an expanded sense of relationship and responsibility for human and natural communities. Along with the LaCantina doors, this two-level residence achieves these principles effectively with the help of structural features such as the strategic roof overhangs, which allow the space to cultivate winter sunshine while also protecting it from the sun during hot periods.
“For three seasons of the year, the home mimics the benefits of a shade tree, providing sheltered spaces below the gently sloping roofs and allowing generous, natural airflow throughout,” stated Tozer Design. “High Desert Butterfly provides an outstanding example of several biophilic design attributes such as refuge, prospect and connecting to place.”
Not only do LaCantina doors enlarge a space physically, they enhance the feeling of freedom within them. They mitigated the challenges of realizing these biophilic qualities.
“It was critical to have maximum glass and minimum frame at High Desert Butterfly. The La Cantina TC products provided this modern profile well. Also, the easy-to-operate, no-corner-post closure provided the owners an incredibly dramatic indoor-outdoor living space,” remarks Tozer Design.
High Desert Butterfly is a home that breathes. It invites the natural environment rather than repel it. As a result of this close physical relationship to nature, a greater overall wellbeing can ensue. LaCantina Doors foster this connection, elevating the structural qualities of the residence. High Desert Butterfly and LaCantina Doors maximize one another’s functionalities, forming an innovative, welcoming, and harmonized “Best in Show” residence.
All photography by Kayla McKenzie Photography
Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter.