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Outdoor Lover’s Dream Home in the Cascade Mountain Foothills
An architect designs a modern Pacific Northwest home for enjoying nature, the sun and the seasons
A retired aerospace engineer from Everett, Washington, who’s an avid hiker and nature observer wanted a simple, modern home with interesting architecture that was close to the mountains and focused on landscape views and access to trails. He also wanted it to be a place where he could read, reflect and relax. His search led him to a 10-acre site about an hour northeast of Seattle. Though he’s not a horse enthusiast, the site is surrounded by horse properties and an equestrian center, in a meadow with views of the Cascade Range.
In addition to a single bedroom and bathroom, the house includes a living room, dining area, a study used as an office and a workshop where the homeowner does woodworking. Coleman says the home was designed to be energy-efficient. It has a small footprint, is well-insulated, has high-efficiency glazing for the doors and windows, an on-demand water system and utilizes a mini-split heat pump system.
Mini-splits are ductless and the U.S. Department of Energy estimates they can reduce electricity use by about 50% compared with furnaces and baseboard heaters. “We minimized energy demand and the footprint as much as possible,” Coleman says.
Mini-splits are ductless and the U.S. Department of Energy estimates they can reduce electricity use by about 50% compared with furnaces and baseboard heaters. “We minimized energy demand and the footprint as much as possible,” Coleman says.
The homeowner requested several porches where he could relax and read, so the team created this dramatic triangular corner with an open oculus in the roof, allowing for both shade and sun on the porch below. “He liked the idea of having several porches that had an unusual feel and quality to them,” Coleman says. “He wanted something really playful, that was one of the biggest criteria.”
The oculus porch also serves as a passive solar design feature. “Having the oculus porch facing south gave us the opportunity to have a wall of glass and a big overhang to reduce solar radiation in summer,” Coleman says.
The porch’s eye-catching design was a natural extension of the home’s theme. “It worked in nicely with the geometry of the building and created a visual feature,” Coleman says. “It’s nice because sun penetrates that opening so you get nice patterns of light and the way it throws shadows.”
The porch’s eye-catching design was a natural extension of the home’s theme. “It worked in nicely with the geometry of the building and created a visual feature,” Coleman says. “It’s nice because sun penetrates that opening so you get nice patterns of light and the way it throws shadows.”
The homeowner wanted an interior courtyard where he could be inside, protected from the elements, and grow plants. The architects utilized windows of varying sizes on all sides to accommodate natural light and views.
Dramatic angles and a multitude of windows dominate this space inside the house between the living area and interior courtyard and the oculus porch outside.
Light enters the home through the interior courtyard windows in this photo. When designing the house, Coleman gave thought to how the house would interact with light, a basic philosophy of his firm’s projects. “The theme of our work is light, place and time, so we’re always exploring daylight and the way it interacts with a building,” he says.
The home’s floor plan shows how the structure has two parts. The left side encompasses the living room, kitchen, dining room, interior courtyard and the oculus porch. On the right is the bedroom wing, which also includes a bathroom, laundry, studio, study-office and another porch. The entry porch is off the car court at the top of the plan.
“To create an offset grid with the structure, we set the structure at an angle to a rectangle,” Coleman says. “By doing that we created in a simple envelope much more dynamic geometric conditions inside the house, which really lends the building a more dramatic feel.”
“To create an offset grid with the structure, we set the structure at an angle to a rectangle,” Coleman says. “By doing that we created in a simple envelope much more dynamic geometric conditions inside the house, which really lends the building a more dramatic feel.”
This view shows the living-dining area and kitchen, with the glassed-in interior courtyard on the right. White oak flooring and simple furnishings help define the home’s minimal aesthetic. The tall white cabinets on the far side of the photo are used for storing coats, and beyond that is the bedroom wing.
The kitchen is open and efficient, with a bank of cabinets and a built-in refrigerator against the wall and a large quartzite-topped island with a sink and a range.
The 12-foot-long island also includes a dishwasher and microwave, and has plenty of storage, with painted cabinets trimmed in oak on either side of the stove and sink.
Here’s a view from the kitchen toward the interior courtyard and beyond to the outdoors. “The owner wanted everything to be oriented to looking out toward the views,” Coleman says.
The architects considered the movement of the sun and vantage points when orienting the building. They carried one of the walls behind the envelope of the building to create privacy. “It gets nice west sunlight hitting the wall, and still privacy from the road,” Coleman says.
Here are the home’s elevation diagrams, which show the planning that went into sunlight and views. During the design stage, Coleman says, he spent a lot of time walking the site, planning the shape and angle of the house. “We really designed the house from what you’d experience from different vantage points and what rooms would be adjacent to those points,” he says.
This porch off the bedroom wing is an example of how the team planned for views depending on the time of day. “The porch on the east side is a great place in the morning for coffee and looking into the field,” Coleman says.
Two large hanging barn doors separate the bedroom from a hallway. The fixed wood section between the doors is the bed’s headboard.
The bathroom consists of a single wet-room-style shower and no tub. A glass panel stretches to the tall ceiling, helping keep the space light and bright.
Also in the bedroom wing is the study-office. The horizontal south-facing slot window stretches across the wall and is at just the right level to frame the view when sitting at the desk.
The home’s siding is fiber cement composite shiplap from James Hardie’s Aspyre Collection. The durable material resists rot, moisture and pests. While the home is of a modern design, Coleman feels that, like his firm’s other projects, it won’t go out of style.
“We’re creating a sense of place, so the buildings are dynamic but at the same time quiet,” he says. “They’re not screaming out and full of trendy materials and details. We’ve always strived to create architecture that has a timeless quality so it’s modern but won’t look dated 10 years from now.”
“We’re creating a sense of place, so the buildings are dynamic but at the same time quiet,” he says. “They’re not screaming out and full of trendy materials and details. We’ve always strived to create architecture that has a timeless quality so it’s modern but won’t look dated 10 years from now.”
In addition to being able to reside in such a beautiful natural setting, Coleman says the owner is pleased with the structure’s varied geometry. “He’s always discovering new dramatic spaces or alignments he didn’t expect — the way light enters the building, at different times of the year how light strikes the walls in different ways. He’s kind of an observer. He loves to be there and look out and follow the seasons.”
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House at a Glance
Who lives here: A retired aerospace engineer
Location: Sultan, Washington
Size: About 1,500 square feet (139 square meters) of indoor living space; one bedroom, one bathroom, plus three outdoor porches that bring the total space to about 2,000 square feet (186 square meters) on 10 acres
Architect: David Coleman / Architecture
Builder: SBI Construction
The homeowner hired architect David Coleman to create a modern home with dramatic angles, multiple porches, numerous windows and expansive views. Coleman’s team was tasked with creating a modest-size home in a large setting. “One challenge of a site like this is that you’re creating a little building in a giant landscape,” Coleman says. “How do you do that where the building has a suitable presence?”