Koocanusa Lake Residence

This design starts with an incredible 16 acre heavily forested, steep site, offering quiet mountain views. Indigenous to this Rocky Mountain Trench region as part of the East Kootenay Valley, is the powdery, dry, delicate, clay soil, and the hot summer micro-climate. This unique vacation home has an encompassing program for a present house, future guest house, and future garage. The second floor guest house loft is inserted as an almost cube form suspended within the glue laminated arches. Upon insertion these simple forms offer a surprisingly exquisite spatial experience. As not to disturb the future garage floor plan an articulated steel stairway informally interrupts the one side of the pure Quonset corrugated galvanized form. An inverted corner window was created as a result inviting an abundance of warm southestern light to enter and an interaction with the surrounding forest. In assessing the western hot summer sun the west facade was detailed with oxidized copper sun shades and a sporadic driftwood trellis. To assist, the exposed concrete walls delay the daytime heat gain with its thermal mass providing a comfortable interior temperature and reprieve during the summer months without the need for air conditioning.

Koocanusa Lake Residence

Koocanusa Lake Residence