30 DIGS.NET
| 5.20.2022
A
R
C
H
I
T
E
C
T
U
R
E
+
D
E
S
I
G
N
P R O F I L E | G O R T S C OT T
IXED TO A rocky crag above Alta Lake in the Canadian
mountain resort of Whistler, a truly exceptional private
house surveys the mountainous landscape from which
it is quite literally inseparable. Fittingly named The Rock,
this newly built family home eclipses mere possibility
with its actual presence. Why dream the impossible when it
is here— the summit of ambitious, vision-driven design from
London-based architectural practice Gort Scott.
With viewpoints and exposures throughout, the project is a
physical manifestation of Gort Scott's architectural ethos, which
is very much centered on creating connection between indi-
viduals and their environments. The Rock is an elevation of this
idea. Not just for the obvious fact that the house is cut and built
out of the mountainside, but more boldly as a response to its
glorious, tree-laden location.
Taken with the site, the owner found the property and planned
at some point to build a house there—a house quite unlike
anything he had built before. He had, after all, strong feelings
about what he wanted, which was, as put by the practice, an
F
