&Daughters: Sunland

Design Unlocked

With &Daughters

Meet the Designers: Darcy and Emma

Founded by Darcy Hanna and Emma Sims, &Daughters is a Vancouver-based architecture and design studio grounded in research, context, and a clear sense of purpose. Their work spans residential, commercial, and hospitality spaces, shaped by an approach that considers site, history, program, and function from the earliest stages of design.

Darcy and Emma’s work is rooted in material longevity, regionalism, and the belief that constraints can become a generative part of the design process. Through research and conceptual exploration, the studio creates spaces with clarity and intention—where material and form respond thoughtfully to context, and innovation emerges from the particular conditions of each project.

About the Project

In this episode, Darcy and Emma share the story behind the transformation of a distinctive Vancouver home, reworked for a family who fell in love with its surrounding landscape and saw possibility in what was already there. Rather than starting over, &Daughters reconsidered the home from within—reorganizing its layout, strengthening its connection to the outdoors, and creating spaces shaped around the rhythms of family life.

Through thoughtful architectural interventions, purposeful millwork, and a brief that placed the children at the heart of the design, the home explores what it means to create space for the whole family to participate. Rather than prescribing how family life should unfold, the project creates a framework for it—one that feels functional, connected, and full of wonder.

Rethinking The Home From Within

From the beginning, the project was less about replacing what existed and more about recognizing what the home could become.

The original house had a distinctive character, with a low profile and strong relationship to the surrounding landscape, but its layout worked against the way the family wanted to live. Darcy and Emma preserved its character while fundamentally reconsidering how the spaces related to one another.

The kitchen, dining, and living areas moved downstairs, opening to the outdoors through expansive glazing and large sliding doors. Working with what was already there, &Daughters created a home that feels more intuitive, connected, and responsive to family life.

A Place of Wonder

Creating a place of wonder for children was an explicit part of the brief from the beginning.

Throughout the home, Darcy and Emma considered how the children could participate in everyday life with greater independence. In the pantry, lower shelving puts snacks and fresh fruit within reach, allowing them to help themselves, join in preparing meals, and move through the space with a sense of agency. Storage and millwork were considered with the same care, making room for the realities of family life without allowing them to feel chaotic.

Upstairs, the playroom offers a space of its own while remaining connected to the rest of the home. Positioned above the main living areas, with a skylight and doors opening onto the patio, it feels like a small sanctuary without removing the children from the activity below. The result is a home where their presence is not simply accommodated, but visible in the way the spaces are designed and lived in.

Supporting Everyday Life

For Darcy and Emma, the success of the project is found less in its finishes than in the way the architecture supports the family living within it.

The reworked plan creates a more natural relationship between the spaces of everyday life. The kitchen, pantry, dining area, and dedicated coffee station respond to the family’s particular routines, while the connection between shared and quieter spaces creates room to gather, cook, play, and retreat. Each is considered as part of a larger whole, shaped around how the family moves through the home.

Returning after completion offered another measure of success: seeing the home being used as intended. For &Daughters, there is something deeply rewarding in seeing a house support the considerable work of domestic life. The project is ultimately defined not by a single material or interior gesture, but by an architecture that makes space for the routines, personalities, and relationships within it.