KAGVRV is a Vancouver based design practice working across residential and small commercial projects with a focus on clarity, craft and territorial awareness. We design laneway houses, adaptive reuse spaces and tightly choreographed interiors, and we collaborate closely with builders and clients to deliver grounded and thoughtful architecture. Our work is guided by research into corridors of sovereignty, indigenous territorial futures and planetary urbanism themes that inform how we approach material, landscape and space at every scale.
Colin Berg Mbugua Bachelor of Science in Architecture : Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Master of Architecture : University of British Columbia, Canada
Contact : colin@kagvrv.com
KAGVRV is a Vancouver based design practice working across residential and small commercial projects with a focus on clarity, craft and territorial awareness. We design laneway houses, adaptive reuse spaces and tightly choreographed interiors, and we collaborate closely with builders and clients to deliver grounded and thoughtful architecture. Our work is guided by research into corridors of sovereignty, indigenous territorial futures and planetary urbanism themes that inform how we approach material, landscape and space at every scale.
Colin Berg MbuguaBachelor of Science in Architecture : Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Master of Architecture : University of British Columbia, Canada
Contact : colin@kagvrv.com
Multi - Generational Family Home 04
Location : Vancouver, British Columbia
Engineering : Effinity Consulting
Energy Modeling and Technology : Vancity Energy
Builder : Terracotta Construction
Status : Under Construction
Sustaining Apertures
Location : Or Gallery, Vancouver
Research Based Art Installation With Lys Divine Ndemeye
Curated And Written By Jenn Jackson
Selected by Capture Photo Festical
Spring 2024
Ceramic Co-Design And Fabrication : Nolan T.K.
Installation Build : Alixzander Morale
Photographed by Connor Davies
Location : Or Gallery, Vancouver
Research Based Art Installation With Lys Divine Ndemeye
Curated And Written By Jenn Jackson
Selected by Capture Photo Festical
Spring 2024
Ceramic Co-Design And Fabrication : Nolan T.K.
Installation Build : Alixzander Morale
Photographed by Connor Davies
A suspended column of modular planters, each holding a small ecology, arranged in a vertical field. The installation treats plants as spatial material rather than ornament, producing a lightweight structure that oscillates between sculpture, partition and micro-landscape. Shadows double the piece on the wall, marking growth and temporal change themes central to our ongoing interest in territoriality, living systems and quiet spatial interventions.
Urban Acupuncture in Vancouver
A mid-rise prototype that rethinks Vancouver’s density through communal care. Kitchenless micro-units, a shared commissary, a basement vertical farm and planted ground-level commons form a metabolic architecture rooted in nourishment, reciprocity and ecological stewardship.
Live and Work Laneway Home
Location : Vancouver, British Columbia
Engineering Team : Effinity Consulting
Builder : Terracotta Construction
Energy Modeling and Technology : Vantage Energy Solutions
Landscape Architecture : Topographics Landscape Architecture
Status : Construction
Location : Vancouver, British Columbia
Engineering Team : Effinity Consulting
Builder : Terracotta Construction
Energy Modeling and Technology : Vantage Energy Solutions
Landscape Architecture : Topographics Landscape Architecture
Status : Construction
The brief initially dictated a combination of an art studio and apartment. Commonly refered to as a lane-way house in Canada, this auxilary lot underwent policy change allowing for a more nuanced use of ones laneway property. As seen below, the design celebrates the program allowing for the multi generational occupants both in the existing main house and laneway to live and work with space for private semi - private and semi - public moments required in work and life.
Medium Farms
Feasibility / Speculative Project In
Arctic Farming
Feasibility / Speculative Project In
Arctic Farming
A climate–responsive agricultural pod designed for the northern territories of British Columbia. The structure uses a woven timber lattice with a translucent skin to form a warm interior microclimate, enabling year round food production in remote communities. The geometry creates a series of linked domes that operate as both farm infrastructure and gathering space, reflecting our interest in territorial systems, local sovereignty and architectural clarity.
Volumes for the Unspoken
A sculptural series by KAGVRV
Floating Volumes is a series of objects that study how mass can appear weightless through precise geometry. Each piece is built as a suspended or visually lifted box, held by a minimal frame that reads more like a spatial diagram than a piece of furniture. The series plays with balance, negative space and quiet tension, reflecting our interest in clarity, structure and the subtle manipulation of volume.
Medium Farms Retail
Feasibility / Speculative Project In
Arctic Farming
Feasibility / Speculative Project In
Arctic Farming
A modular grocery outpost designed for northern British Columbia, built around the idea of local farm pods and short supply chains. The interior is organized as a tiled field with simple crate displays, a lightweight grid ceiling and clear sightlines, creating a space that feels both infrastructural and warm. The design explores how small retail buildings can serve as territorial anchors for remote communities, supporting local growers while offering a calm and functional environment.
Urban Parasite
Feasibility Study
Feasibility Study
A lightweight pavilion designed as an extension of a small café or community food space. The project uses a straightforward timber frame, a slatted roof and large openings to create a bright, open dining environment. A vertical planting wall forms a gentle enclosure, softening the edge between street and interior and introducing a micro-landscape into the project. The pavilion sits within the studio’s ongoing interest in clarity of structure, territorial edges and the role of small buildings in supporting social life.
Kasirwa Earth House
Project Location : Mt Kilimanjaro , Tanzania
Completed : Fall 2015
Project Location : Mt Kilimanjaro , Tanzania
Completed : Fall 2015
Kasirwa Earth House is a community-built project in Kasirwa Village on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Working with local craftspeople and students under the guidance of Jason Orbé, we designed and built three small volumes for incoming teachers and a pavilion at the village entrance. The structures use gabion stone walls, rough-sawn timber frames and hand-applied earth infill, drawing from local knowledge and the material logic of the region.