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Liminal House

McLeod Bovell

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Silver
Bronze
concrete shell cantilevers over deck and pool - Hufton + Crow
intersection of stained accoya-clad volume and architectural concrete wall - Hufton + Crow
Hufton + Crow
concrete shell cantilevers over deck and pool - Hufton + Crow

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
House
6.99
8.10
8.52
6.04
7.41
Nikita Morell
Nikita Morell Founder at Architects WordShop
Beautiful project that perfectly em...
8
7
8
7
7.5
Andrea Sensoli
Andrea Sensoli Founder and Principal Architect at Superfuturedesign*
with a great help from the location...
4
9
10
6
7.25
Christian Kirschenmann
Christian Kirschenmann Studio Director Workplace at Ippolito Fleitz Group
I could see myself sitting there an...
6
10
9
5
7.5
Ye Zhang
Ye Zhang Founder and Chief Architect at LZA
7
8.5
8
6
7.38
Nazanin Naeini
Nazanin Naeini Exhibition Designer at Guggenheim Museum
Such a thoughtful approach to this...
8
8.5
9.5
6
8
Elvira Munoz
Elvira Munoz Director of Interiors and EMEA Interior Design Practice Leader of Buildings + Places at Aecom
The distribution, the views, the an...
7.84
8.15
8.23
8.54
8.19
Johan Lingner
Johan Lingner Head of Store Design at H&M
8
8
9
8
8.25
Orlando Marques
Orlando Marques Founder and Director at OMstudio Lighting
6
7
7
7
6.75
Monica Dalla Riva
Monica Dalla Riva Senior Vice President design and Customer Experience at Deutsche Telekom
8
7
8
7
7.5
Maarten Jamin
Maarten Jamin Founder at bs;bp
7
9
8
4
7
Jannis Reger
Jannis Reger Managing Director at CECON Buildings
An architecture to fall in love wit...
7
8
9.5
1
6.38
Qiang Yu
Qiang Yu Founder at YuQiang & Partners
7
7
8
7
7.25
Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Material
5.88
7.51
7.10
6.22
6.68
Nikita Morell
Nikita Morell Founder at Architects WordShop
6
7
7
7
6.75
Andrea Sensoli
Andrea Sensoli Founder and Principal Architect at Superfuturedesign*
4
7
6
5
5.5
Christian Kirschenmann
Christian Kirschenmann Studio Director Workplace at Ippolito Fleitz Group
I could see myself sitting there an...
5
8
7
4
6
Jeff Xiong
Jeff Xiong Retail Space Design Director at ANTA Sports Products
7
7.8
7.5
7
7.33
Nazanin Naeini
Nazanin Naeini Exhibition Designer at Guggenheim Museum
Thoughtful use of materials, combin...
7
8
8
6
7.25
Elvira Munoz
Elvira Munoz Director of Interiors and EMEA Interior Design Practice Leader of Buildings + Places at Aecom
The choice of materials is simple,...
7.38
7.77
6.84
7.31
7.33
Johan Lingner
Johan Lingner Head of Store Design at H&M
5
8
6
8
6.75
Orlando Marques
Orlando Marques Founder and Director at OMstudio Lighting
6
7
7
7
6.75
Monica Dalla Riva
Monica Dalla Riva Senior Vice President design and Customer Experience at Deutsche Telekom
5
7
7
6
6.25
Maarten Jamin
Maarten Jamin Founder at bs;bp
6
8
9
6
7.25
Ye Zhang
Ye Zhang Founder and Chief Architect at LZA
6
7
7
5.5
6.38
Jannis Reger
Jannis Reger Managing Director at CECON Buildings
5
7
8
5
6.25
Qiang Yu
Qiang Yu Founder at YuQiang & Partners
7
8
6
7
7
Floor area
1016 ㎡
Completion
2022
Social Media
Instagram
Finishes
sintered stone

The clients came to us at a pivotal stage in their lives as soon-to-be empty nesters. The evolving needs of a family became the impetus for how we imagined a house that could embody the state of transition at a conceptual and experiential level. We chose the word ‘liminal’ to encapsulate ideas that have informed the design process: namely the feeling of inhabiting a transitory place; orchestrating movement through space; and dwelling in the moments between ‘from’ and ‘to’...

The project site straddles the interstice between a suburban neighbourhood and West Vancouver’s stony seashore. Positioned on an expanded border between land and sea, the building form references the creatures that occupy this interstitial territory, whose physiology has adapted to such challenging conditions. In the same spirit, the house establishes itself in concrete, stained Accoya wood, and aluminum plate—enduring materials that can resist the battering effect of a shore environment.

Drawing from our experience negotiating complex topography and tight proximity with neighbours, we have learned to abandon the reading of the project as a series of flat “elevations” which exists from an imaginary or inaccessible viewpoint. Instead, we embrace a scenographic approach where the house can be understood after having moved through and around it. The language of courtyards, cantilevered volumes, and extension of landscaped surfaces onto floor areas below dismantle boundaries between the house and the natural environment.

The changing outdoor atmosphere at the shore not only animates the house, but is in turn animated by the house. Views are framed between solid walls and walls of glass—their images duplicated by a dark pool at the edge of the property and by the glazing of internal courtyards. Reflections and refractions of the outdoors evoke a feeling of being neither here nor there, but somewhere in between.