The site needed a path that would let residents easily ascend from the bank to the house. The architects created one by simply replicating the way they had naturally walked up the site the first time they visited. The result is a meandering trail that directs visitors to the landscape’s different features — whether a majestic Arbutus tree, a private stone beach, or a wildflower clearing.
Image courtesy of Sama Jim Canzian. Architect BattersbyHowat ArchitectureSome of the most beautiful locales aren’t the easiest to build on. For their latest project, architect David Battersby and Heather Howat were tasked with perching a 3,500-square-foot vacation house on a steep, remote site overlooking British Columbia’s Center Bay. In fact, it was so out of the way that they had to ship the materials in on the largest barge they could rent, helicoptering the house’s structural beams in place. “It was a harrowing experience,” Howat says.