Seattle based E. Cobb Architects create regional modern design solutions with an emphasis on space and material. We admire many of their projects, many are more eye catching, but his one in particular is of interest to us because they way that the design responds to specific site conditions over formal considerations.
Located on a lake front site in the Cascade Mountain Range, the house navigates an extreme topography drops 54 feet over 126 feet in distance from the road to the lake shore. The house negotiates the slope and the "occupyable spaces high in the tree branches" with minimal site clearing or grading.
Firm: E. Cobb Architects Inc.
To meet the demands of both site and program, the house divided into three major elements that step down the hill:
"A box on top, a narrow two-story slab at the bottom, and a lightweight cantilevered shelf between the two. Entry and circulation are routed around, over, beneath and through the parts."
The house is oriented both to the exterior views as well as the interior family spaces. Interesting features of the interior are geared toward the social aspects of family gathering and activities including a climbing well that connects between two levels, and the chalkboard wall that forms the central support of the stairway.
