Downs House

Location
Vancouver, Canada

Year
2025
Collaboration

Photography
Agustina García del Río

A scenic view of a large body of water surrounded by rocky shores and green pine trees, with forested mountains in the background under a hazy sky.
A cozy room with a window looking out at a body of water and trees, featuring woven baskets on a wooden shelf, a wooden stool, a low wooden table with a book and a small red vessel, and a beige carpet.
Close-up of a wooden wall with shingles, showing a round paper lantern in the background, shadows of tree branches on the wall, outdoors during daytime.

During the development of the collectible Compañero Bench, the prototype from the piece was presented and photographed during a private, invited visit to the historic Downs House — a significant work within the lineage of West Coast Modern architecture. The setting was not incidental. The house, with its remarkable material palette, tectonic clarity, and deep relationship to landscape, provided an excellent architectural counterpoint to the object.

Produced in wood by Pablo Mariano using exclusively hand tools, this edition of the Compañero Bench shifts the language of the original steel piece into something more refined and intimate. Each surface carries the trace of the maker’s hand — interlocking joints, defined edges, and the artistic evidence of time invested rather than efficiency pursued. The absence of mechanised production is deliberate. It reinforces the bench’s position as a treasured and versatile object rooted in craft and made to serve.

Within the Downs House, the bench reads less as furniture or art and more as a companion form — its proportions and joinery echoing the structural honesty of the surrounding architecture. Timber against timber, shadow against grain, object against space.

This study situates the Compañero Bench within a broader conversation: how contemporary collectible design can engage architectural history without imitation — and how making, context, and material integrity can coexist as a living continuum rather than a reference.

A man wearing sunglasses standing in a doorway, looking out at a calm body of water with a small rocky island and mountains in the distance, during daytime.
A hand wearing a white glove is holding a small, round stone or fruit above a white plate. Behind, there are decorative patterned tiles in black and white.
A black and white photograph of a cozy interior room corner, featuring a potted plant with bare branches and white flowers on a stack of books on a window ledge, with a chair and a bed partially visible.
A cozy living room corner with a beige sofa, a tall yellow vase with yellow flowering branches, a wooden side table, and large windows showing trees outside, with sunlight casting shadows.
A wooden deck with sunlight creating shadows, a stone resting against the base of a wooden fence.
Living room with large window view of lake and trees, sofa, coffee table, decorative vases, and plants.
A narrow wooden walkway with side railings, leading to a wooden building with shingled exterior. There are potted plants on the right and trees overhead casting shadows.
A wooden porch or balcony with a railing, a wooden column, and a wall made of wooden shingles. There is a small wooden stool with a white fluffy cushion or covering on top. In the background, trees and greenery are visible.
A rustic metal bell hanging from a chain on a wooden wall, with a window reflecting the outdoors in the background.
Wooden porch with railing, potted plant, and a bench covered with a white fleece blanket, under a partially covered roof with exposed beams, sunlight casting shadows on the ground.
Close-up of a wooden shingle surface, showing the texture and color of the individual shingles.