Brian Hemingway - West Vancouver

At the outset we merely wished to more conveniently connect two major spaces and levels of our West Coast Contemporary Home. A simple staircase seemed the solution; however, after Brian visited and surveyed the house planning and our additional qualitative concerns, he envisioned a series of interventions that have transformed the entire house and our level of livability.

The process with Brian is as remarkable as the results. He makes connections and feels connections from deep within, skillfully balancing his clients’ needs and wants while maintaining the integrity of the home and its surroundings. The elements he adds are purposeful, sophisticated and timeless. We feel greatly honoured that our path has intersected with this true gentleman and visionary.

Our dream home started with a simple list of ideas and desires that we presented to Brian; a building set comfortably in our wonderful ocean-side setting featuring natural materials such as stone, copper, and wood. We asked for informal open spaces based on natural light and indoor-outdoor living to take advantage of our mild west coast climate, with appropriate separation for our evolving adult family needs, allowing us to live, work, and entertain in the same space. When we saw Brian’s other buildings we knew we had found the right person to turn our dream into reality.

Brian more than satisfied all our desires. Simplicity masks complexity in the mechanics of the building, utilizing geothermal heat and cooling available from the ocean, and elegant engineering to ensure that the house is livable and easy to use.

For us it was important to enjoy the journey and the destination. Brian led the way with a gentle but deft hand from the outset in a series of casual site visits and informal meetings. He rapidly produced a series of conceptual sketches and ultimately a set of drawings and a model. The original design matched out needs so accurately, there were few if any changes to the original drawings during construction. Brian’s personable and acute listening skills, coupled with his deep architectural experience and commitment to both form and function has resulted in a home that is comfortable for living, working, and playing, and is truly beautiful.

When Brian was first developing the concept of our house, he envisioned our house to be a jewel nestled in the landscape overlooking the ocean. He spoke of the importance of keeping it one with the natural beauty of our waterfront property in Lions Bay, B.C. Today, he has achieved this lofty goal and created a magnificent, yet natural structure, which has not disturbed the bald eagles that frequent the towering Douglas Firs just metres from our windows. Our “house of glass” also allows us to gaze downward through the water’s clear abyss and see orange sun stars on the Howe Sound’s rocky seabed.

Our home is a glorious sanctuary for our family and yet we are so proud to have understood Brian Hemingway’s genius and given our global community an architectural legacy that all can admire and emulate. “The Tidewater” is truly the jewel in the landscape that Brian envisioned.

-Victoria Rogers & Kim Mailey

“For people like us, a brilliant and creative architect is not only a marvel to behold, but also a valued advisor. We so appreciate your creativity, your ability, your professionalism, and your passion.”

We recently undertook a major re build of our home. The design of the home contained some solid elements but was extremely dated. We engaged Brian with an overall design brief of developing a modern contemporary but “cozy” home. The end result has vastly exceeded our expectations. We achieved all we were looking for and more. Not only is the end product fantastic, the entire process of working with Brian was extremely enjoyable. Within a very short period of time he developed a series of beautiful hand drawn sketches reflecting our needs, but also introduced several design elements and ideas that transformed the design from a good home to an outstanding home.

The process was a pleasure and we would gladly reengage him but this project has been so successful we will not be moving soon; surely the sign of success of a great designer.