Designed for a multigenerational family on Quadra Island in British Columbia, Canada, this wild “Mountain House” reimagines what residential architecture can look like even on the most challenging and terror-inducing building sites. Instead of one big building, the residence is divided into modular sections arranged both horizontally and vertically to perch on the rock and gaze out in every possible direction. The home is designed around existing trees on the site and features a cantilevered glass-bottom swimming pool.

One level of the home is for a young family, one is for their parents, and another offers a recreational sports space and gym for the residents and their guests. The third volume rises above the others, jutting out vertically over the cliffside so that one tower-like section feels like it’s hovering in the air. A continuous stairway can also be glimpsed through the windows, making it sort of like an observation tower. Both the son’s house and the parents’ house have their own private backyards tucked somewhat safely against the cliff, and a shaded corridor offers access to the swimming pool from the son’s house.
One of the coolest aspects of this design is its wooden rooftop shades, which can be either closed or opened to let sunlight flood inside (a nice treat in this rainy part of the world). The glass walls facing the water unfold into balconies reminiscent of vertigo-inducing skyscraper platforms like the Skydeck at ...