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See this impressive West Vancouver house designed for empty nesters

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

McLeod Bovell Modern Houses along with Postle Construction were commissioned to create this three-story house for their clients at a pivotal stage in their lives as soon-to-be empty nesters, situated in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The project was driven by the evolving needs of a family, inspiring a vision for a home that reflects their state of transition on both conceptual and experiential levels.

Titled “liminal house”, the project team selected the word liminal to encapsulate ideas that have informed the design process: namely the feeling of inhabiting a transitory place; orchestrating movement through space, and dwelling in the moments between from and to…

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

The project site straddles the interstice between a suburban residential neighborhood and West Vancouver’s natural stony seashore. Positioned on an expanded border between land and sea, the building form references the creatures that occupy this interstitial territory, whose physiology has adapted to such challenging conditions.

modern home exterior with a pool

In the same spirit, the house establishes itself in concrete, stained Accoya wood, and aluminum plate—enduring materials that can resist the battering effect of a shore environment.

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

Drawing from our experience negotiating complex topography and tight proximity with neighbors, we have learned to abandon the reading of the project as a series of flat “elevations” that exist from an imaginary or inaccessible viewpoint. Instead, we embrace a scenographic approach where the house can be understood after having moved through and around it.

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

The language of courtyards, cantilevered volumes, and extension of landscaped surfaces onto floor areas below dismantle boundaries between the house and the natural environment.

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

The changing outdoor atmosphere at the shore not only animates the house but is in turn animated by the house: views are framed between solid walls and walls of glass; their images are duplicated by a dark pool at the edge of the property and by the glazing of internal courtyards. Reflections and refractions of the outdoors evoke a feeling of being neither here nor there, but somewhere in between.

modern home exterior

What We Love: This West Vancouver house provides its inhabitants with a modern, clean-lined home that focuses on the views of the ocean. This is the ultimate house for entertaining with the fabulous indoor-outdoor connection and ease of flow through the living spaces. The swimming pool is spectacular, designed to feel like it is extending endlessly towards the horizon. We especially love how the main bedroom and bathroom have floor-to-ceiling windows that perfectly frame the ocean, offering a feeling of serenity.

Tell Us: What are your overall thoughts on the design of this dwelling? Please share your thoughts in the Comments below!

Note: Take a look at a couple of other fabulous home tours that we have showcased here on One Kindesign in the province of British Columbia: A historic home on Vancouver Island gets transformed into a serene getaway and A sophisticated coastal chic home in Vancouver gets a stunning update.

modern home exterior

modern home exterior with steps

modern living room with a ceiling mounted fireplace

modern living room with a ceiling mounted fireplace

modern dining room looking into the living room with a ceiling mounted fireplace

modern kitchen

modern kitchen

modern kitchen with a sliding glass wall that opens to the outdoor patio

modern home exterior with a view into the kitchen through a glass wall

modern home exterior wall detail

modern kitchen and dining room

modern dining room with a glass wall and view of the ocean

modern kitchen with walls of glass and a view of the ocean

modern home patio with a view of the pool and ocean

modern home covered patio with a view of the ocean

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

modern swimming pool

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

modern home exterior with a glass view of the interior staircase

modern staircase

modern staircase

modern home exterior

modern family room with a window view into an interior courtyard

modern home office

modern home exterior detail

modern home exterior view into the home office

modern interior courtyard

modern home exterior

modern staircase

modern staircase

modern bedroom with a wall of glass and view to an outdoor courtyard

modern home exterior with a courtyard

modern bedroom with a wall of glass and a view to the ocean

modern bathroom with a wall of glass and view to the ocean

modern home office

modern home exterior landscape with a fire pit

modern home exterior

modern home exterior

modern home exterior with a landscape view

modern home exterior

modern home exterior with a pool

modern home exterior at dusk

modern home exterior at dusk

modern home exterior with a patio and pool

modern home exterior at dusk

PHOTOGRAPHER Hufton+Crow

modern home site plan

modern home basement floor plan

modern home main floor plan

modern home upper floor plan

modern home elevation plan

modern home elevation plan

modern home elevation plan

modern home section plan

modern home section plan

modern home section plan

One Kindesign has received this project from our submissions page. If you have a project you would like to submit, please visit our submit your work page for consideration!

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Maurice
7 months ago

Absolutely a beautiful home! This house will still be still standing when the rest of the neighborhood decays from condensation, termite, and wood bugs and are torn down. A more intelligent way of investing two million dollars plus and finally we are building smarter!

Josh
7 months ago

Brutalism is best left to museums. Or better yet, in the dust bin of history.

Michael F
7 months ago

Next best thing to a penitentiary.