To frame is to isolate, to celebrate. This house faces the sun, part of the northern edge boxing in the playing fields and gracious tall trees of Douglas Park, one of Vancouver’s finest inner city green spaces. This is a small house with dignity and presence, using multiple modes of framing to achieve a presence far beyond its modest size.
Upstairs, kids’ bedrooms are cantilevered out like an unclosed drawer, adding to the sense that this house floats above the park—it being IN, but not OF this civic gift. This three-dimensional assertion of dwelling is amplified by a lattice of square aluminum tubes wrapping the entire floor, all attached to the wall as vertical fins. Their reflective qualities, plus the shadows the ends of these ribs cast on the lower floor imparts dimensionality and a constructional rhythm to an otherwise straightforward elevation.
The framing device of the aluminum fins is also found around the second floor’s rear elevation, but the array of fins here are set out several feet from the walls, giving definition to its decks—less for simple shade or safety, than to provide a psychological sense of sheltering and privacy. Shelter is a process of thought, and the thinking of the Frame House is that modest embellishments like these can make a huge difference to living.
Inside, rooms are models of compaction and grace. Natural light flows into the basement via large sliding doors opening onto a sunken courtyard. The polished concrete floors of the main living level are three steps up from the entry, imparting a sense of serenity via long views through a large front window, past the front yard, and on to Douglas Park beyond.
The bedroom level features knotted nets set above the hallways near the ceiling, accessed by the children through stairs hidden in their closets. These are a dramatic and fun way to increase play space via more efficiently exploiting the house’s section, rather than building out in plan, requiring precious lot area.
A play zone for the family is found atop the home: a rare-in-Vancouver rooftop pool having views to the North Shore Mountains, with options for use as a hot tub, or when the jets are on, a stationary swimming pool. With design ingenuity like this, the Frame house is a demonstration of how rich opportunities for family living can be achieved on a small lot. The luxury of wasted space is one few Vancouverites with young children can afford, and this house delivers, through a clever framing of family living.
Category:Private HomesYear:2023Location:Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Architects:Measured Architecture Lead Architects:Clinton Cuddington and Piers CunningtonContractor:Martin Warren, Vanglo Sustainable Construction GroupClient: PrivatePhotographer: Ema Peter, Ema Peter Photography
