THE ROCK | British Columbia, Canada | 2018

Architects: Gort Scott Architects
Client: Private
General Contractor: Denfeld Constructors
Photographer: Rory Gardiner

The Rock is a new-build private home in Whistler, built into - and emerging from - a rocky outcrop overlooking the spectacular Alta Lake.

Nestled among pine trees, the house responds thoughtfully to its context, a result of both an intuitive response to the site and carefully chosen design moves.

The architectural aspiration for this scheme follows Frank Lloyd Wright's assertion that "No house should ever be on a hill.”

“It should be on the hill. Hill and house should live together, each the happier for it."

The site's experience before construction was an incredible and unique moment for the client; as such, the role of the architecture was to enhance the natural setting —revealing its drama and particularities.

The journey through the building honors the original experience of moving through the unbuilt site towards the peak of the rock.

Approaching and entering through cast concrete lower levels, you are led slowly upwards through interconnected zones that are designed around family life and have been positioned according to privacy, celebrated views, solar orientation, and topography.

The interior journey culminates in a generous open-plan living space at the rock peak, where glimpsed views through dense trees give way to panoramic views across Alta Lake.

At all scales from strategy to detail, and from exterior to interior, this building is designed with human experience in mind and provides innovative ways of relating architecture, landscape, and the individual.