CLIFFHANGER
Situated on the steep south facing slopes of North Vancouver’s Indian Arm, the Cliffhanger Residence is a tiny home with a strong modern voice.
A key component of any ecologically minded project is extreme efficiency in both its overall planning and in its layout. In a construction environment that often equates size with grandeur, the design of the Cliffhanger Residence establishes itself is a refreshing departure from the norm.
The three-level home sits atop a tiny site that would be defined as challenging by size alone - it’s a mere 25ft wide by 100ft long - but the fact that the site drops nearly 60ft over its 100ft length seriously ratcheted up the difficulties for the design team.
The home is laid out on a simple open plan with the key day-to-day activity areas of kitchen, living and dining located on the intermediate level with unobstructed views to the water. At only 1986sf in overall area the home is designed to be extremely efficient with no space going unused. The house is rated 'highly energy efficient' by the Canadian Energuide energy efficiency program achieving a rating of 85. Conduits run from the mechanical room to the roof for future solar panel installation.
Kevin is trained as a Passive House designer and planned the Cliffhanger Residence with the concepts of this approach in mind - maximum southern exposure for winter solar heat gain, robust insulation throughout and a tightly air-sealed structure.
The Cliffhanger residence is a modern home with a small footprint that straddles the seemingly incongruous worlds of a big city metropolis and a rugged mountain landscape.
