The existing house had a commanding view of Puget Sound from West Seattle, as did the office above the detached garage. To complete the compound, Melissa Evans envisioned an overarching design and collaborated with architect Rick Hiner and Schultz Miller. The result: a modern studio, separated from the garage by a terrace with a small, infinity-edge swimming pool. Water from the swimming pool cascades into a lower pool, seeming to follow the wooded hillside down to the ocean below. A wood deck juts out from the studio, appearing almost to hang in mid-air. After sunset, there’s another kind of view, a movie projected onto the newly stuccoed south wall of garage from a projector housed inside the studio. Together the studio and outdoor living areas create a vacation feel in the middle of the city.

Architect: Richard Hiner Architects
Designer: Melissa Evans, MUP
Photos: Will Austin