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The resort opened in the early two thousands and was placed on the escarpment above the falls. The bulk is set back into the slope while the public rooms and the tower face outward, so the drop is the view the whole building is organised around. Stone cladding and a stepped mass were used to tie a very large volume into the edge of the gorge.

Levels step down the escarpment, so the entrance you use and the floor you arrive on depend on which side of the slope you approach from. The theatre, the spa and the restaurants sit on separate levels, and the outward face is given to rooms that look at the water.

The falls themselves are directly below and in front, with the gorge and the river beyond. The tourist streets of Niagara Falls climb the hill behind, and the American side stands across the water within sight of the windows.

The resort stands on the water at Richmond, just south of Vancouver, on flat delta ground where the river meets the sea. It was built as a single large complex rather than assembled from older buildings, and it includes a marina of its own, so arrival by boat is part of how the site was planned. The massing is broad and low-shouldered, which suits ground this flat and this open.

Accommodation, the show theatre, the restaurants and the spa are gathered into one connected complex, so guests move between them under cover. The marina puts a working water edge along one side, and the plan opens toward it. Parking and the road approach are handled on the landward side.

Richmond lies between Vancouver and the sea, on the delta of the Fraser river. Vancouver International Airport is a few minutes north, the rapid transit line into the city runs close by, and the district around is a busy Asian food quarter.

The resort stands on the territory of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, near the shore of Lake Couchiching, and it is owned in that context rather than being a downtown building that happens to sit by water. It was built as a resort from the start, with a concert hall, restaurants, a spa and a golf course, and the buildings spread horizontally across open ground instead of stacking upward.

Because the site is large and rural, the parts sit side by side: rooms in one block, the concert hall in another, dining between them, and the golf course on its own ground. Internal walkways link the blocks so the complex works as one building in winter.

Lake Couchiching is the water beside it, part of the chain of lakes north of Toronto that carries the Trent-Severn waterway. Orillia is the nearest town, and beyond it the country turns to cottage land, forest and lake shore rather than suburb.