CLT Courtyard House

Vancouver, Canada

Add To Collection

CLT Courtyard House

Vancouver, Canada

Firm

DPo Architecture

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2018

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

Cross Laminated Timber ( CLT) house and laneway house separated by a courtyard.

This two-storey mass timber house is perched on a hill in central Vancouver. Comprised of a 2,600 square foot (242 square metre) main house and a 475 square foot (44 square metre) laneway house, the unique siting allows for dramatic views of the scenic city downtown and mountains beyond, but also toward an intimate courtyard formed between the two structures.

An early design decision was to use a CLT (cross-laminated timber) structural panels and to expose the wood material as an interior finish. As prefabricated wood panels that can be used for both walls and floors, CLT offered the advantage of quick assembly on site and allowed for long spans without any steel beams or columns. The CLT structure also has the unique advantage of providing a beautiful texture and natural warmth of wood on the interior. Last but not least, CLT provided advantages in terms of acoustic properties, thermal value, fire resistance and seismic reliance – all properties valued by the client and important for the region.

Wood finish is exposed on the interior of the north and south walls and is dramatically expressed in the design as it rises up the fully exposed two-storey CLT wall along the main stair. A skylight at the roof level brings light down this same whitewashed wood and through the open stair risers, bringing light to the basement.The stair rises to access the green roof garden, planted by the owner to increase water retention in the wet climate and allow for a more sustainable footprint. Solar panels can be installed in the future to the roughed-in conduit ready to receive them.

Rusting steel panels also make a strong presence in the design as cladding on the exterior, and on the south wall of the stair with flush, custom-designed LED strip lights. In the courtyard, a cobalt blue mosaic tile fountain introduces a water element as a natural complement to the wood.