Located on a rocky, wind-swept south facing shoreline; this retreat home nestles into the landscape to harmonize with its surroundings and minimize exposure to weather. The home is a vacation retreat for a family of four, who desired a low-impact home with a strong connection to land and sea. The design solution utilizes a simple ‘wedge’ shape geometry, mimicking the hillside slope beyond, and is tucked into a natural depression in the shoreline in order to diminish its visual impact. Living spaces open up completely on north (garden) and south (water) sides via a custom lift-slide door system. Bedrooms focus primarily on the more private, forested slope to the west and the kitchen opens onto an adjacent a rock promontory to the east. Due to the extreme weather exposure of the site, major openings are paired with rolling wall panels to protect them from punishing winter storms, as well as to provide security when unoccupied. The finish palette consists of local materials including douglas fir (floors, trim), western red cedar (siding, wall and ceiling cladding) and pacific madrone (furniture).
Program: A 2000 square foot vacation retreat located on a 15 acre wooded site littered with glacial ledge in Washington’s San Juan islands to accommodate two sisters and their spouses. Design: Our clients had long envisioned developing a cluster of buildings on the site, carefully sited to preserve the rugged, natural landscape. In keeping with this vision, we endeavored to create a modern rendition of the “summer camp,” complete with sleeping pavilions, a great room and covered porches, all inspired by the platform tents and national park lodges of the late 19th century.
Our clients for this project have been traveling regularly to Doe Bay Resort on Orcas Island for two decades. Now with two young children they have formalized their affection for the place by purchasing property located a short walk from the resort. We were challenged to design a modest cabin in size and cost (but not in character) that captures the spirit of this place while reflecting the Japanese and Chinese heritage of the owners.
This residence is located on a northwesterly oriented beach fronting the Strait of Georgia. The site includes many second-growth douglas firs, a beech grove and a grassy meadow with good solar exposure. For over a thousand years this site was a summer camp location for the Lummi Indians, and due to its archeological significance, no footing excavation could take place on the site. Further, its location in a federally designated flood plain required that the structure be raised off the ground several feet. The design brief called for a very low-impact, easy to maintain summer home that provides necessary programmatic functions with minimum distractions from the land and the view.
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