Architectural Record 2015-04

78
ARCHITECTURAL RECORD APRIL 2015 BUILDING TYPE STUDY RECORD HOUSES
6
SECOND FLOOR
5
6
7
up in rural Quebec. “I thought, ‘There’s a man after my
own heart.’ ” Adds Miller: “You have to have an appreciation
for it. No one’s more creative than farmers. They always
have to be innovating.”
Lehoux, who might be in New York one week and
Afghanistan the next, splits the rest of his time between
Vancouver and Point Roberts. He discovered Point Roberts
when an assistant urged him to visit; he came on a rare
stormy day in June of 2004. “I was smitten,” he says. He
looked at several properties for sale before he came upon the
80-by-140-foot lot he now owns. He paid $17,000—a steal
compared to Vancouver prices—in cash the day after seeing
it (he later bought an adjacent lot plus one across the street,
where he plans to build a studio, also designed by BCJ). After
developers failed to build a golf course behind the property,
400 acres were turned into a land trust. Lehoux calls this
his “backyard”—its forested paths, leading to the beach,
have views of the Strait of Georgia and the San Juan Islands.
Not long after Lehoux purchased the property, Peter
Bohlin, a founding principal of BCJ, came to see it and told
Lehoux that he wanted to design a house for him. “I said,
‘Peter, I would like nothing more, but I can’t afford one of
your houses,’ ” recalled Lehoux. “ ‘I will live vicariously by
shooting them for the foreseeable future.’ I think that was
an interesting challenge for them.” Lehoux ended up
trading photography for design services, with a result—in
scale, proportion, and siting—that is quite similar to Bohlin’s
original sketch. “It’s also thanks to a lot of ideas that
Robert brought,” says Lehoux.
The pared-down flexible system used for the Lightbox is
one that Miller believes could be applied to 5,000 square feet
just as well as 200. “It is a careful balance of elegant proportions
and scale. The luxury, if you call it that, is not in layers
of marble but in being immersed in the forest,” says Miller. ■
5
credits
1
2
3
4
ARCHITECT: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson —
Peter Bohlin, Robert Miller, principals;
Jeremy Evard, project manager;
Kyle Phillips, associate; Patricia Flores
ENGINEER: PCS Structural Solutions
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: HBHansen
Construction
CLIENT: Nic Lehoux
SIZE: 1,650 square feet
CONSTRUCTION COST: $346,500
COMPLETION DATE: 2015
1 ENTRY
2 DINING
3 KITCHEN
4 LIVING
5 BATHROOM
6 BEDROOM
7 MEZZANINE
SOURCES
FIBER-CEMENT PANELS: James Hardie
WINDOWS: Marlin Windows
GLASS: PPG
BLACK PINE-TAR STAIN: Auson
DOWNLIGHTS: WAC Lighting
SLIDING DOORS: Fleetwood
SKYLIGHT: Velux
RECYCLED RADIATORS: Ecorad
FIRST FLOOR
0 9 FT.
3 M.
FRAMING DETAIL