For this project, located amongst tall cedars on a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the challenge was to allow for the benefits of modernity while respecting the Client’s desire to build a home inspired by traditional Japanese house design.
Traditional construction techniques gave way to more conventional framing methods, but nonetheless the quality of construction – of carpentry and of joinery – became an invitation to showcase the craftsmanship with light as well as to celebrate the spaces borne of the architecture. For this is the home of two retired chefs – and the dining experience for them sits naturally (and essentially) between the kitchen at one end of the Great Room, and the lounging area at the other.
Meanwhile, the house pays homage to the natural environment in which it sits, and we were anxious not to detract from a place from which you can study an infinitude of stars, while deer roam just feet away near the bluff. At the same time a home in which the entertainment of guests plays such a vital part needs to project a sense of welcome to visitors, and we chose to make the house itself a beacon, a lantern beckoning in the dusk.
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