This Gambier Island hideaway offers a dose of sophisticated seclusion
Words Lisa Manfield X Photography Peter Barta
Picture the perfect island getaway. A cosy cabin-inspired home with all the modern accoutrements, nestled in the woods with a view of the ocean. It’s at once rustic and luxurious, simple and sophisticated. It integrates seamlessly and sustainably into its environment, becoming a comforting escape from reality, or a place to permanently call home.
This was the vision behind My House Design/Build/Team’s Gambier Island Waterfront Hideaway. Originally intended as a weekend getaway and summer home, it’s become a permanent dwelling for its owners during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has won numerous awards for its style, beauty and ingenuity. These include Georgie Awards for best custom home, best interior design and best outdoor living space; National Association of Home Builders awards for best single-family built-green home and one-of-a-kind custom home; and a FortisBC award for excellence in energy efficiency. It’s also been featured on HGTV’s unique homes in North America.
The house is a beauty to behold—if you can spot it through the trees. “The property owners had a dream of creating their dream home there,” says Graeme Huguet, owner of My House Design/Build/Team. “When they first met me, they had seen some of the designs we were working on that were contemporary West Coast style, and which had struck a chord with them. They wanted something that would meld into the trees and rocks of this sloped waterfront property. Most other properties you can see if you approach the shore, but they didn’t want to get rid of all the trees.”
Designed to host guests and destination entertaining, and built with the goal of preserving the site’s natural beauty, the 5,000-square-foot, three-storey, four-bedroom, high-performance home brought their dreams to life. It’s the ultimate green house (with a certified platinum build green rating) in the ultimate green setting.
A sublime design
With the main entrance on the forest side, entrants to the home are regaled with views for days as they step through the door. Twenty-four-foot-high angled wood beam ceilings and a large expanse of windows in the great room give an airy feel to the open-concept main floor.
Warm porcelain radiant floors, extensive glass walls and varying ceiling heights bring cosy and bright together in a modern ensemble.
The open great room combines the kitchen, dining, interior and exterior living areas along with a unique peninsula loft that floats above the kitchen. Simple lines in the minimalist, modern interior make for unobstructed views from all of these key rooms, opening up the back of the house to the magnificent peek-a-boo views of the ocean.
An eye-catching, asymmetrically positioned 18-foot-tall quartz fireplace spans two floors, uniting the upper-level loft with the main-floor living room, and allowing for optimal furniture positioning, illuminated by under-hearth LED accent lighting.
The fireplace is adjacent to a 20-foot glass door leading to the large outdoor living space—320 square feet of covered space on an 800-square-foot deck—making the outdoors and indoors feel like a seamless continuum.
From the main entranceway, you can see the kitchen, anchored by a large quartz island which doubles as a prep station and gathering space. The sizeable open kitchen features Sub-Zero Energy Star appliances concealed within integrated Wenge cabinetry, except for the exposed Wolf range, with its reflective stainless tile backsplash.
A theatre and laundry room round out the main floor, with an open stairwell that leads to the loft above.
On the upper level, two bedrooms plus an open library and den comprise the floating loft, which shares the view beyond with the great room below. The master suite integrates both the bedroom and bathroom with frosted glass partitions. Matching marble tiled shower and tub walls give the feeling of a high-end hotel with attached spa. Sit in the Zuma tub, let the rain shower wash over you as you gaze out at the ocean stretching out below.
On the lower level, two additional bedrooms provide ample space for guests, while a workshop allows room for hobbies and tinkering.
An island away
Building a home on Gambier Island is no easy feat. The first step for Huguet’s team involved creating access to the property via a dock.
“Gambier Island is not accessible by ferry,” Huguet says.
The team had to barge over not only all the materials, but also all the equipment.
“We had our cement trucks pumping concrete on the barge. We brought our excavators on barges. Everything had to be thought through carefully in terms of logistics,” Huguet says.
Another issue was potable water, which was located one kilometre away from the house.
“We needed to have a well that was gravity fed down to their property,” Huguet says. “We also put in a septic field and geothermal heating, which allowed us to make this sustainable in terms of the ability to have radiant hot-water heating throughout.”
The team melded the home’s foundation into the existing granite, blasting a small portion of the granite away from the face to bring the foundation closer and pin it to the rock. The geothermal system was built into the granite as well.
The energy-efficient home is a passive house, meaning it barely uses any energy for heating and cooling.
“The energy evaluation is one quarter of what a code-built house of the same size would have been,” Huguet says.
Condensation issues on the large windows, which are “common when you’re in the forest,” were mitigated with the installation of an air curtain. “The continuous air curtain along the perimeter of the house in front of the windows provides constant air flow along the side of the home,” Huguet says, adding, “We also put in ultraviolet light air purification to eliminate or reduce dust mites and pollen and any other bacteria.”
While it took 18 months and $3.5 million to build, the result is a stunning gem tucked away in the woods—a perfect place to escape to when needing a break from city life. And never has there been more of a need for solace and solitude in comforting surroundings.
想像一下完美的海島假日。一個擁有現代生活設施，舒適的小木屋風格的家，依偎在樹林中，可以看到大海。質樸又豪華，簡單又精緻。它與環境完美融合，兼顧可持續發展，成爲一個逃避現實的舒適度假屋，或者一個永久的家。
這就是My House設計/建造團隊（My House Design/Build/Team）的Gambier 島海濱隱居之所的願景所在。最初只是想作為週末度假和夏季居所，但在新冠疫情期間成為主人的永久住所，並以其風格、美感和獨創性贏得無數獎項。包括Georgie Awards最佳定製住宅、最佳室內設計和最佳戶外生活空間；全國住宅建築商協會頒發的最佳綠色獨立屋和獨一無二定製住宅獎；以及FortisBC頒發的卓越能源效率獎。它還被HGTV收錄在北美獨特住宅的電視節目中。
這座房子美極了–如果您可以透過樹叢發現它的話。
“房屋主人有一個夢想，那就是打造他們的夢想家園。”My House設計/建造團隊的負責人Graeme Huguet說：“他們第一次見到我時，看到我們正在進行的一些當代西海岸風格的設計，很有感觸。他們希望在這片海邊斜坡上，將房屋與樹木和岩石融為一體。如果你靠近海岸，你幾乎可以窺其全貌，但他們不想失去所有的樹木。”
這座高品質的宅邸有5,000平方呎，樓高三層，有四間臥室，為款待賓客和娛樂的目的而設計，並致力於保護周邊的自然美景。如今他們夢想成真，成爲一片綠色環繞中的最綠色的建築（具有認證的白金綠色建築等級）。
從位於森林一側的主入口推門而入，無限風景映入眼簾，讓人百看不厭。24呎高的傾斜木樑天花板，寬敞的房間以及巨大的落地窗令開放式的主樓更加通透。
溫暖的瓷質輻射地板，大面積的玻璃牆和錯落的天花板高度，將舒適與明亮融合起來，帶來一種現代的整體效果。
開放式的大廳包括廚房、餐廳、室內和室外的生活區，以及懸浮在廚房上方一個獨特的半島式閣樓。簡約、現代的室內設計令每個主要房間都可以看到一覽無餘的景色，而房子的後面則是一派壯麗的海洋景色。
一個醒目的、不對稱的18呎高的石英壁爐貫穿兩層樓，將上層的閣樓和主樓的客廳結合在一起，方便家具擺放之餘，也都共享爐下的LED重點照明。
壁爐旁邊是一扇20呎高的玻璃門，通往總面積800平方呎的露台，其中有遮蓋的戶外生活空間有320平方呎，令室內和戶外生活區連爲一體。
從主入口處就可看到廚房，中心是一個大型的石英島，用來準備餐點和聚會。在這個開放式的廚房，除了有看得見的Wolf油煙機以及反光的瓷磚背板之外，還有隱藏在Wenge綜合櫥櫃中的Sub-Zero能源之星電器。
另外在主樓還設有家庭影劇院和洗衣房，然後沿著一個開放的樓梯，通向樓上的閣樓。
在樓上，兩間臥室加上一個開放式的圖書館和書房組成了半島式的閣樓，閣樓與下面的房間共享海景。主人套房用磨砂玻璃將臥室和浴室隔開。淋浴和浴缸的牆面鑲嵌著大理石瓷磚，給人以高端酒店水療中心的感覺。坐在Zuma浴缸裡，讓雨水沖刷身體的同時，可以俯瞰延伸而出的大海。
在底層，另有專門為客人準備的兩間臥室，空間寬敞；一個工作室則是爲了滿足主人自己的愛好。
在Gambier島上建房并非易事。Huguet團隊的第一步是從通碼頭建造一條進入該物業的通道。
“Gambier島無法通過渡輪抵達，該團隊不僅要用船運來所有的建築材料，而且還要運來所有的設備。”Huguet說：“我們水泥車在駁船上泵送混凝土，挖掘機也是放在駁船上。在物流方面，一切都必須仔細考慮。”
另一個問題是飲用水，它離房子有一公里遠。
“我們需要有一口井，通過重力將水引入到他們的物業。”Huguet說：“我們還安裝了一個化糞池和地熱供暖，令我們在房屋熱水供暖能力方面實現可持續性。”
該團隊還將房屋的地基與現有的花崗岩融為一體，將小部分花崗岩的表層爆破開來，令地基更接近岩石，並將其固定在岩石上。而地熱系統也是建在花崗岩上。
這個節能房屋是一個被動式節能屋，意味著它幾乎不使用任何能源進行加熱和冷卻。Huguet說：“能源評估是同樣大小的規範建造房子的四分之一。”
對於大窗戶上的冷凝問題，Huguet認爲，這對建在森林裡的房屋來説很常見，需要通過安裝空氣幕得以緩解。
“空氣幕沿著窗戶前的房屋邊緣安裝，令房屋一側保持持續性的空氣流動，”Huguet說：“我們還放入紫外線空氣淨化裝置，以消除或減少塵蟎和花粉，以及任何其他的細菌。”
雖然房屋耗資350萬元，花了18個月興建完成，但卻打造出一顆隱藏在森林中令人驚嘆的寶石，一個遠離城市喧囂的完美居所。而且，人們從來沒有像現在這樣需要在一個舒適的環境中獨處，並得到慰藉。
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