Penthouse, Vancouver

This client with a penchant for travel hoped to transform her two-bedroom penthouse in the new
Vancouver House tower was conceived as into a welcoming and a warm space for living, socializing, and
displaying the client’s collection of art and natural artifacts. Positioned on the tower’s northwest side,
the two-story unit features expansive views of English Bay and the North Shore Mountains, which the
designers hoped to weave into a layered and balanced environment that looked both inward ands much
as it did outward.

Through an iterative design process, the studio and client arrived at a highly bespoke, biophilic design
that is attuned to the passage of time. Using the owner’s daily routine rituals as a guide, the designers
sequenced the interior to maximize views and quality of light. The second-floor master suite, where
morning light is most abundant, opens onto a vista of the surrounding water. Procession from the master
suite traces down a half-turn open stair, which features a copper-laced, firefly-like Bocci lighting
installation made up of hand-selected, multicolored glass elements in pink, orange, umber, green, and
blue. At sunset, the penthouse’s first-level kitchen, dining, and living spaces look onto are set aglow by
the Vancouver city lights. In the living room, modular, multidirectional seating furnishings resemble
landscape formations, supporting guests’ various postures and orientations.

Spaces including the first-floor office, living room, and second-floor study look onto a lush, glass-walled
atrium. This vertical garden forms a spine for the penthouse, extending through the second floor and
onto to the unit’s roof terrace. Conceived as a microcosm of the Pacific Northwest rainforest, its
centerpiece is a full-size red cedar tree that lends a contemplative and grounding element to the
onlooking interiors. The terrarium further reinforces the sense of time passage within the project: The
ecosystem surrounding this tree will be sustained nourished long term by a “nurse” log, which replenishes
the space with nutrients from decay.

A restrained material palette characterizes the interior project, and setting a rich, organic background for
the client’s impressive displays of art and artifacts from her travels. American black walnut makes up
millwork in the living, kitchen, and bath areas, and is also seen in stair treads. Modern, blackened-steel
accents run throughout. Floors, which feature radiant heating, are made of creamy travertine mare
bianco, as are the custom-milled sinks in the bathrooms. Smoky fior de bosco marble lines graces
powder-room walls.

The penthouse’s sizable kitchen opens onto a dining area, creating an ideal zone for entertaining.
Extending the unit’s social areas by nearly 1800 square feet is the aA large roof deck, which can be
accessed by a personal elevator, extends the unit’s social areas by nearly 1,800 square feet. There,
architects have installed a custom-designed, stainless-steel hot tub, as well as an outdoor shower, a
garden, a kitchenette, and plenty of seating, establishing a highly hospitable, open-air setting for family
and friends.