House Styles
With the house being curved, the kitchen had to follow suit. Putting square drawers in a round kitchen did result in some wasted space, “but it ended up working in its own eccentric way,” Smith says. Plus, Holly says there’s plenty of storage, something like up to 40 drawers. “When I go away for several months, it takes a few minutes to find the right drawers; it’s like a puzzle,” she says.
And here’s the view looking back at the entrance gate. There’s a calculated symmetry to the design of the home, stemming from Holly’s love of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and from decades of designing displays in her bookstores with symmetry in mind. The large madrona tree is a point of axis. “They wanted an idea of order in the wilderness,” Smith says. Pennsylvania bluestone steps lead to sandstone pavers and on to the front door.
This is the view upon entering through the front gate. “The Gulf Islands are very austere and wild, so it’s quite magnificent when you open the gate to our courtyard and all of a sudden there’s lush and beautiful fruit trees and flowers,” Holly says. “I’m growing things I never thought I’d grow.” Paul built all the outdoor furniture in his woodshop. The photovoltaic panels convert sunlight to energy, which is stored in batteries and used to run the entire home. There’s also a backup generator. Clerestory windows bring southern light from the courtyard into the main living spaces.
Size: 2,000 square feet (222 square meters); 3 bedrooms plus a study, 2 bathrooms Paul has a thing for curves, which show up in many of the bookstores the couple has designed together, hence the circular nature of the home. But practically speaking, the design serves many functions. For one, it creates a courtyard that’s protected from the sometimes-harsh winds. Plus, it allows for a garden protected from the feral deer population on the island. Because the deer have no predators, 600 to 800 of them are removed from the island every year to keep the population somewhat in check. A 6-foot-high fence built from milled trees on the property lets Holly have her fruit trees and flowers.
off-the-grid home with the help of Kim Smith, of Helliwell + Smith | Blue Sky Architecture. The result is a circular layout that captures views of the ocean while creating a sunny courtyard protected from the strong sea winds. It’s a place where Holly can finally garden (lacking this ability on the frozen clay prairies back home had frustrated her), and where Paul can build furniture in his woodshop.
This illustration shows the overview of the home. The entrance is seen at the bottom. The home is completely off the grid, running on solar panels for electricity and a backup generator when needed. There’s also a well and a septic field. And because there’s no fire department on the island, there’s a pump hooked up to seawater just in case.
Miracle Beach House | Floor Plan Image from the Blue Sky Archive URL blueskyarchitecture.com/ CategoryFloor PlanStyleContemporaryLocationMiracle Beach, British Columbia, Canada
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