Project 22 Design: Ambassador

Design Unlocked

With Project 22 Design

Meet the Designer: Denise Ashmore

Founded by Denise Ashmore, Project 22 Design creates homes that balance refinement with ease. Spaces designed not only to be seen, but lived in fully. Based in Vancouver, the studio approaches residential design through the rhythms of daily life, shaping interiors that feel calm, grounded, and deeply personal over time.

Denise’s work is rooted in material honesty, emotional comfort, and the belief that homes should support the people inside them rather than dictate how they live. Natural materials, thoughtful restraint, and an intuitive understanding of family life define the studio’s approach, creating spaces that feel elevated without ever feeling untouchable.

About the Project

In this episode, Denise shares the story behind Ambassador: a modern Whistler cabin designed for a repeat client with three children and a home that regularly welcomes extended family and friends. Located steps from the village and ski lifts, the project balances the energy of Whistler with a quieter sense of retreat rooted in warmth, texture, and ease.

Through thoughtful planning, durable materials, and a strong connection to the surrounding landscape, the home explores what it means to create spaces that feel lived in from the beginning. Rather than pursuing perfection, the project embraces comfort, longevity, and the rituals that slowly shape a home over time.

Designed To Be Lived In

From the beginning, Ambassador was never intended to feel formal.

The experience of entering the home is immediate and relaxed. Hooks on the wall, a generous bench, spaces that invite people to drop their bags and settle in naturally after a day outside. Throughout the episode, Denise returns to the idea that comfort is not separate from good design, but central to it.

That thinking extends throughout the house. The upper level opens into expansive living spaces filled with natural light and mountain views, while quieter areas of the home become more intimate and grounded. Every decision feels tied to how the family will actually move through the space: gathering after skiing, hosting friends, living alongside the inevitable mess and movement of everyday life.

Born From The Landscape

Wrapped in rough-sawn hemlock, Ambassador feels inseparable from the landscape around it.

Rather than creating contrast against the environment, the home draws directly from it. Wood grain, stone, soft light, and muted tones mirror the textures and atmosphere of the surrounding coastal forest, allowing the transition between inside and outside to feel almost imperceptible.

Throughout the day, light moves slowly across the interior, changing the mood of the home as weather and seasons shift outside. The result is less about creating a dramatic architectural statement and more about creating a place that feels quietly connected to where it sits.

Letting Time Leave Its Mark

At the center of Ambassador is the belief that homes become more meaningful through use.

Dining tables gather scratches. Floors wear in. Children leave marks behind as life unfolds around them. Rather than resisting that process, the home was designed to absorb it, allowing materials to soften, age, and carry memory over time.

Natural materials play an important role in that evolution. They patina rather than deteriorate, revealing the history of the people who live alongside them. A dining table becomes more than a surface. A coffee table becomes more than an object. Over years of gathering, celebrating, and everyday use, they become part of the family's story.

This perspective extends beyond furniture and finishes. The home itself is understood as something unfinished in the best sense of the word—not a fixed composition, but a living environment that continues to change as new routines, memories, and relationships take shape. The role of design is not to dictate those experiences, but to create the conditions for them.