Project Name: Layer House

Location: Willis Point, British Columbia, Canada

Design Team: W O V E N Architecture and Design

Floor Area: 601.7 m²

Year of Completion: 2025

Photography: Sama Jim Canzian

Design Features: Perched on a forested hillside above the shimmering waters of Saanich Inlet in Willis Point, British Columbia, Layer House is a 6,477-square-foot waterfront residence designed by Vancouver-based studio W O V E N Architecture and Design. Completed in 2025, the project was conceived for a visual artist and craftsperson who sought a home that holds equally the demands of creative work and quiet contemplation.

The design unfolds across two interconnected volumes: a 5,100-square-foot main residence spread over two levels, and a 1,300-square-foot accessory building joined to it by a bridge. This physical separation between living and making gives each realm its own atmosphere. The accessory building houses a printmaking studio above and a woodshop below, each space oriented toward the landscape that sustains the creative process within.

What distinguishes Layer House is its architectural attitude toward the terrain. Rather than imposing on the hillside, the structure settles into it, drawing on the earth’s thermal mass for year-round energy stability. Expansive high-performance glazing dissolves the threshold between interior and landscape, pulling the forest canopy, marine light, and tidal rhythms into every room. Wraparound decks extend the living spaces outward, while a hot tub and outdoor shower terrace below invite restorative pause.

Natural materials ground the composition. Locally sourced wood, concrete, and metal speak to the regional environment and ensure the building ages with integrity. A rainwater harvesting system collects and filters roof runoff, reducing reliance on municipal water supply and embedding ecological responsibility directly into the building’s infrastructure. Lead architect Julian Carnrite and the W O V E N team have produced a home that is at once shelter and observatory, a place where craft, nature, and daily life converge with rare coherence.

Design Team: Founded in 2017 by Julian Carnrite and Genevieve Graham, W O V E N Architecture and Design is a Victoria, British Columbia-based practice specialising in bespoke West Coast Modern residential architecture. The studio operates under the principal leadership of Julian Carnrite, Architect AIBC, who brings rigorous technical expertise and a refined design sensibility to every commission.

W O V E N’s defining methodology lies in the integration of architecture, landscape, and interior design as a single, indivisible discipline. Rather than treating these as sequential concerns, the practice develops them in parallel, ensuring that spatial experience, material selection, and site response evolve as a coherent whole. This holistic approach is grounded in a conviction that architectural elegance emerges not from complexity, but from strong conceptual ideas executed with precision and care.

Working primarily across the Pacific Northwest, the studio engages closely with each client to translate programmatic and experiential aspirations into built form that is at once functional, contextually sensitive, and formally resolved. The resulting projects are characterised by warm materiality, disciplined composition, and a sustained responsiveness to the dramatic natural landscapes of the region. Since its founding, W O V E N has established a focused body of work that articulates a clear and consistent architectural voice within contemporary Canadian residential practice.