Quadra Islands cliffs overlook one of the most dynamic visual landscapes in the world.
For miles in every direction, the scenery exists as it did centuries ago.
Today, a new contemporary home overlooks this landscape from a rocky perch.
The Tula HousebyPatkau Architectsis a living gallery of sorts, a green-roofed dwelling designed to celebrate the scenery beyond.
Tula House is effectively an exercise in frontier modernism.
Every bit of material that wasnt sourced on the island was carried by boat and assembled on site.
Materials aside, even its construction process required special precision.
Tula House is constructed on a raised rocky perch that stands 44 feet above the ocean below.
Parts of the home appear to be cantilevered, supported by steel beams that secure the structure in place.
In both material and construction, building the Tula House was an exercise in frontiersmanship.
Architect, client and builder approached new ground in a bold fashion for this home.
Its green roof rolls right off of the sloping topography to its rear.
From a birds eye, the home may appear indistinguishable from the land around it.
From the public approach, however, there is much more to this site than meets the eye.
Beneath these grass-covered roof sections, floor-to-ceiling glass focuses the home on the scenery beyond.
An interior courtyard provides private relaxation out of view of the occasional boat in the strait below.
The shape of this architecture is a story only told to those who enter its plot.
The owners of Tula House live here for the serenity and scenery that can rarely be found elsewhere.
This home is grand in stature, remarkable in construction but simple in spirit.
Its a living gallery of sorts.
[photography by James Dow, hat tip toArchDaily]
