Archello
“Celebrating the best of Western Canadian architecture, Book Lover’s Paradise by Vancouver firm Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (RSAAW) has won Western Living’s annual competition for Home of the Year. A thorough mid-century renovation featuring a stunning stair-side, double-height bookshelf and a secret attic playroom, the project transformed a tired, inefficient house with good bones into a chic, contemporary, and spatially eloquent family home.”
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Home Builder Digest
RSAAW is a full-service architectural practice that targets excellence in project delivery and efficiency in production. This spirit of pragmatism allows the team to fully explore aspects of sustainability, cultural value, and cost consciousness, while still adhering to strict project timelines.
ArchDaily
After numerous design iterations and a less traditional approach to the programmatic distribution, the building’s mass successfully evolved into two separate volumes connected by mechanical systems below grade and by a light-filled atrium above grade that link the public spaces of the building.
Dwell+
Architect Rafael Santa Ana, founder of the eponymous Canadian architecture office, considered his family’s affection for their Vancouver, Canada, residence—which they’d lived in for a decade—when brainstorming a new design for the home, despite the urge to demolish the structure and "start from scratch," he says.