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There’s a good-looking competition going on at a custom-built home in Kelowna, B.C.

Rather, it’s a competition of best views at the Okanagan Valley home called Harvard Road. One contender is the vista of the surrounding mountains, Okanagan Lake and the home’s apple orchard. The other is the view from down the 14-acre property’s gentle slope and back up at the long, low, contemporary residence lined with windows.

“We want to you to feel like you’re almost in the view,” says architect Randy Bens, of his sleek, geometric design that makes the most of the panorama. “You can’t do that with a deck in front, or a railing.”

The 4,400-sq.-ft. house has living spaces on one side, with the living room cantilevered 16 feet over the change in grade that brings it close to a stand of trees. On the other side are three bedrooms plus a den and washrooms. The two areas are separated by a courtyard and entryway. The lower floor has guest rooms and a change room for the pool.

A terraced path leads down to a swimming pool and then further on to the master suite entry and outdoor shower.

Building materials include metal cladding, Alaskan yellow cedar and stone walls inside and out. White oak was used for cabinetry and flooring, with walnut cabinetry and handmade blue tile frames for the pool change room.

Completed in 2020, Harvard Road took two years to design and build.

Architect Randy Bens, who designed his firm’s Westminster, B.C. offices from a shipping container, answers a few questions about Harvard Road:

What inspired your design for Harvard Road?

We typically draw inspiration from the clients’ requests and favourite images, and, of course, the site. In this case the clients had an open mind except for two requirements: a building with a gable end, and a building with no (eavestroughs) to clean. We delivered both, wrapped in a modern esthetic. We also tried to frame views of the site’s ponderosa pine trees at either end of the gallery.

The house has some huge windows. What was involved in installing those?

Large windows like that are typically installed with a crane or lift. Or quite simply a lot of guys! Other than that, they’re not exotic.

How did your design avoid eavestroughs?

We avoided gutters by folding the roof metal into the wall metal, with no gutter or seam. Also, note the windows for the most part are recessed, so any water coming down from the roof won’t spill on the windows. There’s also a large drip where the window gets punched in.

When you have that much property is it difficult to not build something larger?

No, that was not an issue. We generally try to build as small as we can and still meet the client needs. Construction is too expensive to be extravagant with size, just because you have room.

Are more architects starting to avoid decks and railings, or putting them elsewhere to preserve the view?

Not sure about other architects, but that is the principle we have followed for years. Sometimes you can’t avoid it, but we do whenever we can.

What were the challenges in building Harvard Road?

The only real construction challenge was the size of the living room cantilever. It involved deep beams that span back into the building and had to be lifted in with a crane.

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