Retreat above Arawana Station
Arawana Retreat is a compact house on a steep hillside above Naramata, where long western views across Okanagan Lake are balanced by limited privacy and very little level ground. The clients wanted three bedrooms, generous shared living spaces, and a strong connection outdoors, but were comfortable keeping the overall house small..
The plan is organized around an elevated courtyard, with the bedrooms placed in two narrow wings and the living, dining, and kitchen spaces spanning between them. This arrangement creates a protected outdoor room at the centre of the house without adding heated floor area. Large sliding doors open on both sides of the dining room, allowing the courtyard, dining space, and west-facing terrace to operate as a continuous sequence through the building.
The living room reaches outward from the hillside toward the lake and Giant’s Head Mountain. From the uphill foundation to the outer edge of the cantilever, the structure spans 26 feet, with the final 10 feet projecting beyond the gabion wall below. A deep exterior shroud shades the west-facing glass, limits views from neighbouring properties, and concentrates the outlook toward the distant landscape.
Although the gabion appears to carry the house, the weight is actually transferred through steel posts concealed behind it. The stone wall screens the carport below and gives the cantilever a sense of weight and support, while its fill reuses rock removed during construction.
Site-charred cedar wraps the exterior, reducing the visual contrast between the house and the wooded hillside. The treatment was selected for durability and wildfire resilience, while wood is used more freely inside, where warmer surfaces contrast with the dark exterior shell.
At approximately 1,300 square feet, the house relies on section, outdoor rooms, and carefully framed views rather than added floor area. The result is not an attempt to make a small house appear larger, but to give a modest plan several distinct ways to be occupied.
