430 House is the contemporary renovation of a 1981 Vancouver Special house designed by D’Arcy Jones Architecture, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The residence was built on a 33 foot wide lot, which retained the entire foundation and structure of the house. The 2,500 square foot interior layout was flipped, moving the kitchen, dining and living areas from the upper floor down to the main floor, so the most important interior spaces could be at grade.

A new parallel-parking open carport was built off the lane, to preserve more of the back yard for a new landscaped garden and terrace. The house was wrapped in a new exterior skin with carefully placed windows, to connect all interior spaces to the front and back yards. This house that was once dark and generic is now filled with light and air.

Our studio enthusiastically approaches each new project as a chance to create something unique. Playing with materials and form to come up with unexpected results, we work tirelessly to design projects that are innovative, durable and inviting. Tweaking time-tested ways of building, we create buildings and spaces that can be built with conventional construction methods. Our clients work with a very small team and enjoy the personal involvement of D’Arcy at all stages of design and construction. We are optimists, seeing the past as a continuum to connect with and be inspired by, and seeing the future as something that can be improved incrementally.

Photos: Sama Jim Canzian