The Globe and Mail

In the stylistic lingo of custom house builders and shelter magazines, "West Coast," "contemporary," and "modernist" are thought to be separate, exclusive and self-contradicting design categories. The just-announced winner of the top prize at the Canadian Wood Council's British Columbia design awards shows just how foolish these rigidly-walled style-bins can be. The impressive post and beam, concrete and Douglas fir house on a steep slope halfway up West Vancouver's Sentinel Hill deserves all of these descriptors, and more. With a dedication to maximizing glass in our too-grey climate, and with evident pride in showing off its glulam structure, red cedar cladding and Douglas fir roof decking, this house is as "West Coast" as can be. The house is a descendent of the mid-20th century innovations of Ron Thom, Arthur Erickson and Barry Downs in Vancouver and Paul Hayden Kirk in Seattle, while also being a sentimental cousin to recent buildings by Blue Sky Architecture here, plus James Cutler or Miller and Hull in our sister city.