Situated on the steep, south-facing slopes of North Vancouver’s Indian Arm, the Cliffhanger residence pays homage to the tenets of modern architecture while expressing a distinctly regional character to create a clean, contemporary West Coast aesthetic.
The three-level home sits atop a tiny site that would be defined as challenging in its size — it’s a mere 25 feet wide by 100 feet long — but the fact that the site drops nearly 60 feet over its 100-foot length seriously elevated the difficulties for the design team.
The home features a simple open plan with the key activity areas of kitchen, living, and dining located on the intermediate level with unobstructed views to the water. At a mere 1,986 square feet in overall area, the home is designed to be efficient and multifunctional with no space left unused. The house is rated highly energy efficient by the Canadian EnerGuide energy efficiency program.
The Cliffhanger represents a regional adaptation to a modern aesthetic that allows it to straddle the seemingly incongruous worlds of a big city metropolis and rugged mountain landscape.
The home is designed by Kevin Vallely Design and built by the Econ Group, Greater Vancouver’s only explicitly modern residential contractor.
Designer: Kevin Vallely Design (www.vallely.ca)
Builder: Econ Group Ltd (http://www.econgroup.ca)
Photographer: Nik West (www.nikwest.com)