Practicing ArchitectureAwards

2010 AIA Housing Award Recipient

Category 1: One and Two-Family Custom Residences

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Notes of Interest

Approaching the rural site, a clearing briefly reveals the Port Townsend Residence in the distance, spanning the end of a long meadow framed by forest. After winding through dense woods, the drive opens to the home’s entry, where wood screens obscure the distant views. The path to the house steps up and turns onto the breezeway deck, where the full nature of the site is finally revealed as the view focuses over the edge of a high bluff to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with Protection Island and beyond.

A line of exposed steel structure and a series of wood columns extend the length of the slender building, supporting wood beams and rafters. The primary spaces of the home are to the west of the steel structure, oriented to expansive views from the Olympic Peninsula to Washington’s northern islands. At the bedrooms, canted window bays optimize the view toward the Olympic Mountains. Alongside is a lower volume clad in reclaimed barnwood with openings framing forest and meadow.

Varied materials, from refined to rustic, reduce the scale of the building and define each volume. Sustainability was a strong consideration from site strategies through rainwater harvesting, selection of materials, natural ventilation, and sun shading. Louvers provide solar shading at the high south windows and a long canopy provides a deep overhang at lower windows.