Being a restaurant in a hotel is notoriously difficult, having to manage the expectations of local and travelling guests, especially during COVID. Miantiao has an additional challenge: the cuisine fuses Italian and Chinese culinary philosophies.

Since other forms of travel have been all but eliminated for the time being, Canadian scenic drives might be the salve that the wanderlust-stricken soul is yearning for.

When I arrive, the hot winds of summer are blowing down the mountains, melting the ice caps and filling the Athabasca River as it runs through the small mountain town of Jasper, filling the lakes and marshes with glacial water that reflects the massive peaks in its deep blue water.

There is a humbleness about this approach that seems to respect the topography, the grandness of the mountains, that seems to have inspired the home itself with the Café Canal stone walls and the multiplane roof.

Glazed tiles, used in 1884 at the nearby El Capricho Palace then being built by Gaudí, were placed in the original build and have since been restored by García-Germán, referencing the strong tradition of Spanish art nouveau in the area.

There was a knock at the door and Marthe went to open it and found a woman around her age, early thirties give or take, dirty blonde hair, soft denim maternity overalls that were sagging a little in the front, she was carrying a tiny baby.

Atelier by Lambert & Fils utilizes a delicate suspension with forms that sit variously between industrial and organic.

Constructed on what once was a decaying “worker’s cottage”—one of the small, narrow structures made usually of wood that housed many in the rapidly expanding Great Lakes cities during the Industrial Revolution—this home was built as a “ethereal sanctuary” for a retired elementary school teacher.

The two wings come together in a glass connection. Noble materials are used throughout to provide a natural colour palette accentuated by the vistas of water and greenery through the many windows.

The Vancouver-based multidisciplinary creative heads a practice that cultivates a fluid position between the fields of design, invention, sculpture, and architecture.

The pièce de résistance of the design: a glass-walled atrium in the centre of the space serves as a terrarium with red cedar stretching from the first floor to the second.

A postindustrial circular structure based on rational, geometric forms that utilizes a neglected piece of land in the city.

Inspired by the great halls of medieval times, the new two-storey atrium is meant to bring the lines of sight within the house up toward the sky and the treetops.

In the last few years, the environmental consequences of cement and plastic have become dire. With this in mind, the government of British Columbia has undertaken a new initiative to fund and explore the building of massive wooden structures.

A stunning restoration of a house built in the 1990s by Daniel Evan White, who was an acolyte of Arthur Erickson and translated the West Coast Modern idiom into a slick contemporary style.

“A lot of people affiliate contemporary architecture with the boxy shape, but I don’t think that shape has to define the style,” Bortolotto says.

Scott Specht says that his greatest influence for Sangre de Cristo House was the Land art movement, which has always worked well with the expansive natural canvas that is the desert.

A facade of mahogany slats is inspired by the way branches provide shade yet allow sunlight to enter, creating the inside-outside blurring that both West Coast Modern homes and many East Asian styles are famous for.

A staid brutalism flirts with airy woods, with the percentage of both varying from room to room, as if a dualism is playing out in the materials.

Her firm’s philosophy counters the monumentalism of Europe with the expansive territory of the Americas so that the architecture is “confused” with the environment.

Partisans has been making waves in the Canadian architecture scene with a unique combinations of futuristic wave forms and wood. In this stunning house, the waves are literal.

More characteristic of an artist studio or an installation, the showroom allows clients to see the pieces in situ, inspiring onlookers to appreciate the creative prowess of the company and the city from which it comes.

Made with prefabricated materials from BC Passive House in Pemberton, Buckhorn represents the lineage of passive housing in British Columbia, which began in in the province during the 2010 Olympics with the Lost Lake PassivHaus.

The story behind this home sounds like that of an intrepid pioneer, which gives the evident contemporaneousness of the building an extra layer of charm.

Viberg works with small, old-world manufacturers, including family-run tanneries across Europe.

Knowledge of a place generally helps shape structure, and the only way to achieve such knowledge is through being with the environment.

Interestingly, Hadid got her start in object design and interiors, so in many ways this chess set represents a coming-full-circle of her work. 

Hawaii is a popular vacation spot among Canadians, but its architectural scene is often overlooked. However, the latest project by Walker Warner Architects, a compound of sorts that incorporates modern and Indigenous design, is hard to miss and even harder to disregard.

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