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 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.
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.
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.
