Building in the Pelorus Sounds means accepting the site on its own terms. There is no flat ground, no simple access, no straightforward solution. The hillside descends steeply through native bush to the water. The home had to go with it.

Parsonson Architects designed a residence that doesn't sit on the land so much as move through it — a meandering sequence of levels that follows the slope rather than interrupting it. Each turn in the plan reveals something new: a courtyard catching late afternoon sun, a deck cantilevered toward the Sound, a threshold between inside and outside that shifts depending on where you are in the house.

Dark-stained cedar cladding reads against the bush without fighting it. The roof alternates between flat and sloping planes — a practical response to the varied geometry of the site that also gives the building its distinctive silhouette from the water. At a distance, the house disappears into the hillside. Up close, the precision of the detailing becomes apparent.

Executing a design like this in a remote Sounds location requires a different kind of logistics — materials, access, sequencing, weather. It's the kind of build that tests every part of how you work. We're proud of how this one came together.