Homes

Inside a Gravity-Defying West Vancouver Home

McLeod Bovell's striking Sheared House turns a steep Sentinel Hill lot into a three-storey architectural marvel, complete with cantilevered rooms, dramatic interiors and sweeping city views.

By Michael Harris /
Ema Peter

By Michael Harris | Photography by Ema Peter

Two elements define the prized Sentinel Hill neighbourhood in West Vancouver. First, the extraordinary views of city and ocean; second, the challenging, steep lots that make those views possible.

Happily, designers Matthew McLeod and Lisa Bovell know how to embrace the latter as well as the former. In fact, the founders of McLeod Bovell turn difficult topographies into launchpads for brilliant new designs. Constraints fuel their ingenuity.

A visit to their Sheared House, which cascades down an especially steep lot, begins at a set of concrete steps that lead to the glass front door. The top of the steps are higher than the entryway, but only by half a storey.

“That’s important,” says McLeod. “A full flight would separate you too much. This gives you a sense of being in-between. We’re trying to pull multiple experiences together.”

Sleep Well: The primary bedroom is dramatically cantilevered over the pool area, with expansive glazing framing city and ocean views. The Doze bed by Zeitraum includes hidden storage. Photo: Ema Peter.

In fact, the ability to move between dramatically different settings and atmospheres is the real magic of Sheared House. (The steep lot means each part of the home is forced to fracture—or “shear”—off of the previous, so movement and transformation are essential components.) As per the homeowners’ request, the design accommodates many vantages and many moods—and we float between them. For example: once we descend to the wall of window at the entrance (only visible, Bovell notes, via a direct approach), we find ourselves in a small well of a garden, the hillside at our backs. Step through, however, and a panorama is unveiled.

From the capacious main living space, that postcard-worthy view gives us Vancouver’s downtown, the freighter traffic in Burrard Inlet, and a necklace of taillights crossing the Lions Gate Bridge. The serenity of a private garden is juxtaposed by the action of a full cityscape.

In the Black: McLeod Bovell worked with Sofo Kitchens on the moody kitchen, featuring custom stained, wire-brushed oak veneer millwork and honed natural basalt countertops. Photo: Ema Peter.

The living room itself feels built to encourage movement from one mode of life to the next. Guests might jump up from those padded Frog chairs (by Piero Lissoni) to sample a dessert in the open-concept kitchen. (One of the homeowners is an accomplished baker, so those stone countertops are put to good use.) From there, it’s easy to glide onto the terrace—three panels of window-wall slide aside, offering access to a plump Brioni sofa from Kristalia and views of the swimming pool on the level below.

Steep and Deep: The home gets its name from the steep Sentinel Hill property, where each level must shear off the previous one. The staggered design creates dramatic indoor-outdoor spaces. Photo: Ema Peter.

That call to movement, that dynamism, continues. Standing on the kitchen terrace, you’ll first be shaded by a canopy before you step into open air. Across the courtyard: the primary bedroom is dramatically cantilevered over the pool area. Just beyond: a private office has lower window heights that offer framed views to encourage concentration. Even the swimming pool, mostly in the sun, seems to change its mood as it flows beneath another canopy. Every area on the property encourages renewal and shifting discovery.

Dark metal-clad walls emphasize the home’s vertical architecture, while the glass entryway provides a glimpse of the private garden beyond. Photo: Ema Peter.

Yet the house, as a whole, is powerfully unified. Looking back from the far end of the pool, it’s obvious that McLeod and Bovell took the horizontal volumes at the heart of West Coast modernism and flipped them on their side. These three storeys are buttressed by powerful vertical lines. It’s a clever remix of the post-and-beam ethos—a skyward stretch instead of going side-to-side.

Natural light enters the minimalist bathroom through a long skylight, while expansive windows frame views of the surrounding landscape and city. Photo: Ema Peter.

Aluminum-plate panelling with a custom bronze finish—which encases much of the exterior—appears again, surprisingly, as steel plate with a blackening stain on the ceiling of the main living area. “It was very brave of the clients,” says Bovell, “to go with that darker atmosphere.” And yet those panels actually reflect a great deal of light. During the day, surrounding trees cast green reflections and, at night, the distant glow of downtown is subtly echoed overhead.

The dining area echoes the home’s dramatic palette, with dark wall finishes, a minimalist table and suspended pendant lighting beside the staircase. Photo: Ema Peter.

Sheared House is an ode to change and multi-modal living. “I think of it as an experiential Swiss army knife,” laughs McLeod. You’re close to the land, then you’re soaring above it. You’re having a private moment, and then you’re the life of the party. You’re living in a peaceful suburb, and then the city’s bright lights are dancing all around you.

View Master: An Extrasoft modular sofa pairs with Frog chairs, both from Living Divani and designed by Piero Lissoni. Floor-to-ceiling glazing frames views of the Lions Gate Bridge and Vancouver skyline. Photo: Ema Peter.

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Originally published in the January/February 2026 issue of Western Living. View the original print feature.

Michael Harris

Michael Harris

Michael Harris is a Vancouver-based journalist and the bestselling author of three books of nonfiction: The End of Absence, Solitude, and All We Want. His essays have appeared in Esquire, The Washington Post, and Wired.