Page 24 - International Architecture & Design Sotheby's Summer 2016

architecture
Above: Modest in its proportions, the single-storey house “is rooted in the landscape and the location,” architect Joe Herrin says. “It hunkers down in the middle of the property.”
A haven among towering conifers. Long south views
over a shimmering strait. What more do you need? Not much—and if you’re building in such a setting, you should step as lightly as possible. That was the answer of a young couple in Washington state when they commissioned a weekend house in Puget Sound. The house, by Seattle’s Heliotrope Architects, is modest in size but is designed with a sort of camouflage: wrapped in cedar and topped with a
green roof, the structure tries hard to disappear. “We wanted a building that [appeared] really subtle from the water,” the wife says. “We wanted to be respectful of our neighbours and the island and build something that really blended in.” The site is on Orcas Island, between the south tip of Vancouver Island and the mainland. Orcas Island is one of the San Juan Islands, which the U.S. government has
named a national monument. For this owner and her family, the island is rich with
memories: she went to camp there growing up, and she and her husband bought the property early in their courtship. They spent years camping on the site and got married there, in 2007, in an outdoor ceremony. It is “the most relaxing, tranquil place in the world,” she says.
Quiet materials and textures help the building blend in: the outer walls are wrapped in cedar shingles, and sliding barn doors were crafted of pale-stained cedar.
A green roof replaces lost habitat.
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