The Jones House is located on a large lot in West Vancouver, surrounded by forest. It sits atop a mass of sloped bedrock. West Vancouver's topography is beautiful and difficult. This condition has resulted in innovative architectural solutions in the past, and real estate here has since become lucrative, making West Vancouver one of the most affluent communities in Canada. But it's expensive land to build on, and practical design is often overridden by wealth that favours demolition and excess. Space is often destroyed and wasted instead of adapted. In this case, it was clear that the house was not lacking in space — or potential.

The Jones House, although not a heritage building, was first built in 1945. It is unusual, however, because the original house was never demolished, and the site was never leveled to make room for a "bigger and better" home. Instead, the house slowly expanded in a number of stages. There was never a master plan — each addition was determined by the house owner at the time — and every change was designed by a different architect. While the good intent may have been to minimize construction cost and labour, the resulting house was a combination of mismatched details and unresolved space. The new design aims to solve the house's disorder within the restrictions of site and budget.

This project is distinctive in that there is a site within a site — the land on which the existing house sits and the existing house itself. The architectural concept draws from this condition directly as well as from the freedoms and limitations of the clients in order to drive the prime concept — to tie all parts of the sites together without displacing the natural or structural framework.

The Jones house is a modest size. This renovation added very little area overall: it succeeds in its connection between spaces and programs that did not require more room — only more thought.