When it came time to design the Sooke 01 House, Campos Studio set up camp on the site as a way to gather inspiration from the land and surrounding forest. Instead of building the house on the edge of the forest as most would have done, they found a spot at the highest point of the land on a rocky knoll in a clearing nestled amongst the trees. This spot made way for views of both the ocean and the mountains through breaks in the trees making it the place to call home.
The pacific northwest location of Sooke on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, with its Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, and Cedar trees, inspired the angular nature of the house. Mimicking a tree rising from its trunk, a concrete column that looks as if an actual tree was growing inside, becomes the spot that the home’s structure is built around. The column, along with the pipe from the wood burning stove, make the house feel embedded within the forest as if they always belonged there.
The beam along the ceiling that supports the thin slats of wood give nod to the sprawling tree canopies above.
Each room frames a different view of the lush landscape, from views of trunks and tree canopies, to shoreline and ocean, even mountains.
Photos by Ema Peter, courtesy of BowerBird.