The couple decided that they needed to move from their 800-square-foot house to accommodate their at-home businesses. They were involved in the design of their new 2,275-square-foot sustainable home from the start. Amanda, in particular, led the planning, says Brad Ingram, senior design manager at Synthesis Design, which has studios in North Vancouver and Calgary.  

"She has a terrific design sense and gave us one the best wish lists we've ever received from a client," Ingram enthuses. "She thinks spatially, all the time. She helped us understand from a philosophical standpoint how and what she wanted to feel in every room. That was both terrifying and exhilarating." 

To begin with, Amanda and Kou wanted workspaces separate from the house. This way, when clients visit, they won't enter the couple's private home. At the same time, those workspaces needed to connect to the home's overall flow. Synthesis Design resolved that challenge with a central entry that functions as a welcoming entrance for clients and divides the public office space and the private spaces. The design team arranged the private rooms perpendicular to the entry.

The resulting "L" shape of the house allowed the designers to create a private courtyard, a boon for the private couple as the home sits on a site surrounded by neighbors. A large 14-by-7 foot sliding-glass door from Marvin Doors & Windows in the kitchen and dining space seamlessly connects the inside with the courtyard. Meanwhile, the dedicated wing for Amanda's home-based tutoring business, in addition to private his-and-her studies, made the King's Residence the perfect home to work from during a pandemic.

Sustainability Via the BC Energy Step Code  

The British Columbia (BC) Energy Step Code helps architects, builders, and homeowners move through five steps of energy efficiency until they reach net-zero status (step 5). Energy-modeling software and on-site testing show stakeholders how those energy-efficient building standards are being achieved. King's Residence achieved Step 4 by incorporating a super-insulated and air-tight envelope, with an HRV for fresh-air filtering and circulation at 1.47 air changes per hour. 

"The Step program forces people to build energy-efficient homes," Ingram says. "The clients were excited about this but didn't know what it entailed. After we did lots of client education on exterior insulation, HRVs, and extra insulation on the inside, they embraced how energy efficient and comfortable the home would be."

A sculptural, abstracted iteration of the traditional farmhouse, the home's building envelope is a single seamless form with the standing-seam metal roof running down the walls. The designers pushed in portions of the envelope to create indented shelters. The low-maintenance exterior includes glossy Wallshell powder-coated fiber-cement panels and Trespa siding, a high-pressure laminate product resembling tongue-and-groove wood, at the front and back of the house.