- Project Type
- Residential
- Location
- Whistler, BC
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The structural integrity and beauty of wood…is a perfect foil to the concrete floor and masonry block walls. A continuous band of floor-to-ceiling glass wraps the open-concept main-floor living areas.
“Minimalism demands that one reduces everything to the basic and shows the structural elements in the simplest and cleanest way possible.” – Gillian Armitage
The Armitage Residence is located twelve miles south of Whistler in the Black Tusk community. The site lies at a forest clearing at the edge of a seasonal marsh that expands in the rainy season, and contracts, in the hot dry summer. There is dramatic view of the Coast Mountains and the extinct volcanic peak of Black Tusk, to the east.
The structure rests on a bedrock swale between several large boulders and is organized as two parallel rectangular forms shifted in plan to create a sheltered forest side entry and an open plan oriented east to the view.
The materials are straightforward: concrete masonry block walls, polished concrete floors on the main level, engineered glulam structure with Douglas fir decking, baltic birch plywood ceiling, anodized aluminum window and door frames, galvanized standing seam metal roof and corrugated sheet metal.
The house has a modern materially expressive aesthetic with a directness of expression, simplicity and clarity. Starkly modern, it stands as a strong form in the mountain valley forest with an elegance and simplicity that resonates the particularity of the site.