How to describe a summer afternoon at Monika and Darren Bennett’s Vancouver home? Informal barbecues happen most days, so you’ll typically find kids splashing in the pool, a loaded grill, and friends and neighbors hanging out. “Because we have this open space looking out to the park, friends from down the street will wander in and join us for dinner,” says Monika. “We have people over almost every day, in a casual, unplanned way.” Darren puts it a different way: “There's just a lot of good yelling.”

The couple—she’s a project manager, and he’s a creative director—built their new home with just such activities in mind—well, maybe not the yelling, but definitely the hangouts. They found their lot in the Hastings-Sunrise neighborhood in 2016, while relocating from Seattle to Vancouver. Their street in particular is known for its community spirit, which manifests in epic Christmas light displays and Halloween decorations. “We will get over 1,100 kids coming to the door on Halloween,” says Darren.

“We loved how it had a reputation for being a great community,” he adds. “You can feel it when you walk your dog down the street. People are friendly and say ‘Hello.’ We wanted that for our kid—a neighborhood where everybody knows each other, which isn't always that common in the city.”

The lot had “a 1950s bungalow, but not a cute one,” says Monika, so the couple knew they would rebuild when they bought it. They reached out to designer Simon Montgomery of SM Studio after meeting through friends. “Simon’s always worked with natural materials, which we wanted to honor and enhance in our home,” says Monika. “His just felt like a really calming aesthetic.”

In addition to sight lines into the nearby park, the lot also overlooks Burrard Inlet and the North Shore Mountains—so Montgomery drew up a “reverse” floor plan to maximize the views. The bedrooms and auxiliary rooms make up the two lower levels, while the main living spaces are located on the upper floor.

Working within the confines of a typical Vancouver lot, Montgomery also added a separate 514-square-foot garage with a studio for Darren, and connected it to the main house via a landscaped courtyard with a petite pool.

Darren has fond memories of his own childhood spent poolside, so it was important to incorporate one into the new design. “Some of my best memories and days were hanging out at the pool,” says Darren. “So, the hope here is to replicate that for my kid and his friends.” The couple drew inspiration for pool’s small size from a boutique hotel they visited on their honeymoon in Buenos Aires.

“The pool is a big part of their lifestyle,” says Montgomery. “It became a real focal point, so we thought, ‘How can we elevate this pool and connect it to the house in a playful way?’”

The answer is a sunken, landscaped courtyard with board-formed concrete walls, which bound the side of the pool. “At first, we looked at making the whole side of the pool glass, which I think cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” says Darren. They went with a more budget-friendly option—but Montgomery still managed to insert two stacked windows.

“Now, as opposed to this big wall where you’re just looking at people swimming in the pool, it’s become more of a frame for the kids’ faces when they dive down,” says Darren. “I think in a lot of ways, the low-budget idea actually worked out better than the big-budget idea.”

Inside, a staircase core runs up through all three floors and to the roof deck. Montgomery lined the staircase in white powder-coated expanded metal mesh, that allows natural light to pass deeper into the building. “Having that mesh on the stairs allows them to feel open and allows light to come into the middle of the house,” he says.

On the upper level, the firm kept the palette simple. The ceiling is finished with exposed Douglas fir LVL (laminated veneer lumber) structural beams, which are made of many wood layers. The strength of the material allows the beams to span the entire width of the room without the need for additional supporting columns. White drywall meets concrete floors, and simple, flat-front cabinetry provides plenty of storage without any busyness.

Board-formed concrete, echoing the lower courtyard and the front of the home, frames the fireplace in a lounge corner, and the material’s texture riffs off the woodgrain above. “We love concrete, but it can be a bit cold feeling,” says Montgomery. “The board-formed concrete creates this tactile aspect and warms it up. The intention is to get the feeling of the wood in the concrete, so you see the grain and the space between the boards.”

In the living room, Montgomery designed a custom, welded steel shelf to display Darren’s vinyl collection, augmented by a DJ setup below. The vinyl adds another note of texture to the home. “All of those records together in that one big, long shelf is definitely something I don’t get tired of,” says Darren.

And when the summer parties shift indoors, it’s another spot for the couple’s guests to make themselves at home. “The idea is that guests can flip through and find something they love, and play it for their friends,” says Darren.

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Project Credits:

Architecture: SM Studio / @simonmontgomerystudio

Builder: DMC

Structural Engineer: Equilibrium

Landscape Design: Considered Design

Lighting Design: Sistemalux

Interior Design: SM Studio

Cabinetry: Torus Millwork

Other: Concrete Collaborative

Other: Lambert & Fils

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