Amidst the trees and rugged cliffs of Salt Spring Island, the Daisy Ranch is anchored by a log structure while sitting lightly at the edge of a sweeping meadow. Designed in close collaboration with the client, who also served as general contractor, the house is a rugged glass box with a long, cantilevered roof that provides seasonal cover for a large deck.
Photo: Andrew Latreille
The Daisy Ranch
Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
Quiet Innovation
Large square-cut logs and glass soften the rust-colored patina of the weathered steel cladding. The house’s two distinct volumes are arranged along a linear axis, bisected by an eastern entry stairway and front door sheltered by a generous overhang. Beyond the entry, a short glass-walled hall connects the log structure and the rest of the house.
The home’s southern volume, a glass and wood jewel box, contains the kitchen, dining, and living room. Floor-to-ceiling windows, interrupted by a band of wood, provide panoramic views of the surrounding meadow and trees, which shift from vibrant green in summer to a stark black-and-white in the winter. A wood-burning stove and a custom circular steel firewood holder anchor the living room, accented by whimsical touches such as a colorful floor mural created by a Vancouver, BC based artist, bubble-like glass lights, and a fabric swing suspended from the wood beam ceiling.
Connections
An elongated deck extends the living room outside, beneath the broad cantilevered roof. Steel guardrails, angled like slats, create a rhythm of voids and solids that maintain a visual connection to the landscape. An integrated picnic table accommodates entertaining, while a modest half-pipe allows the client’s children to practice their skateboarding year-round.
Wood and steel cladding on the home’s northern volume ensure privacy for the primary suite and additional bedrooms, with framed view corridors to provide glimpses of the landscape. Widespread use of wood infuses the bathroom with warmth, while a clawfoot tub set before the corner windows underscore connections to the landscape.
The Daisy Ranch is a family house, casual and rugged, built as much for the life within it as the landscape around it . . . There's a lineage at play in this project, a quiet innovation that comes from the shared DNA of materials and relationships.Tom Kundig
FAIA, RIBA, Design Principal
Looking Glass
Seattle, Washington