A striking new home has emerged at 135 East 17th Avenue in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, designed by Vancouver architect Oliver Lang of Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC) and built by Vanglo Sustainable Construction Group. The previously derelict and unliveable house presented an opportunity to construct a home that not only enhanced the immediate environment but also would establish new standards in design, flexibility and energy-efficient green building. During the building process, careful consideration was given to the deconstruction of the previous dwelling and 95% of the waste material was taken to a facility that turns waste wood into bioethanol. The unique lot dictated the design of the home due to having a larger than average frontage and less than average depth. Together, the team was able to design a home within these parameters by building a multi-faceted exterior and arranging the complex geometry of the house to create a fully flexible space with no interior load-bearing walls.
The Energy Star® open-concept home was designed with specific materials and construction methods to minimize future maintenance and reduce energy consumption. The use of external wood and painted surfaces was minimal, and the house features a maintenance-free metal roof and concrete floors to place an emphasis on building a healthy, low-maintenance living environment for the homeowner. The three-level, single-family home and garden suite are engineered to offer the future owner the choice to reconfigure the floor plan to suit their needs. The 2,250-square-foot home includes a 300-square-foot outdoor lounge that transitions seamlessly into the open-plan top floor.