Secondary Suite Conversion - Vancouver, BC

Story

This project explores how a careful reworking of an existing garden suite can support multigenerational living while allowing the owners to remain connected to their home, neighbourhood, and daily routines.

The clients, a retired husband and wife, currently live on the main and upper floors of their 1930s home in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood. The lower-level garden suite is reserved for extended family and friends when they visit.

They live a modest, active lifestyle and hope to maintain it for many years. Above all, they want to remain in their home as they explore this chapter of their lives.

Vision

Redesign the garden suite as a functional two-bedroom home for the husband and wife, allowing their son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild to move into the main and upper floors.

The layout needed to be modest, highly functional, and as open as possible between the kitchen and living room. It also needed to include sufficient storage, a dining area, and at least one and a half bathrooms, while preserving access to natural light, the garden, the detached garage, and rear-yard storage.

Response

The age of the building meant it had been added to, refitted, renovated, and adjusted several times over its lifespan, so hidden conditions needed to be anticipated during design. The building had also reached its allowable maximum floor area and site coverage, which prohibited any addition. A shared laundry facility and mechanical room occupied valuable space in the existing floor plan and needed to be reconfigured and replaced. Changing or moving windows was also prohibited.

Addressing the mechanical room and laundry was the first hurdle. The mechanical equipment was moved into the existing storage space, and space between the bedrooms was carved out for in-suite laundry. This opened valuable floor area for the kitchen and new bathroom. Existing plumbing and electrical services in these locations meant some infrastructure could remain in place. The existing bathroom was reduced to a powder room, allowing those services to remain in place as well.

The layout was then organized into distinct zones. The kitchen, living, and dining areas remained connected, while the bedrooms and full bathroom could be physically and acoustically separated. This gave the suite privacy where it was needed and openness where it mattered most. It also minimized disruption to the existing structure, helping reduce construction costs. Wall-based storage was then added to the wider corridor between the bathroom and kitchen.