Cottages

August 24, 2022

Tour A Contemporary Cottage On B.C.’s Halfmoon Bay

Patrick Warren and Kevin Kaufman searched high and low for a place to build a cottage that would reflect their free-spirited ethos. From the Gulf Islands to commuter community Bowen Island, nothing felt exactly right…until they found Halfmoon Bay on the Sunshine Coast. Their half-hectare lot overlooked the Georgia Strait, a historical lighthouse on a nearby island and a seal colony. Plus, it was an easy ferry ride to Vancouver.

They launched headfirst into the planning process — by setting up their tent. “We wanted to capture the sense of exploration you get by camping on the site,” says Patrick, who’s a senior associate at Frits de Vries Architects + Associates. As well as connecting them more closely to the land, camping also helped them orient the house (its footprint was designed to preserve almost all of the trees on the site), and influenced the interiors, too. Both sun and trees would impact where the cottage was sited; they soon figured out the best place for the principal suite in order to enjoy spectacular morning vistas. “We located the bedroom on our favorite part of the site,” says Kevin, who owns a custom aquarium company. “Now it feels like we’re waking up in paradise.”

Scroll down to see more of this stunning B.C. cottage!

Author: Amanda Ross
Photographer:

Ema Peter

Source:

House & Home July/August 2022

Designer:

Architecture and Design: Patrick Warren