Steep Slope House Design, Canada

Beautiful home in Whistler

In the Khyber Ridge House, 2005, NMinusOne created a dynamic environment to give a sense of motion and activity to a static construction. “It’s not the way a space looks but the way you experience space,” said Marcopoulos. The steep slope house design has a flat roof system that looks like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water—only it performs much better—and allows the snow to be the insulation in winter.

Drawings / Floor Plans
Renderings
About Studio (n-1)
About Yu Strandberg Engineering




Architecture: Studio (n-1) (Studio NminusOne)
Contractor: Michael McGillion
Consultants: Yu Strandberg Engineering + local engineer C.A. Boom Engineering Ltd.
Project: Khyber Ridge house
Client: Marc Morisset
Location: Whistler, BC, Canada
Year: 2005
Photography: Ari Marcopoulos, Frank Jones

Five levels steep slope house design (Canada) is distributed along a steep mountain slope, developing diverse relations to the surrounding views, the landscape and the internal program or functions of the house.

The Steep-Slope House: Five-Level Spatial Strategy

Khyber Ridge House distributes the home across five levels so that interior functions, mountain views, privacy, and the natural terrain remain closely connected.

LEVEL 5

Private Bedroom Retreat

Upper bedrooms retreat along the contours of the mountain, creating discreet relationships with surrounding views.

LEVEL 4

Elevated Domestic Space

Upper portions of the residence continue the vertical relationship between the interior program and the hillside.

LEVEL 3

Suspended Living Experience

The principal living environment projects outward from the slope with a cantilevering roof and suspended floor.

LEVEL 2

Mountain Connection

Circulation creates changing relationships between enclosed rooms, vegetation, terrain, and distant mountain views.

LEVEL 1

Embedded Guest House

The lowest level is embedded into the rock for privacy and incorporates a green roof that visually blends with the landscape.

The Khyber Ridge - steep slope house was built for a professional snowboarder. The main strategy takes its concept from the close engagement of a shredder surface following the inclined line of a mountain slope; it is one of maximum design engagement with the building site. This unusual house is distributed along a steep mountain slope, developing various tactical relations to the surrounding landscape, the views and the functions of interior space or program of the architecture of the house.

Khyber Ridge: Architecture and Terrain

Steep Mountain Slope

The five-level arrangement follows the inclined terrain rather than treating the site as a conventional flat building platform.

Embedded Architecture

The lower guest house is integrated into the rock, while its green roof helps connect the built form visually with the mountain landscape.

Suspended Living Space

The principal living area uses a cantilevered roof and suspended floor to create the sensation of a floating platform above the slope.

Continuous Views

Glass enclosure and carefully positioned levels allow occupants to experience mountains, foliage, and terrain as part of everyday interior life.

Architecture Becomes an Extension of the Landscape The design establishes a close relationship between structure, movement, views, vegetation, and the natural geometry of the mountain.

The lower level of five levels, contains a guest house with embedded in the rock design for maximum privacy. The green roof blends in with the mountain landscape. In contrast the main living space is designed with a cantilevering roof and a suspended floor projecting out of the mountain slope. The cantilever is securely anchored by four steel beams 3 foot deep drilled directly into the rock body; the floor is suspended by four stainless steel rods, 1 inch diameter. With its glass enclosure design, the effect created is of a freely floating open platform, revealing when occupied the full impact of the surrounding mountains. One is literally suspended in space and surrounded by the foliage of trees. The upper level bedrooms retreat back along the contours of the mountain producing discreet relationships to the surrounding views. As the inhabitants navigate these spaces, they continuously weave in and out of the terrain.

One Roof, Two Seasonal Roles

The flat roof above the living level is designed to respond differently to winter and summer conditions while contributing to the home's relationship with the mountain environment.

Winter: Snow as an Insulating Layer

• The flat roof retains accumulated snow.
• The snow forms an additional insulating blanket.
• The article describes the roof surface as remaining close to 0°C beneath the snow layer.
• The strategy turns a seasonal condition into part of the building's environmental response.

Summer: Roof as Outdoor Space

• The flat roof becomes usable outdoor living space.
• The elevated surface preserves more of the nearby sloped land.
• The roof contributes to the home's connection with the surrounding landscape.
• Seasonal transformation becomes part of the architectural experience.

Climate Snow and seasonal conditions become design considerations.

Landscape Roof and terrain are treated as interconnected elements.

Experience Architecture changes its practical role across the year.

In the winter, the surface of flat roof of the living level retains the snow. A thick layer of snow then acts as an additional insulating blanket and helps to keep the temperature on the roof close to 0 degrees Celsius. In the summer, the flat surface of the roof becomes a necessary space for outdoor living, leaving the rest of the nearest sloped land intact.

Drawings / Floor Plans

Renderings

About Studio (n-1) (Studio NminusOne)

Studio NMinusOne Architects /
Founded in San Francisco by Carol Moukheiber and Christos Marcopoulos, Studio (n-1) Architects works — with playful attention — on projects traversing different scales from urban design and architecture, and building assemblies to domestic objects, manuals, and clothing. The built and conceptual projects, along with the physical prototypes have served as experiments for a flirtatious architecture that plays an active/subjective role — where all matter is recognized as vital, dynamic and expressive in shaping the perceptual experience of the inhabitant. Harnessing the intimacy of the domestic scale, the work has focused on the home as an immersive environment — one capable of generating new sensations through the enhancement or recalibration of its infrastructure, or set of programs. Explicit are the physiological interactions of the body, through material and informational processes. With the incorporation of computational power into building matter, the animation of architecture is motivated further by issues of physical, psychological, and environmental wellness and delight. The firm’s work has been acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and has been published widely in academic and mainstream media including The New York Times Magazine, Praxis Journal of Architecture and Domus. The studio is the recipient of the Architectural League of New York, Emerging Voices 2012 award.

Address	Studio (n-1), 279 Concord Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6H 2P4, Canada
Phone	+1 416 262 6074
Email	info@nminusone.com
Website	http://nminusone.com

About Yu Strandberg Engineering

Yu Strandberg Engineering is now Strandberg Engineering.

Strandberg Engineering specializes in the structural design of residential and commercial structures, including slope house design. We are experienced in the design and analysis of concrete, steel, and timber-framed structures. Currently, Strandberg Engineering is engaged in projects that range from high-end single-family residential on a steep hillside to large commercial structures. We take pride in the quality of our collaboration with architects and contractors to produce elegant, cost-effective, and safe structures. We have a strong commitment to the integrity of our work with a major focus on strength, serviceability performance, and seismic design.

We provide complete structural engineering services that incorporate schematic design, design development, construction document preparation, and construction administration. In addition, we also offer feasibility studies, value engineering, and constructability reviews. Our innovative ideas and input—from schematic design through construction—have led to the success of our projects starting with a beautiful house on mountain slope and the success of the company as a whole.

Licensed in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wyoming

Address	1511 15th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
Phone	+1 415-778-8726
Email	office@strandbergeng.com
Website	https://www.strandbergeng.com/

Links

Nminusone http://nminusone.com/wp/2005/11/18/khyber-ridge-house/
Archdaily https://www.archdaily.com/20190/khyber-ridge-studio-nminusone
Architizer https://architizer.com/projects/khyber-ridge/
Trendir https://www.trendir.com/mountain-chalet-for-snowboard-pro-marc-morisset/
Fubiz http://www.fubiz.net/2015/04/07/the-khyber-ridge-house-into-a-cliff/

Further Reading

• Studio (n-1) Architects – Khyber Ridge House – Discover the original architectural presentation of the Whistler residence, including its five-level arrangement, cantilevered living space, rock-anchored steel structure, suspended floor, and integration with the surrounding mountain landscape.
• ArchDaily – Khyber Ridge House by Studio NminusOne – Explore photographs and architectural details of this remarkable Canadian mountain residence, with particular attention to its relationship with the steep terrain, glass enclosure, green roof, and seasonal use of outdoor spaces.
• RWA Group Architecture – The Peak, West Vancouver – Presents contemporary residential architecture on a steeply sloping Canadian site, demonstrating how terraces, deep roof overhangs, daylight orientation, and native landscaping can complement challenging topography.
• Raimondo + Associates Architects – For Two on the Hill – Examines a modern Canadian residence built into the slopes of the Niagara Escarpment, featuring a floating upper storey, stone architectural elements, a walkout lower level, and sustainable construction strategies.
• Cascadia Architects – CA.12: A Contemporary Hillside Residence – Explores how a custom home in Victoria, British Columbia, uses multiple levels, panoramic ocean views, natural daylight, high-performance windows, and rain gardens to respond to its sloping landscape.
• ArchDaily – Hilltop House by W O V E N Architecture and Design – Showcases a contemporary residence on a steep, rocky Gulf Island site in British Columbia, illustrating how building geometry, natural materials, and careful positioning can create a sensitive relationship between architecture and terrain.

Technical References

• Travelers Canada – Building on Hillsides – Provides practical technical guidance on constructing houses on sloping sites, including geotechnical investigations, soil conditions, foundation design, surface drainage, groundwater management, retaining walls, and erosion prevention.
• Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia – Landslide Assessments in British Columbia – A professional engineering guideline covering slope stability analysis, landslide hazard assessment, seismic considerations, geotechnical investigations, and risk management for developments on potentially unstable terrain.
• Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia – Retaining Wall Design Guidelines – Explains the structural and geotechnical considerations involved in designing retaining walls, including earth pressure, drainage, global slope stability, seismic loading, foundations, and reinforcement systems.
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation – Landscape Guide for Canadian Homes – Offers practical guidance on landscaping, grading, drainage, erosion prevention, retaining walls, vegetation, and working with natural site conditions when designing residential outdoor environments.
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation – Building Solutions: A Problem Solving Guide for Builders and Renovators – Provides technical explanations of residential foundation construction, concrete wall performance, water leakage, structural deterioration, and appropriate solutions for protecting buildings from ground moisture.
• City of Calgary – Design Guidelines for City of Calgary Funded Buildings – Contains engineering guidance on retaining walls, structural design, soil pressure, groundwater, surface drainage, and site grading, offering useful technical background for complex residential building sites.

Scientific References

• Spatial Composition Through Sectional Analysis: A Study of Japanese Independent Residences on Sloping Terrain (2015–2024) (2026) – Analyzes 55 residential projects built on sloping terrain, examining sectional composition, building orientation, spatial organization, circulation, and the architectural relationship between houses and natural topography.
• A Review of Slope Stability Challenges and Neighbour Buildings (2021) – Reviews geotechnical factors affecting hillside construction, including geological conditions, groundwater, surface drainage, soil strength, seismic forces, and the interaction between slopes and nearby structures.
• Deep Trench, Landslide and Effects on the Foundations of a Residential Building: A Case Study (2010) – Investigates how excavation and slope instability can damage nearby residential foundations and retaining walls, demonstrating the importance of proper geotechnical assessment and construction engineering.
• Parametric Study of Horizontal Drains for Slope Stability Measure: A Case Study in Putrajaya, Malaysia (2017) – Examines the role of groundwater management and horizontal drainage systems in improving slope stability, with particular attention to rainfall, pore-water pressure, and subsurface drainage performance.
• Evaluation of Seismic Performance of Buildings Constructed on Hillside Slope (2014) – Investigates the structural and foundation performance of buildings constructed on rocky hillsides under earthquake loading, highlighting the importance of foundation configuration and seismic slope stability analysis.
• Fill Placement on Slopes Underlain by Franciscan Mélange (2010) – Presents geotechnical case histories involving housing developments affected by slope movement after substantial fill placement, illustrating the importance of geological investigations, soil mechanics, and careful management of hillside construction.

Steep Slope House Design, Canada