Arthur Erickson Memorial Award 2024: BLA Design Group

The story of Jesse Basran and Jerry Liu’s first meeting isn’t one of those “lightning struck” sort of moments. They crossed paths at a Vancouver house party (Basran a recent grad from BCIT’s architectural program; Liu back home on summer break from his architecture studies at Cornell). They became acquaintances, then friends, in the way most relationships slowly level up in an infuriatingly uncinematic way: running in the same social circles, getting together once in a while to talk about careers and life. Just two easy-going guys with big architectural ambitions, admiring each other’s work and eventually deciding to team up. It’s a surprisingly undramatic backstory, given how thrilling their work together is as BLA Design Group.

But no meet-cute tale is required to win the Arthur Erickson Memorial Award for an Emerging Residential Designer—just exciting, promising work, and that’s what the two Vancouver designers deliver. “There’s an innovative use of materials and form, attention to details inside and out, and a fresh approach to solving residential designs as an emerging talent,” said judge James Cheng, principal of the acclaimed James K.M. Cheng Architects in Vancouver.

Basran and Liu launched BLA in 2018, after working with Javier Campos (a former WL Architectural Designer of the Year). Liu had long admired Basran’s architectural rendering work—Basran is a few years older, and had already started a rendering business while Liu was finishing up school—and the two found they were easy collaborators. As Liu puts it, Basran brings “a strong sense of visual excellence,” while Liu is the more practical of the pair (also creative, but the handler of budgets, timelines and all that unglamorous stuff). Though it’s not just their workflow or excellent pedigrees that make this a winning partnership. “We’re friends first,” says Liu.

This award comes six years into their joint venture. They’re fans of several West Coast designers, from greats like Arthur Erickson to contemporaries like McLeod Bovell, but have come to put their own spin on modernism, leaning hard into a unique process. “We’re strongly visually oriented,” explains Liu. “We probably do more renderings than any other firm because we’ve gotten so proficient at it.” The duo sees renderings as a generally underutilized tool in the private residential sector, but BLA clients can expect 3D images, high-fidelity videos or even VR models to help communicate exactly what’s in Basran and Liu’s heads.

They also conduct detailed site analyses and produce visual diagrams to help simplify complex ideas and educate clients. “When we approach people with a strong visual representation—clients, contractors, builders, vendors, suppliers—everyone can quickly understand how it’s supposed to look,” says Liu. Demonstrating how a window placement will impact the light, or experimenting with shifting the placement of a staircase: it’s a process rooted in “show, don’t tell.”

Of course, beyond the technical precision here is an empathy for the homeowners they work with. For BLA, each project is a chance to “enhance the human experience,” Liu says, and “respect each client’s unique narrative.” The Feng House, for instance, located near Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver, brought the history of the Chinese immigrant homeowners into conversation with its West Coast context. The house is clad in stained cedar, a nod to the nearby forest, and the large sliding doors at the rear open up to bring the living spaces and patio together—a classic West Coast move. But it also features slatted wood panel walls, a reference to traditional Chinese ping feng room dividers; within these panels lies a custom topographic sculpture of Hangzhou, the owner’s hometown.

It’s just one example of the specialization the firm has started to build: creating homes for Chinese immigrant families. “There’s a big client base here looking for a modern living style, but there’s a lack of professionals at the highest level of design who are familiar with the culture, the language and the sentiments. As a studio, we’re starting to fill that market void a bit,” says Liu.

The Vista House is similarly rooted in context. “It’s about prioritizing the views while harmonizing the house with the environmental context,” says Liu. The irregular site created some challenges, but BLA played with compression and expansion to allow for a full embrace of the sightlines on the steeply sloped, wedge-shaped plot. A floating balcony welcomes an indoor-outdoor living experience that capitalizes on the stunning viewpoint. And over in Richmond you’ll find the Yeats House, a double-storey modern barn design, built with a limited budget but still achieving grand results thanks to economical interior finishes.

Materials throughout all their projects, in fact, are selected with practicality in mind. Stucco, metal, concrete and wood are all constants in BLA’s work. Yes, they’re not necessarily dramatic or glamorous in their raw form, but with the right application, they become something warm, welcoming and wonderful—much like Basran and Liu’s slow-burn friendship. As Basran puts it: “It’s not about the materials; it’s about how you use them.”

Q&A with with Jerry Liu  and Jesse Basran

What was your first design project?

Jesse: The first one that comes to mind is an early school project where I was tasked with designing a new house overlooking Howe Sound.  Naturally, I broke most of the rules, but I ended up with something pretty cool.

Jerry: A wearable device inspired by the mechanisms of a pufferfish. It created abstracted charcoal drawings that were a visual representation of the unique pufferfish physiology.

Who do you admire most as a designer?

JL: Virgil Abloh. His 2017 lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design inspired me to pursue design with  honesty and authenticity.

What do you think is the most perfectly designed object?

JL: Everything by Dieter Rams. His works epitomize minimalist design with a focus on functionality and timeless aesthetics, and they profoundly influence modern product design.

What do people often get wrong about design?

JB: Sometimes there is a tendency to overdo things. Start with the essentials. Only add what has purpose.

JL: That design has a beginning and  an end. Design is an endlessly  progressive and transformative endeavour. Especially for a home, spaces evolve continually as time  and their inhabitants change.

Was there a childhood moment that hinted design was in your future?

JB: Ask my parents how many  versions of a fort I could make with  our living room couch.

JL: I used to play with these Japanese toys called Zoids, which in my opinion are far more badass than Lego bricks.

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