The Small House/Duplex RT-10 zone is new to the Kingsway and Knight area. With this new zoning bylaw comes the opportunity for a new architecture that can significantly change housing in Vancouver. While traditional forms are prescribed in the City’s design directives, there are also openings in the guidelines. There are new possibilities within conventional forms themselves.

This house begins with a pitched roof, a standard neighbourhood feature. Blocks, varying in size, are removed from the main form where opportunity exists: a roof channel allows neighbours to have a clear view through the top of the house; cut-out corners reduce the house’s mass and provide entrance for natural light; and a void space at the rear of the house accommodates parking and brightens the approach through the alley. New boxes are inserted where crucial: a partial second story is introduced to provide the most efficient and livable space; an interior garage is added without compromising the dominant appearance of the pitched roof; and a protruding front window provides a depth for a display sill as well as an overhang above the entrance.

By inserting boxes and voids, the new house is spatial yet not maximized to the allowable building envelope. Its physical impact on the neighbourhood is minimal, but its visual impact is challenging. The resulting design is both predominant and innovative. The traditional form is preserved but also reinvented.