- Project: Sunset House
- Architect: Mcleod Bovell Modern Houses
- Location: Canada, West Vancouver, British Columbia
- Year: 2015
- Area: 585 m2
- Photography: Ema Peter & Martin Tessler
Designing for Dramatic Topography and Ocean Views
Sunset House by McLeod Bovell Modern Houses is a commanding yet refined exploration of architecture embedded in a precipitous site above the Pacific coastline in West Vancouver.
Perched upon steep rocky terrain, the design team embraced the constraints of elevation, angle, and exposure to sculpt a home that frames sweeping harbour views, manages dramatic elevation changes with grace, and envelops occupants in a material-driven, minimalist spatial experience.
The building’s irregular footprint follows the contours of the lot, culminating in a striking “blinder” — a solid edge oriented to shield the residence from adjacent properties while maintaining the west-facing vistas.
Adaptive Spatial Strategy: Split Levels & Terrain Integration
Movement into the house is carefully choreographed to deal with the site’s steep drop: no single stair rise exceeds half a story, allowing visual continuity from the oversized pivot entrance door all the way through to the terrace and infinity pool beyond.
The main living volume benefits from generous ceiling heights thanks to the split-level strategy, while an upper floor consolidates private spaces on one side of the house, enabling the primary living level to feel expansive and open.
An architectural highlight is the suspended deck and plunge-pool which seemingly hovers forty feet above the rear garden, maximizing the elevation to dramatic effect and reinforcing the home’s visual relationship with the coast.
Materiality & Atmosphere: Concrete, Wood and Minimal Palette
The material expression of Sunset House is deliberately restrained yet rich in craft—board-formed concrete provides the structural, sculptural shell, its wood-grain texture recalling timber even as it remains concrete.
Inside and out the palette remains spare: steel, concrete, wood, leather and glass are orchestrated to create a calm environment that does not detract from the framed views of the harbour and sky.
The concrete roof element seems monolithic, lending the house a sculptural presence while large glazing opens the view westward. The contrast of solid and void, interior and exterior, becomes part of the architectural narrative.
Living Experience & Connection to Nature
Sunset House offers a seamless connection to its natural context. The glazed living spaces open directly to the deck, infinity pool and panorama of ocean traffic beyond, making nature an integral part of the interior experience rather than a backdrop.
The choreography of stairs and levels ensures that residents move through the home in relation to view lines and daylight rather than purely functional zoning—each step brings the sea, the sky, or the terrain into focus.
At once protective and expansive, the home balances privacy (via the blinder wall and site geometry) with exposure (via the generous vistas and deck). This tension contributes to the refined living experience McLeod Bovell achieved.
Significance & Architectural Lessons
-
Site-specific sculpting: The design rises from complex topography, transforming challenge into opportunity by aligning form with terrain and view.
-
Material authenticity: Board-formed concrete, wide-plank oak, and minimal finishes create a tactile, refined quality that elevates the home without excess.
-
View-driven organization: The house is oriented and layered around the west-facing harbour view; spatial strategy and form follow the view rather than conventional floor plans.
-
Integration of inside-outside: With terrace, infinity pool and large glazed walls, the boundary between interior living and coastal landscape dissolves.
-
Luxury in restraint: At its core, the project proves that high architectural impact can come from disciplined materiality, spatial strategy and context-driven design rather than flamboyance.
