With our city now so laughably unaffordable, thousands of Vancouverites are stuck imagining wonderful homes instead of living in them. Spaced is a record of our minds wandering the world of architecture and design, up and away from the unrewarding realities of shoebox condos, dark basement suites, sweet f~ck all on Craigslist and three levels of government that couldn’t give a damn.

(via) For a family getaway, Berkeley, CA-based Envelope Architecture + Design created this aptly-named “Forest House” somewhere in the woods of Northern California. Though from certain angles it appears to be a single entity it’s actually a complex of four conjoined cabins, made mostly of wood and glass.

It sees three sleeping areas attached to a communal living/dining room — all brightened by playful windows and made more interesting by sharp angles of division and connection. Dig the up and down bunks, the little patio, the fireplaces, the tree-hugging decks and the kitchen’s sharp corner window!

While we wouldn’t mind the drive to California to occasionally enjoy this if it was ours (we’re getting to know the roads pretty well), this column is all about fantasy so why not haul it all the way up the coast and plop it down where it might make more sense?

With that in mind, we know of some nice patches of forests in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island that would suit it pretty well, and that’s where we’d probably lay it down to enjoy its halcyon affects and momentarily forget the impossibility of it all.

All images © Richard Barnes