The existing home, located in West Seattle, was very dated and in desperate need of many revisions, but the form and structure were in tact and worth keeping. From the beginning of the design process, the notion of designing a 'beautiful box' that took advantage of the proportions and simple but elegant lines of the existing structure seemed like the obvious direction. The home faces a busy street and backs on to a rear yard with spectacular views of the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains beyond. Because of the desire to 'open the home' to the views with large sliding doors, that blurred the line between indoor and outdoor space, we had to be very strategic with the use of glazing. Two sliding doors, when open, create a sense of space that included the enclosed front yard, the living/dining/kitchen and the terraced rear yard thus creating the illusion of a living expanse while minimizing the 'conditioned' indoor space.  

To lesson any issues with noise from the front yard the decision was made to concentrate most of the glazing on the west façade and to enclose the front yard with a fence of mass timbers.

The exterior is skinned in a rain-screen of thermally modified wood that requires no chemical treatment and will age and 'silver' very similar to teak.