See the design entries that caught our editors’ eyes.
Each week through January 2021, we will roll out two of our Editors’ Picks from GRAY Awards 2020.
Editors’ Pick: Lagoon House Entryway
Measured Architecture
The entryway of the Lagoon House in Whistler, British Columbia, designed by Measured Architecture. Image by Ema Peter.
Talk about making an entrance!
This sculptural home on the shores of Lake Alta in Whistler, British Columbia, designed by Vancouver-based Measured Architecture (winner of a 2020 GRAY Award in the Wild Card category) replaced a small cabin for a family of four who wanted to make the plot their permanent, year-round home. For reasons of sustainability, the architects opted to deconstruct or “unbuild” the cabin in order to reclaim and reuse as many assets as possible. Prior to ordering any materials, Measured created detailed, 3D models of every bolt and connection in the complicated steel structure in order to work out any potential problems before construction began.
The angular Cor-Ten steel entryway, which immediately stood out to our editors, is striking in both its materiality and shape—the gallery-like form beckons guests and residents alike, with uplighting that creates both stark and playful shadows and angles that give it a Richard Serra-esque look.
“A sculptural mass of angles, Lagoon House is ultimately a contextual reflection of its site and landscape,” write the architects in their entry. “From the street, the building envelope presents as an angular composition of Cor-Ten roof and cladding—a modulated surface and coloration that blends well with the soil and pine needle groundscape. While the structure is ultimately three stories, the massing is such that it presents as one story from the front.”
CATEGORY: Architecture: Residential
PROJECT: Lagoon House
FIRM: Measured Architecture
DATE OF COMPLETION: April 2019
LOCATION: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
PHOTOGRAPHED BY: Ema Peter
DESIGN TEAM
Piers Cunnington
Clinton Cuddington
James Papa
COLLABORATORS
Fast + Epp
EXP
EVR Fine Homes
Terraform
Whistler Welding
Ema Peter Photography
Ben Taft Photography
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