Manifesto: On Atonement, Territory, and the West Coast Imagination
At KAGVRV , we do not see architecture as static form-making. We see it as a verb—a process of cultural memory, political responsibility, and land-based inquiry. Our work is rooted in the conviction that architecture in British Columbia is not just a discipline, but a mode of listening.
We practice in a place where history is layered and unfinished. The land we build on is not neutral; it is storied, contested, and alive. We believe that architecture on the West Coast—more than in any other region of North America—carries the potential for cultural atonement. Here, the built environment is not merely a projection of capital or identity, but a gesture of humility. The proximity to enduring Indigenous sovereignties invites a different tempo, a different kind of authorship. It urges us to dwell less as designers and more as stewards.
Our studio aligns itself with the ethos Kenneth Frampton describes in Critical Regionalism, but with the added urgency of decolonial practice. We do not seek to romanticize the regional, but to mine it for responsibility. The climate, the forest, the cedar post, the rain shadow—these are not backdrops, but co-authors. Our work aims to make space for stories that predate the tools we draw with.
Unlike the more literal or commercially driven architecture, our West Coast clientele often act as patrons in the classical sense: individuals, communities, and institutions who fund projects not for prestige, but for meaning. This is particularly visible in collaborations with First Nations communities in BC’s interior, where the design process is as much about ceremony and remembrance as it is about program.
We design spaces that embrace incompletion, celebrate material honesty, and elevate the communal over the iconic. Our interest lies not in signature buildings, but in signatures of care—rooflines that respond to mountain profiles, walls that shadow tree lines, and interiors that hold silence with integrity.
KAGVRV exists not to dominate the landscape, but to conspire with it. We understand atonement as an architectural act: a willingness to build with reverence, to accept limits, and to embed architecture in a longer continuum of cultural regeneration. In this, the West Coast is not just our context—it is our curriculum.
Colin Berg Mbugua Bachelor of Science in Architecture : Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Master of Architecture : University of British Columbia, Canada
Contact : colin@kagvrv.com
Manifesto: On Atonement, Territory, and the West Coast Imagination
At KAGVRV , we do not see architecture as static form-making. We see it as a verb—a process of cultural memory, political responsibility, and land-based inquiry. Our work is rooted in the conviction that architecture in British Columbia is not just a discipline, but a mode of listening.
We practice in a place where history is layered and unfinished. The land we build on is not neutral; it is storied, contested, and alive. We believe that architecture on the West Coast—more than in any other region of North America—carries the potential for cultural atonement. Here, the built environment is not merely a projection of capital or identity, but a gesture of humility. The proximity to enduring Indigenous sovereignties invites a different tempo, a different kind of authorship. It urges us to dwell less as designers and more as stewards.
Our studio aligns itself with the ethos Kenneth Frampton describes in Critical Regionalism, but with the added urgency of decolonial practice. We do not seek to romanticize the regional, but to mine it for responsibility. The climate, the forest, the cedar post, the rain shadow—these are not backdrops, but co-authors. Our work aims to make space for stories that predate the tools we draw with.
Unlike the more literal or commercially driven architecture, our West Coast clientele often act as patrons in the classical sense: individuals, communities, and institutions who fund projects not for prestige, but for meaning. This is particularly visible in collaborations with First Nations communities in BC’s interior, where the design process is as much about ceremony and remembrance as it is about program.
We design spaces that embrace incompletion, celebrate material honesty, and elevate the communal over the iconic. Our interest lies not in signature buildings, but in signatures of care—rooflines that respond to mountain profiles, walls that shadow tree lines, and interiors that hold silence with integrity.
KAGVRV exists not to dominate the landscape, but to conspire with it. We understand atonement as an architectural act: a willingness to build with reverence, to accept limits, and to embed architecture in a longer continuum of cultural regeneration. In this, the West Coast is not just our context—it is our curriculum.
Colin Berg MbuguaBachelor of Science in Architecture : Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Master of Architecture : University of British Columbia, Canada
Contact : colin@kagvrv.com
Live and Work Laneway Home
Location : Vancouver, British Columbia
Status : Permitting
The brief initially dictated a combination of an art studio and apartment. Commonly refered to as a lane-way house in Canada, this auxilary lot underwent policy change allowing for a more nuanced use of ones laneway property. As seen below, the design celebrates the program allowing for the multi generational occupants both in the existing main house and laneway to live and work with space for private semi - private and semi - public moments required in work and life.
South Section : Depicting both access into the apartment, art studio and rooftop deck. Right up against the rear lane, auxilary units tend to need privacy from all 4 sides resulting in an introverted design with moments of voyerism for both the occupant and the public. 
North Section : The site falls on a steep hill, allowing for a play in scale. A modest presentation along the lane and porous facade looking into the rear courtyard. The roof top deck thus provides a much needed release, connecting the occupant to the context and benefitting from the altitude that allows for views into the North Vancouver mountain scape.
East Section : Designed with the intention to maintain warmth in the winter and cool in the summer, cross ventialtion integrated both in the building envelope (air gaps) and interior space ensures by simply opening or closing windows provides signifacant temperature and air quality differences. The clerestory windo looking into the apartment from the rooftop deck provides an atmosphere of washed natural light down the vaulted cieling and thermal gain throughout the year. The rendering of the light along the vaulted cieling provides the occupant with an intimate perspective of time of year and light.