微精选

Thoughtfully salvaging the materials and history of its island site, this dynamic family home beautifully interweaves shared and personal narratives with sustainable, contemporary design.

Reconceiving a historical site without neglecting its lineage can often be met with challenges and shortcomings. Yet, for Shor House, Measured Architecture embed the rich history of Mayne Island in British Columbia in almost every way possible.

Shor House serves as the vacation retreat for Clinton Cuddington, the founder of the renowned architecture firm Measured Architecture, where he, along with his wife Monica Berdin, who is both a jeweler and an interior designer, and their two children, often come to unwind. Together, Cuddington and Berdin have crafted a timeless abode that embodies their shared vision and philosophy.

“Comprising three buildings, it is, in essence, an elevated barn,” remarks Clinton Cuddington. “Our primary residence stands by the water’s edge, the second building functions as a studio where my wife pursues her creative endeavors, and the third serves as a guest cabin.” The brief further stipulated the construction of a fully carbon-neutral building, with the imperative to minimize any disruption to the island’s natural state.

Nestled beside the clear and serene waters of the Southern Gulf Islands, Shor House serves as an ideal escape from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver. Much of the project’s success can be attributed to its thoughtfully chosen location. As the existing building was already harmoniously integrated into its original environment, Measured Architecture decided to approach it as a renovation, preserving many of the original elements while seamlessly incorporating new additions into the surrounding natural landscape. The previous occupants were a fishing family, which added a sense of history to the building, and the scenery around it had been beautifully shaped by time, exhibiting a charming charm. The team preserved the stacked stone walls and opted for deconstruction rather than demolition of the existing home and barn, systematically documenting and categorizing the components before reassembling them in the new structure. The adjustment to the building’s location was minimal, with the primary change being an adjustment to its height to afford residents sweeping views of the Navy Channel.

Upon entering the main residence, visitors are greeted by a classic entrance sequence, which is immediately followed by a breathtaking view as a cathedral-style window spanning two floors comes into sight, showcasing a scenic waterway and imparting an expansive, almost gallery-like elegance to the space. Cuddington notes that the design aim is to create a spatially awe-inspiring experience visually, while maintaining an informal and inviting layout. The ground floor seamlessly integrates a kitchen, dining area, living room, and a wood-burning fireplace; the basement is equipped with two additional bedrooms and a home theater; while the top floor features two bedrooms and an ensuite bathroom. Adjacent to the guesthouse, the studio, despite its compact size, is fully functional, encompassing a kitchen, bedroom, laundry room, secondary versatile space, and a ladder leading to an additional sleeping area.

Cuddington wanted to play with the existing stacked stone walls, sandstone and rock on the site, so he rallied a series of trusted makers, including friend and master stonemason Tamotsu Tongu from Osaka. “I explained to him that the property was part of a larger site for Japanese families that had been removed after Pearl Harbour and were interned here during the 1940s,” says Cuddington. “He took this as his sign to commit to the project, with the caveat that one of his closest friends also works on the project, because his friend’s mother was a child on this site.”

Mirroring how Tongu imbued Japanese influences through landscaping and stone, perhaps the most profound facet is the countless ways materiality links back to the site’s heritage as the palette is largely informed by the repopulation of existing materials. A robust exoskeleton features Corten steel, plate steel and Schüco German windows. “As a contemporary architect, I typically don’t work with a palette that is as dark and patinated as this, but I went there, and it was a cathartic moment for me,” says Cuddington. The interior is simple, inspired by sculptor Donald Judd’s Marfa compound in a converted Texas air station. A rich palette features galvanised miscellaneous metal, local black Carmanah marble, polished concrete flooring and Venetian plastering in white, grey and black with a Moroccan wax finish. The exterior cladding that lines many interior walls was painted white to reflect light. “The goal was that when you came in from that austerity on the outside, that it was like cracking a geode, where the crystals are on the inside.”

It is the transformation of wood from the island into the existing house and barn that has had the most poignant effect in this reimagining of Shor House. Repurposed oak floors are left unsanded, striking a balance between the distilled detailing of contemporary design and the cabin aesthetic. Recycled yellow cedar rail ties found from the dismantled Englewood Railroad on Northern Vancouver Island are milled to use for the deck, while timber sourced from nearby former farms is used in exposed nail-laminated timber flooring and the feature staircase. The only new wood in the house is charred with a shou sugi ban treatment, once again imprinting the Japanese history of the site. Cuddington recalls the beauty in “the rigour of harvesting materials for the project and the beauty in using those materials without it resulting in a compromise.” A study in restraint and adaptive reuse, Shor House offers a powerful example of how to celebrate prior habitation as a new custodian – rebuilding without erasing the history of the land and people before.