'hoke' house

it's almost comical, the fact that i started a blog full of inspirations, photos, quotes, etc... and never actually considered blogging about the one thing career wise that i am most passionate about: architecture.
unbeknownst to many, i am an architect. well, an 'intern architect' at this stage in my life. striving for the goal of one day becoming licensed. although i have had five years of schooling and one year of an internship under my belt, my knowledge of architecture remains rather vague, at least in my opinion. especially when i'm sitting through weekly meetings with clients attentively listening to my licensed-architect-of-a-boss speaking so fluently about our field, more times than none an overwhelming feeling takes over and i think: i have so much to learn.
that is an extremely discouraging thing to realize at times; however, i'm reminded most frequently that we never stop obtaining knowledge about architecture in our ever-so-changing-and-updating-technological field. as years go on, knowledge just continues building. and i'm okay with that. the question then becomes: how do i go about retaining all this knowledge? let me get back to you in about twenty years on that one. in the meantime, i'll dish out things i do know, based off my architectural research, insightful finds, and whatnot.
so, in lieu of bringing up the topic of architecture, i'd love to share with you one of my absolute favorite architecturally designed homes called the hoke house.
embarassingly enough, i was introduced to the hoke house in the first movie of the Twilight series, which i might add, did not give this house enough camera time that it rightfully deserves. while most teeny boppers were swooning over edward cullen, i was no doubtibly distracted by the sexiness of the cullen's place of residents...that's right..sexy.. a house?...yes... the hoke house.
dubbed the 'hoke' house, after nike footware designer john hoke purchased the home shortly after construction completed in 2007, this contemporary modern piece of architecture nestles itself gently in the heavily wooded landscape of vancouver, canada. architect of the hoke house and owner and founder of skylab architecture, john kovel elaborates, in an interview, on the firms design philosophy that plays heavily into the design of the home by saying:

we bring concepts to life, each of these concepts is a story. the paragraphs are like spaces, the words, materials. each project is a unique investigation into this story telling. our process is research based, and iterative. we look for authentic meaning and relationships. we do not rush aesthetic conclusions.

the minimalistic approach using concrete, glass, wood, and white walls makes all 4,300 sf of this home worthy of being called the perfect retreat. using floor to ceiling glass windows on all 3 floors, the architecture easily draws the beauty of the lush landscape into the home, giving the (what would appear quite public) house a very secluded feeling. relationships between the natural and man made relm are well thought out. there is no clashing of the two extremely different worlds. both are respected. and deeply cherished together.

let me just tell you the two best aesthetic qualities of the home, and then i'll leave you with pictures so you can do your own exploring. 1) the cantilever above the entry way ejecting into the trees and 2) the all white bathroom.

i hope you enjoy and are inspired by the pictures below. architecture, if you let it, can be an extremely inspirational thing.

the entry way