Private Residence
Skagit County, Washington

This 5,000 sq. ft. custom house is located in a natural setting overlooking the Puget Sound from a 3-acre parcel on Samish Island in Washington State. The building is organized around a 1,200 sq. ft. central courtyard open to the south that brings light and heat into the house, maximizing the passive solar heat gain while offering protection from the prevailing winds. The building mass is broken into different volumes in order to bring the house down to the human scale, also allowing the main interior spaces to be read from the outside.

During the design process, one of the main goals was to take advantage of the surrounding landscape. To achieve this goal, the windows were strategically placed, creating a see-through family room in the center of the building, flanked by the bedroom wing on one side and the dining room wing on the other.

The materials used in the construction of this house were carefully chosen to follow the local traditions of the Pacific Northwest. The project also involved bank stabilization measures and coordination with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife in order to prevent the project from disrupting a Bald Eagle nest on site.