p49-53 Banser
3/24/08
10:56 AM
Page 52
degree of separation and hence, privacy. The canyon-like slot between the separated halves contains a reflecting pool that circulates in an open loop with the ocean and provides much of the home’s heating and cooling. Exterior and interior bridges link the two sides. Altogether, the result is a variegated space in which the exterior is omnipresent. While navigating the house, one moves from side to side and between inside and outside, producing an experience that is akin to inhabiting a small village. The interplay between the parts and also with the surrounding landscape is heightened by an array of punched openings of varying size and location that exist throughout the project. These openings, sometimes touching the floor and sometimes high above, are placed in an effort to produce a range of effects from accepting light bounced off the reflecting pool to creating sightlines from one side of the home to the other, then to the landscape beyond. Perhaps most unexpectedly, this technique plays itself out not only on the walls, but also on the ceiling, in what amounts to an intriguing reimagination of attic space. Punched openings in the ceiling allow visual access into the attic, a space that is both daylit and artificially illuminated, creating unique indirect lighting effects and revealing the delicate wood structure of the roof. The combined porosity of wall and ceiling increases the experiential complexity of the house both unto itself and in relation to the landscape while further fragmenting the home’s volumetric presence. By emphatically dividing the home into constituent parts and also pursuing a heightened degree of visual interconnection, Simcic foregrounds the question of syntax: what characteristics—formally, tectonically, and materially—do the different pieces of the whole assume and how do they interrelate? It is clear that Simcic has been ambitious in this regard. Outer perimeter walls of the home are clad in vertical tongue-and-groove White Oak, while the walls rising from the linear reflecting pool are clad with glass etched in a pattern mimicking the White Oak. The floors of the main house are Wenge hardwood and those in the guesthouse are finished in a similarly dark brown epoxy concrete. Rooms on the private northern side of the reflecting pool are articulated by exterior projections in plan, while the south side is smooth and linear at its edge, but the continuity of ceiling/attic treatment reinforces a connection. In these instances, the concern has been to signify difference and also to make a legible connection. Simcic explores the “big” as a domain of almost limitless potential and diversity, where each moment is explored in its own micro context. This is, of course, a fine line to tread, as at what point should the singularity of the whole project supercede the expression of a series of differentiated elements? On these terms, one is tempted to think that the home would benefit from an architectural edit: to be a bit simpler, to be a bit less varied. Nonetheless, the agility of the Metchosin House emphasizes the difficulty in assessing the expansion of a culture’s footprint on a square-foot basis alone and at its strongest, reveals the power of research and performative-based design. CA Matthew Soules is the founding director of the Vancouver design firm MSD.
TOP DELICATELY ARCHED CONCRETE ALLOWS VEHICLES TO BE DISCREETLY PARKED UNDERNEATH THE BEDROOM WING. WOOD AND GLASS FORM A DELICATE ROOF OVER THE CARPORT. ABOVE THE ELEVATED SWIMMING POOL IS SEMI-PROTECTED FROM THE ELEMENTS WHILE THE HOUSE’S EXTERIOR WALLS PROVIDE A NECESSARY ENCLOSURE AROUND THE POOL AS PER CODE REQUIREMENTS. OPPOSITE LOOKING DOWN THROUGH THE INTERIOR COURTYARD OF THE METCHOSIN RESIDENCE, EXTERIOR WALKWAYS AND CONSCIOUSLY PLACED WINDOWS PUNCTURE A FAÇADE LARGELY COMPRISED OF GLASS PANELS WITH AN APPLIED FRITTED PATTERN OF WOODEN PLANKS.
52 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 04/08
CLIENT ED AND DOROTHY BANSER ARCHITECT TEAM MARKO SIMCIC, BRIAN BROSTER STRUCTURAL EQUILIBRIUM CONSULTING INC. MECHANICAL EARTH TECH CANADA INC. ELECTRICAL SCHENKE BAWOL ENGINEERING LTD. LANDSCAPE ID A LANDSCAPE DESIGN, MARKO SIMCIC ARCHITECT INTERIORS MARKO SIMCIC ARCHITECT CONTRACTOR ANDERSON COVE CONSTRUCTION ARBOURIST DOGWOOD TREE SERVICES AGROLOGIST ROBERT MAXWELL INTERIOR ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHEMY CONSULTING LTD. AREA 8,000 FT2 BUDGET WITHHELD COMPLETION AUGUST 2006