Martin Residence

The house sits in Port Moody, where the hills roll down to the Burrard Inlet along its south side. The plan draws its curves from two things at once, the line of those hills and the paper cut-outs of Matisse's late work, so the public rooms are built from long soft curves instead of square corners.

A banquette wraps the living room in one continuous organic curve, seating guests around its edge, and the line of the garden outside carries that same curve around to the south wall. The colour comes from Matisse too, soft pastels throughout, pastel pink and light red on the cushions, a pink and violet flecked terrazzo in the kitchen, a deeper pink on the reeded wall of the master bedroom.

The private rooms are quieter and hold the theme mostly in colour. The aim was a warm, slightly playful home, at ease in the place Port Moody calls its City of the Arts.