Modern house with large glass windows and balcony, built on a hillside among trees.

alton cliff house - lake country, bc

jason alton owned a cliff on the north arm of okanagan lake. he wanted a three-bedroom house on it, taking inspiration from the case-study houses of the mid-century. f2a took on the challenge.

on approach, the house presents a relentless wall of corten steel panels, floating over a steep slope, disintegrating to the north. the patinaed wall turns a corner and continues its march, breaking once at a planted screen, then breaking again to reveal a bright interior. screens and plants soften edges and turn light to lace.

the structure is steel, designed to touch down on the rock as lightly as possible and leave the existing environment intact. a garage and two planted courtyards face the road. the glazed living spaces and master bedroom open to the lake.

the plan is organised by threshold. you move from the sealed, compressed entry into the open living zone, the lake filling the far wall. the mid-century reference isn't stylistic: it's in the logic of procession, the clarity of plan, the discipline of keeping the structural idea simple enough that nothing competes with the view.

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location: lake country, bc

size: 2750sf

status: completed 2022

designed by: f2a architecture

photographer: katie huisman

published in: 2023-02-20 - ARCHDAILY

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