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The Pinnacle Of Simplicity

Under the minimalist calm, elemental excitement

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BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES A Noguchi chandelier hangs in the entry, its vertical shape contrasting with the horizontal lines of the railings, walls and exterior siding. Brazilian Ipe wood is used both inside and out. The lattice railing was designed by architect Philip Christophides in the same pattern and material as the fireplace screen. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES "I've come to appreciate the sky and the connection with outdoors. I could not have anticipated how much I'd love living here," says Melissa Steineger of the vast view from the home's top-floor living and dining area. She and Mark Hooper kept the focus on the design, with few accessories and not a single rug or drape. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Like teak, Ipe wood doesn't need a preservative coating. Used on the exterior of the house it acts as a rain screen, backed with commercial roofing material and set horizontally with space between each board. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Christophides describes the floor-to-ceiling fireplace wall, clad in blackened steel, as "totemic." The lattice screen soundlessly glides up over the steel backdrop, or down over the fire. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES A "window" in the stairwell offers a glimpse of the top-floor powder room. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES The master bedroom features a print by Mark Rothko, the artist who inspired the calm modernity of the house. The room has a cork floor for warmth, a deck large enough for sleeping outdoors in the summer, and a view nearly as large as the one from the floor above. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES The kitchen cabinets are maple, the countertop slate and the floor the same rich-toned Brazilian Ipe wood used on the exterior and some interior walls.

A PAINTING WAS the inspiration for a new house high in the Portland hills. It was also the determining factor in selecting an architect. Mark Hooper and Melissa Steineger chose Seattle architect Philip Christophides to design their house because he understood they "wanted it to feel quiet and transcendent" like a Mark Rothko painting, explained Hooper. "Philip got that immediately."

Because Hooper and Steineger are artists, a photographer and writer respectively, they gave Christophides free rein. "They always put the art of the house first," enthuses Christophides about the pair who, after 18 months in the new place, are still living lightly amidst the angles, the light and the magnificent view. "The structure is so beautiful, we want to leave it alone," says Hooper of their minimalist lighting and furnishings.

Hooper and Steineger lived in a little 1940s house on the site for several years before they tore it down to build the new, keeping within the original footprint. They preserved the old stone retaining walls and switchback steps that lead from the street below up to the house. The walls and their rough, mossy surface lend a patina to the new construction. Despite the home's cubist Modernism, it has an appealing asymmetrical vibe as it follows the contours of the trapezoid-shaped lot.

On a perch facing east toward the Willamette Valley, the new home rises three floors with expansive window walls designed to take in the scenery. The ground level houses a self-contained apartment with a media room, full bath and two bedrooms used as an office and guest room. The main entry, spacious master bedroom and bathroom fill the second floor.

It's when you walk up the open staircase to the top floor that the soaring, pristine simplicity of the house hits you. The kitchen, living, music and dining rooms flow together, all looking out to the river, bridges, mountains and city. Ceilings rise 15 feet, the deck is cantilevered out like a diving board, and the kitchen counters seem to float, dissolving in an infinity pool of light pouring in through all the glass. A floor-to-ceiling fireplace wall of blackened steel anchors the space.

Materials: the chosen few


Even though the Hooper/Steineger house is 3,700 square feet on three floors, the interiors flow together seamlessly. This is in large part because architect and owners restricted themselves to four materials repeated inside and out.

• Sustainably harvested Brazilian Ipe wood is lustrous and durable, which is why architect Philip Christophides used it for the floors in all the main rooms, stairway walls and stair treads, as well as on the exterior. The cork floor in the master bedroom, chosen for its warmth, breaks the pattern.

• Blond maple cabinetry lightens up the kitchen, bathrooms and music room.

• Blackened steel is used for the fireplace wall and for railings. Christophides chose it for its depth and richness, which he describes as "kind of ominous."

• The lead-colored slate, used for kitchen countertops, bathroom and entry floors, reads like the blackened steel, but with hints of deep green when the sun hits it.

"We used a prefab box of a fireplace, but clad it in steel to look totemic," explains Christophides. I dare any visitor not to be lured right over to glide the fireplace screen silently and smoothly on its clever counter-balance mechanism. Christophides designed both, and the tight lattice pattern of the screen is repeated on stair and deck railings.

How could an architect transform the notion of a painting into architecture? "Rothko canvases may be moody or joyous, but the surface is always calm, with contained emotion just one layer beneath it," Christophides explains. The shapes of the house are simple, with just a few materials repeated throughout. The only colors are taupe, khaki and sage paint on the walls, with wood, slate and steel in tones of black, blond and reddish brown. "Any kind of art is a process of reduction," says Christophides. "We got rid of the inessentials."

But underneath the quiet surface lies asymmetry, exciting vistas and the pulse of connections between the elements. Christophides completes the analogy: "Even though it's just a big box, there's a lot going on."

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.