This West Vancouver Home Feels Like a Luxury Yacht in the Sun

Let the record show that architect Cedric Burgers doesn’t shy away from a challenge. This West Vancouver project featured a risky waterfront site and a tight footprint, but the Vancouver-based architect (a former WL Architect of the Year) was more than game to bring his modernist approach and creative problem-solving to the task.

“The homeowners were downsizing but wanted all the amenities of their former house,” explains Burgers. “A guest suite, second bedroom, and gracious, open plan main floor without compromising on entertaining or hosting their children and grandchildren.”

And while the resulting 3,500-square-foot oceanfront home looks like an absolute victory of form and function, the true triumphs lie beneath the beautiful surface. Burgers created a double-walled concrete structure atop a massive concrete slab, intended to weigh the house down should water levels ever rise. This clever feat of architectural engineering allowed for a full basement (wrapped in a heavy rubber membrane as an additional layer of safety during a flood).

The home’s position on a busy public walkway offered another hurdle for the architectural team. To create the opportunity for both views and privacy, they installed louvered fins made of anodized aluminum: placed at just the right angle, views out are maximized and views in are minimized. (Hedges also help block the sight of the public path and nearby railway line.) Zinc siding (in a satiny, muted-black finish) matches the aesthetics of those screens, designed to resemble the gills of a shark and contrast against the white concrete walls.

The interiors, of course, are equally thoughtful, the work of Burgers Architecture’s senior interior designer Marieke Burgers. A long, cantilevered staircase is topped by a large skylight that lets natural light pour in. A glass guardrail spans from the landing to the main floor, and clocks in at over 22 feet long and 200 lbs—it’s a specialty piece that had to be manufactured and shipped from Eastern Canada. “We were sweating bullets the entire time until it was clicked into place,” says Burgers.

The home gets its colour from bold artworks from Canadian artists. In the kitchen, Caesarstone countertops are paired against a Super White granite backsplash. The millwork is quarter-cut ash, framing SubZero appliances.

Indiana limestone floors play against white millwork cabinetry and a warm, bleached hemlock ceiling. (That same buttery stone flooring carries out to the patio, connecting the interior and exterior seamlessly when the stacking glass-panel doors are pulled to the sides).

It’s a palette inspired by the locale: Burgers was inspired by the beach, the ocean, and the way the light reflects off the water on a sunny day. Despite all the challenges of this particular home, the result is one of pure luxury and bliss: the sort of place where you can’t have a care in the world. “It’s an oasis of serenity,” says Burgers. “It creates the feeling of being at anchor on a luxury yacht in a secluded sunny anchorage.”

SOURCES

General Contractor, CB Developments

Interior Designer, Marieke Burgers

Landscape Design, Ron Rule