Laura Killam Architecture is a comprehensive design studio dedicated to creating spaces that enrich the human experience through thoughtful, site-responsive architecture.
Specializing in custom residential projects on remote, wild sites along the British Columbia coast, the studio approaches each project with a quiet confidence, seeking a balance between function and beauty, understatement and presence.
From defining a site in the wilderness to master planning for future generations, LKA offers full design services. These include site planning, access, architecture, and interiors.
Every project begins with the land: a conversation with the site’s unique characteristics — its topography, light, ecology, and spirit. The resulting architecture seeks to foster a deep connection between inhabitants and place, guiding movement through shifting views, changing light, and a careful choreography of shelter and openness.
Influenced by the ethos of Sea Ranch California, the legacy of West Coast Modernism, and a commitment to environmental stewardship, the studio creates buildings that defer to the landscape. Through restrained rooflines, feathered edges, and careful modulation of form we try to weave architecture seamlessly into its natural setting. Our focus is not on the building as an object, but on the experience of inhabiting it.
At LKA, the goal is not to impose, but to reveal. We design places that touch the earth lightly, spaces where people can feel grounded and in-touch with the quiet rhythms of daily life.
Design Approach
Our approach to each project begins with a careful reading of the site. Our primary design driver is responding to context and place in relation to the client program. We interpret the concept of ‘site’ broadly, encompassing not just its physical boundaries but also its experiential and atmospheric qualities
Time is a key consideration in all our projects. We develop masterplans that address our clients’ current needs while anticipating their future requirements.
A core value of our approach to design is sustainability. We have a love of natural, raw materials and aim to select these from the place, to further integrate the project to its surroundings.
We believe in iteration. Physical models and hand sketching are key design tool as we explore and develop what the built form might be. We provide full design services from concept design through construction to a completed project.
Communication & Collaboration
LKA specializes in fostering positive relationships with clients through collaboration. We believe that a fulfilling project is the product of a harmonious and communicative relationship between client and architect.
Equally, we believe that collaboration with the contractor before and during construction is vital to a project’s success. We value excellent craftsmanship and have enormous respect for a builder’s knowledge.
LKA would like to acknowledge that our office is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqeum, Tsleil-waututh, and Squamish Nations and we are grateful to be able to work here. We would also like to acknowledge that our building sites are located across the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish people. We are deeply honoured to be able to design projects that connect to the land in these territories.
