Spec, But Special
Kirkland's west-of-Market neighborhood
Architects: Tim Rhodes and Annalee Akahoshi of Rhodes Architecture + Light
Builder: Chris Coddington of Gabriele Homes
Construction cost: $575,000 |
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| Above left:Set into the second-floor sitting area is a window that provides both
a skylight for the entry and a peek-a-boo view from above. |
The intent: "Most people live in houses built from 'kit' plans detailed by the builder," observes Tim Rhodes. But he wondered: Could a for-sale house be "as complex and fulfilling a project as a house designed around a kitchen table with a family who will live in the spaces?" He decided the answer was a challenging yes. And thus this home is a rare bird indeed - an architect-designed speculative, or "for sale," house - and one that, because of high land costs in its choice view neighborhood, would command a final price tag well over $1 million. Convinced that stock floor plans aren't a good fit for how families really live, Rhodes decided this 3,000 square-foot home wouldn't have a strictly delineated living room, family room, entertainment room and den but rather flowing main-floor spaces set apart by elevation. Also out was a space-wasting two-story "grand" entry. But convinced that buyers would have a practical wish list, in were four second-story bedrooms, three bathrooms and formal dining space. Also in was flexibility. A street-facing library can be used as an office, as can a main-floor guest bedroom that has its own entry. And atop an alley-facing detached garage is a separate 500-square-foot space that could be anything from an artist's studio to a self-contained family room. Individualistic touches, including lots of warm wood built-ins, custom metal trim and a skylight in the entry ceiling (also the second story's floor), helped sell the house almost immediately. "For a spec house it really has the feeling of a custom home," said one judge.
Bear Creek Retreat
A view of the west-facing living room, which offers views of woods and wetlands, shows architect Rex Hohlbein's love of mixed materials and exposed structural elements. |
Redmond
Architects: Rex Hohlbein and Matt Waddington of Rex Hohlbein Architects
Builder: Odyssey Construction
Construction cost: $1,174,000 |
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The intent: With their secluded six acres and million-dollar construction budget, the family that commissioned this house could have had a marble-mansion estate. Instead they chose what the judges praised as an unassuming but visually exciting modern "farmhouse." Because the owners deeply love the property's diversity - it has pasture, orchard, forest and a creek - Rex Hohlbein made a special effort in siting and designing the home to frame its various views. Indeed, every room has one. That explains why the structure is long and thin, stretching an uncommon 95 feet along the contours of a slope. Its ambience was driven by the owners' love of natural materials and spatial variety. They "requested `a tree house feeling of spaces' that could open up and take you visually to the outdoors," Hohlbein explains. They also wanted very tall ceilings in some areas and lower, more intimate ones in others. Placed next to each other, the varied heights add considerable drama. In keeping with another desire - the use of earthy materials - the home's exterior is Western red cedar board and batten, while its inside features include antique radiators, recycled beams and refurbished wide-plank Douglas fir flooring. Although it has just three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, the house is large: 4,391 square feet, plus another 943 square feet for a detached garage and pottery studio. But rather than having grandiose rooms, there are many spaces to serve the family's many activities. Thus there's a library, an art room, a sewing room and various nooks and crannies for reading or playing. "One thing that sets this house apart," decided one judge, "is the consistency of its detail. It's unselfconscious."
An Arboretum Treehouse
From the street the house appears ready to take flight. The exterior walls are stained fiber-cement board siding punctuated by metal banding. To the right is the carport. |
Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood
Architects: Peter Bohlin, Robert Miller and Steve Mongillo of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architecture Planning Interior Design
Builder: Eric Thorsen Construction
Construction cost: $520,000 |
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The intent: Three stories tall, with an eagle's-nest view of the Washington Park Arboretum treetops, this slender house is a bold study in materials and detail. The shed roof is painted steel; the siding is stained fiber-cement board. The floors are cork or concrete; the kitchen counters are the same black material used in skateboard parks. An entry window is opaque polycarbonate. Because steel support beams are exposed, as are parts of the framing, the home's skeleton also functions as a design feature. And then there's wood - lots of it - used extensively for maple trim panels, several sliding interior "barn doors" and a front door of bubinga. That's a tropical hardwood found in Cameroon, Africa, where the door was custom-made. This "extraordinary attention to detail" wowed the judges, one of whom said that rich palate of details working together gave the home "a lively quality." The owners are a couple with grown children whose previous home was a five-bedroom, antique-filled traditional. This time the couple wanted something that looked and felt very, very different. "They had a real interest in everyday materials used in creative, innovative says," says Steve Mongillo. Adds the husband: "I was looking for what you have in great architecture, which is great spaces and lots of texture." But the great spaces are strictly on their terms. There's a tiny kitchen, a living/dining space, just one bedroom (a loft overlooking the living room), but two offices. A carport rather than a garage would do nicely. But a mail-sorting nook (complete with one of those barn doors) was an absolute must. The house is 2,182 square feet.
'A Thing of Beauty'
A view of the living room illustrates the geometric shapes and high-quality touches, such as the built-in cabinetry, found throughout the house. The irregularly shaped pop-out of metal-framed window walls was custom designed for
the piano. |
Yarrow Point
Architects: Lane Williams and Jill Lewis of Lane Williams Architects
Builder: Joseph McKinstry Construction
Construction cost: $915,000 |
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The intent: In designing this 5,000 square-foot residence, its owners, a young family, "focused on thinking seriously about living with the house and how it needs to function through time and on every level," explains Lane Williams. "The house was designed to last a lifetime." In practice that meant orienting the C-shaped home not to the Lake Washington view but inward to a central courtyard where the very private family can relax and share meals. At one end of the courtyard is the two-story house; the second-floor children's area is designed for bedroom sharing while they're young, then there's a full bedroom suite in the basement, possibly for future teen-age use. Across the courtyard is a one-story guest residence used now by visiting family members and perhaps in the future by the owners should they no longer be able to climb stairs. Connecting the two spaces are the garage and spacious media room. The husband, in particular, had a clear concept of what the house should feel like: "contemporary, clean, open and it should be a thing of beauty that's attractive from all angles. And we wanted a flowing space that would work for us." Williams punched up the main floor's open floor plan by varying floor heights and adding numerous angles and alcoves. Materials are a combination of industrial and luxe; warm mahogany built-in living room cabinetry juxtaposes with commercial-grade aluminum window units. Exterior materials include concrete masonry walls and metal roofing. The end result, said one judge was an wonderfully crafted, elegantly detailed contemporary house.
Rooms with Roles
The owners wanted an open floor plan suitable for entertaining. Seen from the living room are the dining area, which leads to an outdoor eating area, and the kitchen. Overhead is an open corridor connecting the bedrooms. |
Kirkland's west-of-Market neighborhood
Architects: Ben Trogdon and Alex Rhode of Ben Trogdon Architects
Builder: Truppi's Finer Homes
Construction cost: $585,000 |
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The intent: Turn a 1948 Roman-brick rambler into a sophisticated home tailored to the owners' numerous needs. Among them: indoor and outdoor areas for entertaining, a wheelchair-accessible main floor (including guest room) to serve the needs of an extended family member. They also wanted a second-floor addition with a master suite, plus children's bedrooms for the family they plan to have. A bonus wish: that the new second story capture views of Lake Washington, downtown Seattle and the Olympics. Overlaying all this, owners Brad Weed and Susan Pappalardo asked their architects for "a house you could interpret from the outside . . . so when you walked up the street you could articulate that it wasn't just a box," says Weed, "but that there were different rooms that served different roles. So many houses look one way from the outside, then you get inside and they say something entirely different." In practice, this meant elongating the house, thanks to a double lot that also allows for an outdoor dining area tied to the home by a stylish trellis. This area wowed the judges. `This was very well done; it looked appealing," said one. The added second story has two "towers." One contains a nook made just for drinking in that view; the other is the master suite above the newly expanded kitchen. By modulating both the height and facade, the home clearly shows it has multiple functions. Inside, Weed says they wanted "a house that was easy to navigate, where it's obvious how the spaces functioned and worked together." Thus the main floor is open but carefully configured so the various spaces - including cooking, computing, relaxing, dining - are both easily understandable and visually exciting. A generous use of wood and stone, plus lots of windows, give the home a strong Northwest contemporary feel. Formerly 2,640 square feet, it's now 4,965 square feet.
Ingeniously Romantic
The large kitchen is well suited for
entertaining and shows the owners' love of traditional design elements. The box-beam ceiling and hanging light fixture are two examples. |
Kirkland's west-of-Market neighborhood
Architects: Martin Moberg, Gary Epstein and Carl Dominguez of Moberg Epstein Architects
Builder: TeVelde Construction
Construction cost: $965,000 |
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The intent: The young owners knew they were home the minute they found this property. Almost 30,000 square feet, with a view of Lake Washington, it was lushly landscaped. But the existing house was too small. So in its place evolved a "Northwest Craftsman" that tested the architects' ingenuity. First, the owners wanted two stories under a steeply pitched roof. But local building codes limited building height to 25 feet. The architects' solution: They located the three-car garage partially below grade in the basement and limited the width of the home's second floor to 20 feet. As a result, the home had to be longer to accommodate all the spaces the owners desired. To break up this long mass and make it more welcoming, the ridge of the garage runs perpendicular to the ridge of the house, with the two sections joined by a skylit mudroom. The 4,500 square feet of living space includes four bedrooms, four baths, an office, playroom, reading alcove and meditation room. The main floor centers on a two-story great room, flanked on one side by the kitchen, on the others by the dining room, the library and a flat-roofed sunroom. Why a flat roof? Because during construction the architects discovered that area makes a swell view deck. And that explains how the circular staircase in the great room came to be. As one judge said, "This is a very romantic house."
Vacation Pavilions
To develop his idea of a vacation compound, rather than a traditional cabin, Coleman designed the
structure as three connected
pavilions. A rear view here shows the two bedroom pavilions and,
in the foreground, the pavilion
that contains the living room. |
Orcas Island
Architect: David Coleman of David Coleman Architects
Builder: Mark Edmonds
Construction cost: $450,000 |
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The intent: For a vacation getaway, Jonathan and Carole Buchter of Cleveland, Ohio, had long envisioned developing a cluster of buildings on their 15 wooded acres near the center of Orcas Island. But Coleman convinced them otherwise, arguing not just that individual structures would be expensive, but that he could design the spirit of what they wanted into a single building. "Our intent," says Coleman, "was to create a modern rendition of the 'summer camp,' " complete with two sleeping pavilions, a great room and a sun porch - all inspired by the platform tents and national-park lodges of the late 19th century. Thus this 2,000 square-foot house is in fact three connected rooms - the "pavilions" - set at gentle angles to each other. Two are bedrooms. Each has fir built-ins and freestanding wardrobes and is oriented outward to vistas of a forested valley. The third and largest pavilion contains the kitchen, dining area and living room. This space has a vaulted ceiling, heated concrete floors and a two-sided concrete block fireplace that separates the living and dining areas. Tying these pavilions together is a long spine, or loggia, which has a reading nook at one end and a study on the other. While the three pavilions are cement stucco on the exterior and plain painted walls inside, the loggia is almost all wood. One judge, who lives part time in the San Juan Islands, confided he was unsure of this house at first. But it won him over because "it looks like it fits into the islands."
Real-World Remodel
Architect Mitch Yockey doubled the home's square footage by adding a second story
and enlarging the rear of the house, which contains living and dining areas. Left to right
are the main-floor guest room, entry and kitchen; bedrooms are above. |
Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood
Architect: Mitch Yockey of David Vandervort Architects
Builder: John Breyer of Lakeland Builders
Construction cost: $265,000 |
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The intent: When the owner of this house married recently, she and her new husband intended to sell both their homes and buy anew. But everything within their budget needed a lot of work. So they changed direction. If a remodel was their fate, why not upgrade her house - all 970 square feet of it - and stay in the neighborhood they loved? The result impressed the judges with its affordability. As one said, "We all like to go look at a $2 million house, but then we come home and think, what can we do with our $200,000?" To stay within budget, this redo was a true remodel, not a teardown, and the owners did some work themselves. Their goals: Provide space for future children, create a comfortable home for entertaining, include new technologies (they installed their own up-to-date wiring) and, above all, fit into the neighborhood. No lot-spanning megahouse was wanted here! Instead Yockey broke up the new two-story mass by creating two gables and a recessed entry. The original one-story house was a modest two bedrooms, one bath. They remained, with one bedroom becoming a library, the other a guest bedroom. The back of house was bumped out 10 feet to accommodate a rear-facing living room and adjacent dining area that overlook a private, wooded yard. Space also was added to the kitchen. The new second story encloses a children's wing in one gable and a master suite in the other. They're connected by a bridge that overlooks the living room. Now four bedrooms and three baths, the home encompasses 2,100 square feet.
Stepping Up to a Challenge
By using different balconies, roof lines, window placements and exterior colors, architect Martin Liebowitz gave four condominiums each a sense of individuality. |
Seattle's Madison Valley neighborhood
Architect: Martin Liebowitz
Builders: Maggie Aspland and Martin Liebowitz of The Madrona Co.
Construction cost: $880,000 for four units |
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The intent: This four-condominium development faced challenges from the outset, the foremost being the 4,800 square-foot lot. While it offers territorial vistas to the north and east, it's on a steep slope in an environmentally critical, slide-prone area. Liebowitz dealt with this by building it "like a high rise," he says, only half joking. Indeed, the underpinnings are 85 steel pilings sunk 25 feet into the earth. Determined to develop the townhouses without resorting to variances or design departures, he constructed a subterranean four-car garage on the east end of the property, then stair-stepped the four units up the hillside. "While this has lead to a greatly increased project cost, it has also allowed for greater visual richness and modulation," he offers. And it drew kudos from the judges. "It's so nice that garages don't dominate the way they do in so many projects," said one. Liebowitz very much wanted each three-story unit to have its own individual hominess. So each has its own facade and its own roofline. There are different exterior colors, different window placements and different decks or popouts. Two have private yards. While they have two basic floor plans, with either two or three bedrooms, each has individual tweaks. In one unit, for example, the soaking tub is actually in the bedroom. Maple hardwood floors, ceramic bath and kitchen tiles and gas fireplaces give the units a luxe look. Around 1,200 square feet each, they sold for $312,000 to $340,000.
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