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.
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.
