The problem? The property’s location, though lovely, was on a somewhat busy street that faced the late afternoon sun and fell victim to the punishing winds from the southwest.

Enter Heliotrope Architects: A Seattle-based firm that, according to co-founder and principal Joseph Herrin, is “[known for their] west-facing, Puget Sound and Olympic Mountain-view, house on a hill” aesthetics. One need only look at their portfolio rife with projects like the “Cascade Residence” to see that the group was up to the task.

The key was creating a home that was private enough to be secluded from street view, but open enough to enjoy the Pacific Northwest scenery. A house that blurred the lines between indoor and outdoor living without being too exposed, and a contemporary, stylish space that was still cozy enough to act as a family home.

Heliotrope met these challenges and then some. Through the use of more layered design, they managed to overcome the paradox of protecting the home from the elements while also welcoming them in with open arms. An open, water-facing dining and living area is tempered by deep overhangs, while “smaller, ‘punched’ windows provide more of a feeling of protection,” according to Herrin. As a result, the afternoon sun peeps in the windows just enough to reflect off the Sound for a “here comes the sun” feel that’s a welcome balm to those ever-cloudy Washington days.

The clients also wanted to enhance the “Fauntleroy” home’s sense of privacy without making it feel too sheltered. To address this, the firm built a sturdy cedar fence that’s virtually indistinguishable from its surroundings. The result is a quasi-courtyard formed from a clever combination of the fence, juxtaposed walls, hedges, and a water feature that not only creates a private space, but the perfect outdoor lounge.

Inside, the home’s theme of indoor/outdoor living is continued through ocean-facing rooms dominated by warm tones that make the perfect backdrop for the stunning views. White oak floors, floating wood benches, and a connecting garden/porch/side window further enhance the feeling of letting the outside in.

As for the outdoors, Heliotrope wanted to maximize the location’s beach proximity, so they created the perfect haven for going from porch to ocean and vice versa — an unfussy space exposed to the elements, yet elevated with creature comforts like an outdoor shower, fire pit, sauna, and wine bar. Best of all, the space sprouts organically from the main structure, a natural addition that also blends seamlessly with the scenery.

As Herrin says, “While there is a natural desire to open up to [the weather from the southwest], there is also a need to protect oneself from it.” Thanks to the Fauntleroy home’s thoughtful design, the occupants will undoubtedly be able to weather any storm for years to come.

The post This Puget Sound Home by Heliotrope Architects Effortlessly Blends In and Outdoor Living first appeared on Dornob.

Artist Jeanne Simmons reminds us of this simple truth with her stunning works of art rooted in nature. Based in Port Townsend, a picturesque town full of Victorian architecture on the northeast tip of Washington state’s wild Olympic Peninsula, Simmons takes inspiration from her locale and makes the most of the raw materials she’s able to find there. She (sometimes literally) weaves her human subjects together with their natural settings and composes photographs that capture this relationship in all its startling beauty.

“My goal is to express, as beautifully and as compellingly as I can, the contents of my inner world and imagination, as well as my preoccupation with the relationship between humans and nature,” Simmons explains. “With my work, I attempt to describe a connectedness between us and our environment that seems to have been all but forsaken. I hope to nurture this dynamic relationship, which is our birthright and obligation, and to perhaps even rekindle and reawaken a yearning for it in others. Simultaneously, I hope to satisfy my own need to embed myself in nature.”

“Women, for me, express the feeling of connectedness to nature in a way that I find poetic. And, since my models are, in a sense, my surrogates (as I wish that I could braid myself to the ground and document myself in that state, but cannot), it only makes sense that they should be women.”

The piece Simmons refers to here is entitled “Grass Cocoon,” in which her model, naturalist and bakes-maker Nicole Larson, is seen tucked into a french-braided cocoon of long grasses, her own braided hair weaving its way into the surrounding field. Another, “Lace Skirt,” shows the artist herself adorned in a skirt made of Queen Anne’s lace flowers.

“Womanscape” depicts a model laying at the base of a tree covered in English Ivy, wearing nothing more than a little moss and lichen. The piece came about when Simmons wondered “what would happen if I planted a seed in my belly button.”

Set on a famous hillside in Port Townsend, “Womanfall” reinterprets the natural phenomenon of the waterfall by cascading ribbons of a pale blue garment over 20 feet to the rocky shore below. “Katrina” sees a model of the same name dressed in a gown of kelp, which billows out all around her in the waters of the Puget Sound.

You can keep up with Simmons’ work on Instagram @jeanneksimmons, where she posts her latest projects. High-quality limited edition prints are available on her website.

The post Beautiful Land Art by Jeanne Simmons Celebrates our Connection to Nature first appeared on Dornob.

Witzling’s very first cabin, erected on a friend’s property, cost just $800 to build. With an experimental approach to building and no fear of taking risks, Witzling came up with ever more ornate designs. One 80-square-foot cabin made of salvaged lumber features an undulating cedar shake roof. Elsewhere, a tiny camper built into the back of a pickup truck boasts complex angles, skylights, and a lofted bed inside. A 200-square-foot diamond-shaped cabin on the couple’s land, with its pointed roof stretching toward the sky, might be one of the coolest things you’ll ever see in the woods. But nothing tops the Castle Cabin, a series of connected two-story structures measuring a total of 900 square feet.

The crown jewel of Cabinland took 18 months to build, with Witzling, Underwood, and some friends and family members doing most of the work themselves. Triangular dormers, one of Witzling’s signature elements, poke out of each mossy roof, while the walls are covered in cedar shingles. Short walkways connect each volume to the next, and a private courtyard is tucked away in the center. As you’d imagine, the complex geometries of the rooflines create some seriously gorgeous interior ceilings.

Prior to building the Castle Cabin, Witzling and Underwood occupied a series of other cabins on the property, sleeping in one and using another as a freestanding closet and dressing room. Now, the Castle functions as their private home. Details include doors made of red alder, railing made from salvaged red cedar that was once the subfloor of a collapsed shanty on the property, and all the stunning wood grain you could ever ask for on every interior surface. The couple shared their design and building process on YouTube, and it’s a fun watch.

“We’re so happy to finally be sharing our newest creation with you!” The duo writes on the Cabinland Instagram. “The Castle Cabin is our forever home and has been a sanctuary to us. It took us 18 months to construct from start to finish and there are so many people who helped along the way that we can’t possibly list them all here… thank you for your patience everyone as we waited for just the right time to unveil our work to you. We’ve already started working on more projects here in the rainforest as well as Cabinland 2.0 in the desert of the Southwest and we look forward to sharing everything with you.”

If you’re in love with these fairytale creations, there are lots more photos and videos to be found on Instagram, many of which prominently feature Underwood (model and former Playboy Playmate of the Year). You’re also going to want to check out their dreamy handmade wood-fired hot tub.

The post Handmade “Castle Cabin” Brings Fairytale Vibes to the Pacific Northwest first appeared on Dornob.

But that doesn’t mean rural architecture has to remain stuck in the past, either, even when it comes to the most basic of dwellings. For instance, the humble cabin is usually associated with rusticity, simplicity, and disconnection from all the distractions and complications of modern life. That usually translates to the use of natural materials in its construction, but when you really investigate the root of a cabin’s purpose, there’s simply nothing as important as the feeling of connection to nature it gives you. Aesthetics are secondary.

Today, it’s really no surprise that many contemporary cabin dwellers seeking that all-important immersion in the natural world are bringing their preferences for contemporary architecture along with them. And sometimes, the contrasts that come out of that are fascinating.

David Coleman Architecture recently completed “Bear Run Cabin” in Marblemount, Washington, a wooded, low-population area along the Skagit River in the northwest region of the state. Describing it as a “striking modern cabin,” the architects explain that they’ve put a lot of thought into how the year-round home interacts with its surroundings. Its angled rooflines are designed to mimic the North Cascades mountains, while the colors and materials make the most of the area’s rainy winters and sunny summers.

But above all else, the cabin’s defining feature is a long, narrow volume lined with green-tinted windows on one side, picking up some of the more vivid tones in the vegetation outside. At night, when it’s illuminated from within, it emits a gentle glow. This ‘studio’ measures 1000 square feet and contains a music room, workshop, and guest loft, while the 890-square-foot cabin holds a great room, bath, and sleeping loft.

The firm explains that the cabin “has a big presence in a big landscape. Surrounded by dramatic, distant peaks, the site slopes gently to the east and overlooks a large woodlot. Our clients wanted a building that had presence in and subservience to the wild landscape. This duality became the thematic tag that informed the design.”

“The building site is marked by a 30-foot by 100-foot perimeter. Two buildings are juxtaposed within this footprint in a yin/yang fashion, leaving a sinuous exterior space that is defensible and varied. The western terrace is carved into the site, stepping down into the earth, leading toward a soaking tub set behind a glass wall. The south-eastern porch and monumental stair, both covered by a soaring roof, rise above the site, offering shelter from the rain and summer sun. Both spaces meet in an interstitial ‘rain garden’ – a place where seasonal rains gather and flow toward the river below.”

The post Translucent Modern Cabin Lights Up the Cascades first appeared on Dornob.

Built by principal architect James Cutler for his own use, the outbuilding is located just down a damp, verdant trail from his home, on a tiny plot formerly occupied by an old tool shed. He tore it down himself and commissioned his 12-year-old daughter to help him lay the concrete foundation and build the framing out of rough-sawn Douglas firs from a local sawmill. In the beginning, he envisioned the cabin as a design studio for himself that could double as a bunkhouse for his daughter and her friends.

To this end, the studio is highly adaptable. Though it measures a mere 80 square feet, it enjoys a feeling of spaciousness aided by generous glazing and multiple fold-away surfaces built by a local craftsman. One of the platforms tucked into the rear of the structure functions as a bunk bed. The other is a long, narrow desk that runs along the front windows for tranquil and inspiring views of the woods beyond the glass. A wood stove perches atop built-in storage in one corner.

According to the architects, the bunk beds fold up on traction struts. When both the beds and the desks are folded, the room opens up, becoming a prime spot for Cutler’s poker nights. But one thing the architect didn’t anticipate during the building process was the fact that his whole family would end up using the cabin as a living room, trekking down the 30-foot walkway rain or shine to get there. The fact that they have to pass through the outdoors for access enhances the secluded feel of the building, as well as the family’s connection to the island setting.

Cutler left the interior framing lumber and exterior shiplap framing exposed for a rustic look, and placed “shingles” cut from Corten steel over rigid insulation to sheath it. The amber tones of the steel blend in with the warm, textural trunks of the cedar and madrone trees surrounding the structure.

The tiny cabin even acts as an off-grid getaway during power outages, which aren’t uncommon in this windswept setting outside Seattle. Cutler installed four kilowatts worth of batteries and an inverter behind the rolling file cabinets, which power the lights, television, and a small refrigerator.

For Cutler’s daughter, the ability to have sleepovers with friends in a private space separate from her parents is a preteen dream come true. Who among us wouldn’t want a multipurpose backyard studio like this for reading, napping, creating, and socializing?

The post Waterfront Bunkhouse in Washington Designed for Verdant Preteen Sleepovers first appeared on Dornob.

These “gaps” can take the form of bulky and impersonal buildings, vacant lots cleared for projects that never materialized, or any other combination of no-man’s lands. CityCenterDC is located on a 10-acre site that quite recently comprised of all three of these things. Since 1974, the site was home to the old Washington Convention Center, which itself was demolished in 2004 for a project that stalled because of the 2008 financial crisis. That, in turn, led it to becoming a placeless spot to park intercity buses for a few years.

In 2013, the funds were finally secured for CityCenterDC. The result is not quite the inverse of paradise being replaced by a parking lot, but it is nevertheless a net positive one.

The site’s evolution from urban gap to LEED Gold certified Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) began with the architects at Foster + Partners, who created a masterplan of smaller lots by reinstating the alleys that originally existed on the site during the 18th century (when Washington’s L’Enfant Plan was developed). Splitting the block into smaller segments was a strategy intended to draw people into the site’s interior courtyards, and it also allowed the architects to treat each corner as a distinct section rather than treating the whole thing like one monolithic block.

Incorporating a mix of LEED Silver certified residences by Shalom Baranes Associates, offices by Foster + Partners, and landscape architecture by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, CityCenterDC’s walkable, human scale makes it a very approachable project. The spaces between buildings no longer seem like canyons of metal, glass, and terracotta panels. The small avenues permit sunlight to enter and brighten up even the most interior of units. The buildings have multilevel heights, with green roofs and storm water systems giving the project a resting feel. It’s not hard to see why CityCenterDC has become a desirable place to live for politicians.

The project is also looking forward to a 360-room hotel designed by Herzog & de Meuron, which is expected to open in 2019.

As much as CityCenterDC has received sustainable approval, not everyone is so convinced that it functions as a neighborhood. A 2014 article critiqued it as just another fake and faceless development in a world that’s become a “grid of generic places.” Even though the project is not something that tourists would travel thousands of miles to see, and even though its interior streets are not on par with Barcelona’s La Rambla, CityCenterDC still undeniably adds quality to the city — especially when you compare it to what was formerly in its place. If anything, the architects should be praised for not designing a project purely for media and tourist consumption.

A place that attracts locals with art installations, an igloo, a farmer’s market, and group activities is definitely a place worth building. Sure, there are many similar developments in other cities that simply don’t work, but CityCenterDC is not that place. It is a well-proportioned and well programmed project that fills a gap.

The post How CityCenterDC Filled a Gap in the Nation’s Capital first appeared on Dornob.

On the site where his grandmother’s house once stood in the woods of Longbranch, Washington, architect Jim Olson of Olson Kundig has built his dream cabin. A serene getaway in the mist overlooking the Puget Sound, the cabin has been continuously remodeled since Olson first began working on it in 1959, with the architect updating and expanding it about once per decade. The simplicity of the stacked-box configuration puts the focus on the retreat’s natural surroundings.

Cabin at Longbranch began as a 14-square-foot bunkhouse, built by Olson himself at the age of eighteen. Today, it’s a relaxing residence tucked among ancient fir trees, with steel columns supporting the exposed roof structure and fir flooring that extends beyond the glass to become outdoor decking. Olson stuck to simple, readily available materials.

Each time he makes changes to Cabin at Longbranch, Olson reuses and reintegrates materials from the existing structure, building up layers of weathered wood and metal that contrast with newer additions. Two main wings telescope out toward the water, nearly all of the walls glazed to blur the lines between outdoors and in.

“Strategically placed sliding doors, windows and a domed skylight over the bed provide constant contact with nature,” says the architect. “The design accommodates three mature trees that have been allowed to grow through openings in the deck, one of which exits through an opening in the roof.”

The post Home of a Starchitect: Cabin at Longbranch by Olson Kundig first appeared on Dornob.

The urge to leave the ground and live among the trees has stricken many of us, and a lucky few get to live out that dream. Small-living enthusiast and author Foster Huntingdon is living out his dreams in a treehouse among the wooded mountains of Skamania, Washington, and it even comes with its own private skate park.

Huntingdon – blogger, photographer, and author of Home is Where You Park It – lived in a roving trailer for three years before packing it in and building his stationary home on a plot of his family’s land. He calls it the Cinder Cone, a term that means “a steep conical hill of tephra (volcanic debris) that accumulates around and downwind from a volcanic vent.”

As you can tell, this is no ordinary home. This is two tiny buildings and an observation platform all suspended off of the ground on three tall Douglas Fir Trees. Each tree is connected via foot bridges that allow for easy movement between them.

Both of the buildings are a scant 220 square feet; one is Huntingdon’s personal home and the other is a guest house. And he won’t have any shortage of guests – his friends and family pitched in to help him bring his dream to life so will no doubt spend plenty of time enjoying it with him.

On the ground, several hot tubs dot the landscape around the treehouses. But the home’s most unique feature has to be the impressive skatebowl dug out of the hill and finished with reinforced concrete. Making this lifelong dream come true didn’t come cheaply – Huntingdon estimates the project’s cost at somewhere around $170,000 – but if we had the money and resources to build something this grand and impressive, we’d do it in a heartbeat.

“For me, it’s realizing a childhood dream,” Huntingdon told The New York Times in a piece called “Escape to Bro-topia.”

The post Wild Treehouse in Washington Comes with a Private Skate Park first appeared on Dornob.

If you could fill a sizable $4 million house with anything that makes you happy, what would you choose? The owners of this West Bellevue House in Washington certainly figured out what their own priorities are: housing and admiring sixteen cars in a central garage that basically acts as a gallery space, with the actual living spaces seeming almost like an afterthought.

The garage entrance leads into a large, high-ceilinged room with the feel of a place of worship crossed with an automobile showroom. The clearly revered vehicles have their very own car lift and workshop. The entire home was built around showcasing, accommodating and moving the luxury cars around. Check out the central portico where we can only presume the owner places his favorite car of the moment. Do you think he rotates through all of them, giving them equal time in the special spot that’s highly visible to the sitting room?

The owners can gaze upon their most treasured possessions from behind the sliding glass doors that lead to the living room and kitchen, even while cooking. If you spent that much money on such a large number of luxury cars, you might want to keep a steady eye on them, too.

But it does kind of seem like all of this elevation of automobiles leaves the rest of the house in the dust, design-wise. With only two bedrooms and a material palette that feels – appropriately enough – like the showroom at your local mid-level car dealership, it seems like this space is less of a residence and more of an inhabitable garage. Definitely one of the weirder houses we’ve seen.

So who would want to own such a place? Seattle Bubble did some sleuthing, and it turns out, this extraordinary house is owned by local hotel magnate Rodney Olson, former President and CEO of WestCoast Hotels (now called Red Lion Hotels). Unsurprisingly, he’s also a major car aficionado. His own personal automobile palace was built in 2008.

The post Two Bedroom House with a 16-Car Garage first appeared on Dornob.

Tucked into a hillside between boulders and camouflaged with stone hues and a green roof, this home on San Juan Island in Washington State almost seems to disappear into the landscape from certain angles. A wall of windows provides expansive views of the scenery, with operable glass panels providing access to an outdoor terrace.

Olson Kunding Architects cut out portions of the existing rock at the building site to insert the residence, fitting it in like a puzzle piece and leaving the excavation marks from drills and blasts visible on the stonework of the house.

The rock remains a major architectural feature of the interior, and some rooms have raw walls and ceilings, giving them a cave-like feel. The interior and exterior fireplaces are carved from the stone, and even the sink in the master bathroom consists of a series of hollowed-out basins.

The home also features lots of huge operable windows that open certain areas up to the outdoors, as well as some hidden delights, like secret doors disguised as bookcases.

All of this, along with the location in the Salish Sea between Washignton and British Columbia, give the home the atmosphere of a secret lair.

“The owner’s affection for a stone outcropping on her property inspired the design of this house. Conceived as a retreat nestled into the rock, the Pierre (the French word for stone) celebrates the materiality of the site. From certain angles, the house—with its rough materials, encompassing stone, green roof, and surrounding foliage—almost disappears into nature.”

“To set the house deep into the site, portions of the rock outcropping were excavated through machine work and handwork. Excavated rock was re-used as crushed aggregate in the concrete flooring. Excavation marks were left exposed on all the stonework, a reminder of the building process.”

“Throughout the house, the rock extrudes into the space, contrasting with the luxurious textures of the furnishings. Interior and exterior fireplace hearths are carved out of existing stone; leveled on top, they are otherwise left raw. The master bathroom’s sink is composed of water cascading through three polished pools in the existing stone. Both the entry sequence and a powder room are fully carved out of the rock.”

The post Camouflaged Concrete: Hill House Blends Into Landscape first appeared on Dornob.

Like something out of a classic storybook – or modern zombie movie, perhaps – the stairs leading up too this treehouse retreat can be pulled up mechanically to isolate the home and upper deck (both a full floor above the ground), in turn letting residents sleep tight inside and worry less when away.

Located along the Hood Canal in western Washington state, this towering vacation cabin by Castanes Architects is only eight hundred square feet, but feels massive thanks to its tall multi-story interior and huge waterfront-facing windows.

The exterior is comprised clear-sealed cedar and fiber cement panels while the interior features light birch plywood, raw spiral concrete-and-metal stairs and stainless steel details.

From within, the sharp-angled front seems to carve a clearing through the trees to create space for forward views, drawing inside eyes ever outward, while two-story architectural elements tie the first and second stories together, visually connecting the entire space.

More from the architects

“This angular vacation cabin, all 800 sf of it, serves as an accessible weekend retreat for an active professional couple who jet off to Japan professionally, and race bicycles in velodromes in their spare time. Nestled deep in a ravine within steps of the Hood Canal waterfront, the cabin is perched on four massive concrete columns and accessed by a motorized stair that can be lifted like a drawbridge for security when the owners are away. Light floods into the living spaces through a Mondrian-inspired corner window yielding 16′ high views of forest tree trunks and the placid waters of the Canal.”

“The escapist yearnings of the clients are reflected in the unusual material choices – clear-sealed cedar siding abuts eggplant-hued fiber cement panels on the exterior. Brought inside, the same eggplant paint contrasts elegantly with clear-sealed birch plywood panels. These panels are fixed to the walls with stainless steel finish screws and washers, yielding a subtle sparkling pattern in geometric counterpart to the figured grain of the plywood. A galvanized steel stair wraps around a monolithic concrete column, giving access to the two sleeping lofts. The repetitive lines of the eastern maple railings are integrated into the two-story bookcase and the kitchen casework. The compact kitchen features an expanse of copper counter flowing smoothly into integrally formed sink bowls; the work counter can be lowered by screw jack to dining height.”

The post Drawbridge-Style Stairs Lift Up to Secure Treehouse Retreat first appeared on Dornob.