Consistently ranked as one of the top ski resorts in North America, Whistler is located less than two hours? drive (120 km) up Sea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver. The pedestrian hub at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains is a cookie-cut chalet-style resort, but the Whistler area is also known for some spectacular upscale second residences.

Completed in a five-year start-to-finish period, The Rock was initially created as a recreational residence for a recently retired Hong Kong-based businessman and his family. It was the first North-American project for the London-based architecture firm Gort Scott, that won the invitational architectural competition arranged for the project by the owner who had spent several holidays in the area.
Passionate about architecture, the owner had written in a vision statement for the invited designers that ?This is not a typical resort residence. It is an architectural expression of self.? The owner has since fallen in love with the house so completely that it will eventually become the family?s main residence. It has also caused a change of focus in  his life.

The Rock is an elegant cliffhanger among the western hemlock forests by Alta Lake, about 10 km off Whistler Village. The site itself is breathtaking and Jay Gort and Fiona Scott, founders of the London agency, explain that they spent a week on the site just absorbing the place and the way light changed on the rock face.

The project consists of a six-bedroom main house, a t...