Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada

Category:            Private Homes
Year:                2026
Architects:          Leckie Studio Architecture + Design 
Lead Architects:     Michael Leckie, James Eidse, and Emily Dovbniak
Design Team:         Alastair Bird, Irena Jenai, Cam Koroluk, Holden Korbin, Denise Liu, and Kate Read
Landscape Architects: Claire Kennedy Design 
General Contractor:  AFC Construction 
Photographer:        Ema Peter   

The Hornby Island Retreat is a two-bedroom private cabin situated within the coastal forest of Hornby Island, British Columbia. Located at the edge of a high-bank oceanfront site overlooking the Salish Sea, the 2,275-square-foot retreat occupies the alignment of an existing logging road. The site is densely forested with mature cedar, fir, and hemlock, and every effort was made to minimize disturbance to the landscape by preserving the existing tree canopy and limiting site clearing.

Conceived as part of a larger family retreat that includes guest cabins and a separate sauna and bathhouse, the primary cabin serves as the communal heart of the property. Rather than approaching the project as a singular object placed within the landscape, the design establishes a framework for inhabiting the forest. The architecture is organized around a continuous roof that gathers a series of discrete spaces beneath a single sheltering canopy, creating a sequence of interior and exterior rooms that mediate between forest, weather, and ocean.

The floor plan is conceived as a series of alternating indoor and outdoor spaces arranged along a linear axis. Two discrete sleeping suites are positioned at opposite ends of the building and separated from the central living pavilion by covered breezeways.

This arrangement establishes a gradual transition between private and communal realms while encouraging movement through the landscape as part of daily life. Rather than concentrating the experience of the house within a singular room, the project unfolds through a sequence of thresholds, courtyards, and sheltered outdoor spaces revealed over time.

Arrival is deliberately choreographed. Approaching through the dense forest, visitors encounter the building as a dark, largely opaque form that terminates the long view through the trees. The ocean beyond remains concealed. Entry is marked by a board-formed concrete wall that anchors a sheltered forecourt and establishes a moment of pause between arrival and occupation. Only after passing through the threshold court does the architecture gradually open toward the landscape beyond.

The tectonic expression of the project is informed by the traditional Pacific Northwest plank houses constructed by local First Nations communities. In these structures, primary roof members are oriented parallel to the long axis of the building, emphasizing continuity, procession, and collective occupation beneath a singular sheltering roof.

The retreat reinterprets this principle through a series of substantial timber beams spanning the length of the building. The resulting roof extends approximately 150 feet, reinforcing the linear organization of the plan while creating generous overhangs that shelter movement and occupation throughout the year.

Climate was a primary driver of the design. On Hornby Island, rainfall often shapes patterns of daily life more than temperature. The continuous roof functions less as a conventional enclosure than as a protective canopy that establishes a habitable territory within the forest. Courtyards, breezeways, terraces, and a sunken fire court extend the living environment beyond the conditioned interior while remaining protected from the elements.

Large openings frame shifting views of cedar trunks, moss, filtered ocean light, and distant water beyond. Rather than clearing the forest to create expansive vistas, the project remains embedded within the existing canopy, deriving a sense of openness through proximity to the landscape. Screened operable openings provide natural cross-ventilation and allow the retreat to function as a pavilion-like environment during the summer months, while deep overhangs protect glazing from rain and solar exposure.

Materially, the project is defined by a restrained palette rooted in the character of the site. Interior and exterior walls are clad in black charred cedar planks, creating a dark backdrop that amplifies changing conditions of light and weather. Locally quarried Valdes sandstone extends continuously between interior and exterior floor surfaces, reinforcing the connection between architecture and landscape. Exposed timber beams and roof decking are allowed to weather naturally over time, while board-formed concrete and locally sourced bush-hammered granite provide moments of permanence and material weight.

The result is an architecture that derives its identity not from a singular formal gesture, but from the relationships it establishes between shelter and exposure, solitude and gathering, forest and ocean. Through its careful siting, measured material palette, and sequence of indoor and outdoor spaces, the Hornby Island Retreat offers a framework for inhabiting the coastal landscape—one shaped as much by weather, movement, and time as by the building itself.