Omer Arbel Office designs cedar-clad British Columbia house for rising tides
Canadian studio Omer Arbel Office has designed the 91.0 cedar house with sandblasted planks that "evoke" stacked lumber, elevating it above a gully on a waterfront property in British Columbia.
The 3,200-square-foot (300-square-metre) 91.0 house (also known as Bridge House) sits on a steep, 3-acre site on Galiano Island, British Columbia.
Surrounded by trees, the design bridges two rocky ridges and spans a sunken gully of ferns.
The site anticipates rising water levels due to climate change, causing potential flooding of the gully.
For the design, the studio reframed its thinking about climate from the apocalyptic to something more adaptable to account for the present and future experience of the site, a perspective shift the studio considers "phenomenological".
"If we cut a section through the site perpendicular to the water line, we find that there are four very different conditions, each corresponding to a different microecology and phenomenological identity," Omer Arbel Office told Dezeen.
"Our aim was to organize the spaces of the house such that it literally cut across all four, allowing a visceral experience of these various aspects of the site. The house was thought of as a single plane, a flat datum, so that inhabitants can register the changes in the site section against it."
"We discovered that this seemingly simple departure point, if carried to its conclusion, meant the house was effectively a bridge spanning across a fern gully. It is anticipated that if water levels rise as a result of climate change, in a century or two, the fern gully would flood to make a tidal pool basin, giving the project an entirely different reading."
To access the house, occupants and visitors cross a forested pathway to reach an embedded front entrance.
The entry opens to an 82-foot-long (25 metre) corridor with a window seat overlooking the fern gully below.
On the far side of the corridor, the main wing affords views of the ocean with an open kitchen and living room. The primary bedroom is located near the public areas for the client's convenience, and is cantilevered from the main volume, leading it to appear suspended.
The corridor separates auxiliary sleeping areas into a second wing. Designed for adaptability, the other bedrooms and bunkroom can be closed off or opened up when guests visit.
"The plan is meant to expand and contract based on the number of occupants, allowing opening up of additional bedrooms when either the (grown up) kids or guests are visiting," said the studio.
The material palette refocuses attention on the surrounding forest and echoes the natural environment with a geological quality. The studio developed cedar cladding in which the end grain was sandblasted to "evoke the image of stacked lumber".
"Sandblasting the cedar end grain achieved a high contrast surface highly responsive to natural sunlight," the studio said. "At first this seems subtle but over time becomes a very rich experience."
"The project is meant to be a focusing device for the forest around it, particularly the tender transition as this forest meets the ocean. As such we felt that cedar was a very appropriate material, both inside and out."
The wooden textures continue on the interior of the house with layers of painted wooden battens, Douglas fir strips and walnut shelving for the walls and cabinets, while the ceiling is stained, sandblasted cedar.
Contrasted with polished concrete floors, the combination is Omer Arbel's take on the North American cabin in the woods.
The Vancouver-based studio previously created a house in British Columbia that has lily-pad-shaped columns created by pouring concrete into fabric formwork. Additionally, Omer Arbel is the co-founder of lighting and furniture design studio Bocci.
The photography is by Fahim Kassam.
Project credits:
Client: Josh Pekarsky and Marla Guralnick
Designer: Omer Arbel Office
Project leader: Mark Dennis
Project team: Omer Arbel, Mark Dennis, Kevin Isherwood, Jaedan Leimert, Tyler Wied
Model team: Christa Clay, Steve Fassezke, Kevin Isherwood, Jaedan Leimert, Jay MacDonnell, Glenn Muxlow, Jason Murphy, Thomas Nichini, Jess Sarber, Deagan McDonald, Johann Tarves
Furniture and art collection: Client
Contractor: Brad Martin of Treeline Construction
Structural: Toby Fast of Fast + Epp Structural Engineers
Geotechnical: Matt Kokan of Geopacific Consultants
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