As land costs climb and the gap between what families need and what they can afford widens, the most interesting design problems in the city are increasingly about density done well. This double lot project in the City of North Vancouver is a case study in exactly that.

Two contemporary three-bedroom family homes, each with a basement suite and a detached coach house, were designed to give homeowners a realistic path into one of Canada's most expensive markets. The mortgage helpers aren't an afterthought — they're built into the DNA of each home, sized and finished to attract good tenants and generate meaningful income from day one.

The homes themselves don't read as investment properties. The contemporary design is clean and considered, with roof decks adding a layer of private outdoor space that townhouse and condo living rarely offers — a genuine quality of life feature for the families living above the suite. The coach houses at the rear add a third income stream or flex space for extended family, keeping options open as needs change.

On a double lot that could easily have produced something forgettable, the design instead created two homes that stood out in a crowded market. Both sold quickly, at all time high prices for the area — a result that reflects what thoughtful design can do even when the brief is fundamentally about numbers.