Inside a Modern Mountain Sanctuary Built Into the Squamish Wilderness

When Carly and Eric discovered they had a child on the way, they decided to pack up their life in Vancouver’s busy Gastown and build something new—a home where the natural world is at life’s centre. They set their sights on the nearby mountain town of Squamish. Open air and endless woods were calling.

At the town’s furthest edge, where streets become trails, they discovered a rare undeveloped lot. It was steep, more of a cliff face than a proper stage for a house, but they knew a home on that site wouldn’t just be placed in nature; it also had the potential to draw the natural world in.

Architect David Battersby of BattersbyHowat came out to inspect the jagged lot, and he made his diagnosis: they would dig in. Enough so the 5,000-square-foot house could settle deeply into the mountainside, rather than perching on top like an afterthought. Battersby envisioned a home truly built into the landscape. All the better to look out at a showstopping vista.

The result is a modernist treasure that encourages the family (now including two young children) to enjoy their priceless view: a panorama of forest and sky that’s anchored by the iconic mountain Stawamus Chief (one of the largest granite monoliths in the world). “It’s dynamic,” says Carly. “The view is ever-changing with the seasons and weather systems. We feel deeply tuned into the cycles of nature.”

That’s not an accident. True, the Squamish surrounds are an inherent playground—paragliders are a regular sight, and hiking trails are steps from the front door. But, working with Nick Kerchum and his team at Natural Balance to build the home, Battersby also encourages a fascination with the outdoors through his thoughtful design. Each of the three floors is stacked at a slightly different angle so that walls of window (which fold away on the main level) inspire different reads of the same magnificent vista. From floor to floor, and from season to season, the landscape is alive and evolving.

Of course, the art of framing a view is as much about what’s obscured as what’s revealed. “Because the house is settled back into the site,” says Battersby, “the view down-slope can be mitigated so you don’t see other houses.” Instead, a skirt of trees—cedar, hemlock, spruce and fir—is all that’s seen beyond the 1,000 square feet of deck. By the same token, the windows in the upstairs bedrooms don’t extend to the floor because, from that vantage, the extra glass would reveal neighbours. The result is a series of private moments (lounging on that perfect Paulig Salsa ottoman from Salari, say) that shut out the crowds while letting in the green world beyond. While Battersby managed views of the great outdoors, architect and interior designer Heather Howat brought the outdoors in. Large porcelain tiles throughout the main living space reflect the grey of distant mountains (while also simplifying the cleanup of muddy footprints). Everywhere, tones are “natural and timeless,” says Howat: white oak for the millwork and staircase, boards of hemlock along the ceiling and natural linens for all the upholsteries. “We wanted everything to feel like it melded with the landscape.”

Furnishings, likewise, feel like clean abstractions of the rock, wind and water beyond the walls. In the living room, a custom sofa by Cloth Studio has the rounded grey calm of river pebbles. And, nearby, a simple board dining table by e15 is crowned by a chandelier of miniature white columns—the Simbiosi suspension light by Davide Groppi.

Since they moved in, life has changed dramatically for Carly and Eric. With the kids, they’ll go foraging for mushrooms in the nearby woods. Or maybe they’ll go hiking past a network of remote service roads they’ve discovered. Or maybe they’ll just lounge in the outdoor saltwater tub (where both their children learned to swim) before making dinner in the pizza oven (which had to be craned into place). At every sunset, though, one thing remains the same. “It’s our sanctuary,” says Carly.

Eric likes to open wide the wall of windows on the main level and then open the back door, too. That way the cross breeze rushing off the mountaintops comes straight through the heart of the home. “You know that you’re in nature,” he says. “You can really feel it!”

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