The home designed by Patkau Architects of Canada is built on the gentle slope of farmland on Salt Spring Island, Canada. The north half of the property is a hay field, the south half is an orchard and there are long rows of Douglas fir on the eastern and western sides.
The architects added more fruit trees to emphasise the regularity of the orchard?s layout, underlining the distinction between nature in its natural state and in its cultivated state. The new home is built on a straight line parallel to the row of Douglas firs.
The outside of the building is covered with charcoal-coloured fibre-cement panels which render the house almost invisible against the dark green foliage of the fir trees.
The interior is lined with translucent acrylic panels which glow softly with natural light coming in through 40 skylights by day and artificial fluorescent light at night. The glazing with the window openings is fully retractable so that the house can be transformed into an open-air pavilion.
(Agnese Bifulco)
Design: Patkau Architects (Greg Boothroyd, Christina Gray, Steffen Knab, Hiro Kurozumi, Renee Martin, John Patkau, Patricia Patkau, Peter Suter)
Location: Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada
Photographs: James Dow
The architects added more fruit trees to emphasise the regularity of the orchard?s layout, underlining the distinction between nature in its natural state and in its cultivated state. The new home is built on a straight line parallel to the row of Douglas firs.
The outside of the building is covered with charcoal-coloured fibre-cement panels which render the house almost invisible against the dark green foliage of the fir trees.
The interior is lined with translucent acrylic panels which glow softly with natural light coming in through 40 skylights by day and artificial fluorescent light at night. The glazing with the window openings is fully retractable so that the house can be transformed into an open-air pavilion.
(Agnese Bifulco)
Design: Patkau Architects (Greg Boothroyd, Christina Gray, Steffen Knab, Hiro Kurozumi, Renee Martin, John Patkau, Patricia Patkau, Peter Suter)
Location: Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada
Photographs: James Dow