Solstice
Pool, pergola, outdoor kitchen and lighting treated as one outdoor room.
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2025 Award of Excellence · Residential construction
Riverside Retreat
One backyard that had to work for basketball tournaments, poolside afternoons and a sauna in February. A 3,000+ sq ft family compound in Riverside, designed and built in a single eight-week window.
3,000+Sq ft outdoor living
8 weeksOn site
Summer 2024Completed
RiversideWinnipeg
“We needed a yard where our kids could be active, and we could actually enjoy relaxing.” That single sentence was the whole brief — and it is harder than it sounds.
Active and restful usually fight each other in a backyard. You end up with a sport surface that dominates the space, or a quiet garden nobody is allowed to play in. This property had the footprint for both. What it did not have was any reason for the two halves to coexist: no levels separating play from lounging, no sightlines letting adults sit down without losing track of the kids, and no surface anywhere that could survive a summer of basketball.
So the plan started with zoning, not features. The yard was split into activity zones and quiet zones, then arranged so every one of them is visible from the main entertaining terrace. That decision — not the feature list — is why the space works on a Wednesday afternoon and a Saturday evening.
Zone by zone
Six spaces, one backyard.
The sport surfaces take the wear at one end. The pool holds the middle. Cooking, fire and seating sit nearest the house, where you want them when you’re carrying plates.
The sport court and putting green
A professional-grade surface with a regulation hoop and the family’s own logo laid into the court. Beyond the obvious appeal, a dedicated athletic surface protects the rest of the landscape — without it, the same wear lands on turf, beds and pavers.
Next to it, a multi-hole synthetic turf putting green offers a completely different kind of competition. It stays perfect year-round with no mowing or watering, which is exactly why synthetic was the right call for a corner that would otherwise be worn bare by August.
- Full basketball court with custom logo
- Multi-hole putting-green-grade turf
- Takes the wear off the rest of the yard
Pool and aquatic zone
A fibreglass pool with generous deck space on all sides — designed for lounging as much as swimming. Positioning was driven by supervision as much as sun: from the main terrace you can see the pool and the court at the same time.
- Fibreglass shell, integrated into the hardscape
- Deck space on all four sides
- Sightlines to the court from the terrace
The cedar barrel sauna
The feature that turns this from a summer yard into a year-round one. A Finnish-inspired barrel sauna in western red cedar, sited and detailed so it is genuinely usable in January — because in this climate, a backyard that only works sixteen weeks a year is a backyard running at a third of its capacity.
Cedar and natural wood carry through the whole design, softening the modern hardscape and tying the sauna, the covered structures and the firewood store into one material language.
Outdoor kitchen, fire and seating
A built-in BBQ station with prep space, storage and natural stone finishes chosen against the house, plus a generous firewood store so the fire is always ready to go.
Multiple seating areas give the space several moods — intimate conversation zones and a fire-pit gathering point for cooler evenings. The layout means adults can settle in without losing sight of the kids at play.
- Stainless appliances, stone veneer, proper gas and electrical
- Built-in firewood storage
- Several covered structures and seating zones
The build
One project, not nine purchases
Every trade on this job was ours — design, excavation, hardscape, pool, carpentry, gas, electrical and planting, coordinated as a single build rather than a sequence of subcontractors.
Riverside · Winnipeg
What went into it.
- Site work
- Master planning, excavation, grading and drainage, final grading and sod.
- Hardscape
- Multi-level paver patio, natural stone, fire pit construction, privacy fencing.
- Features
- Sport court, fibreglass pool, synthetic turf putting green, cedar barrel sauna.
- Structures
- Covered structures, outdoor kitchen and BBQ station, firewood storage.
- Services
- Low-voltage LED lighting, irrigation, gas and electrical for the kitchen.
- Materials
- Western red cedar, natural stone pavers, stone veneer, stainless appliances, powder-coated aluminum, professional-grade sod.
- Sport court
- Fibreglass pool
- Putting green
- Cedar barrel sauna
- Outdoor kitchen
- Multi-level patio
- Fire pit lounge
- Landscape lighting
- Irrigation
Photo gallery
Riverside Retreat, finished
Photographed for the awards submission. Click any photo to open it larger.
The services in this project
From sport courts to saunas.
Build your family’s version.
Tell us how you actually want to use the yard — who’s in it, on what day, doing what. That conversation is where a project like this starts.