Methow Valley House
The site of the Methow House is a twenty-acre parcel of land perched on the north end of the Methow Valley, just east of the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State. With an abundance of views, each with its own character and splendor, the house is planned as a collection of three simple boxes that frame views and afford access to the landscape. The three boxes, each housing the private functions of the home, support a simple low-slung metal roof that evokes the form of the surrounding hills.
Between the three boxes is the main living and dining room. The design of this space is central to the sensation of being in the landscape. By capping the space with a clerestory that insures light throughout the day, the light quality within the living room feels in harmony with the landscape. Materials are simple and elemental, wood, glass, and stone.
Winthrop, WA
Completed 2021
The house is sited away from the edge of a flat terrace on a twenty acre site that is largely situated on the slope of a foothill in the Methow Valley. This is to respect sightlines from other parts of the Valley and to contribute a vista of grassland for the spectacular views from within the site. A low slung roof line echoes the same form of the hills in the distance to disappear rather than stand-out.
A stand of Aspen trees anchors the east side of the property and provides a dramatic, changing element that is juxtaposed against the quiet massiveness of the distant hills to the south and east.
The siting of the building maximizes the building’s relationship to the views down Valley. The position of the centrally located Living Room (circle in the center of the home) establishes the position of each of the more secluded living spaces (master bedroom, kitchen, guest rooms).
The house appears as a series of dark forms supporting a delicate, luminous roof. A carport and entry-way appear between the masses of the home, sheltering the door from the elements. The entry way sits in alignment with a longer view across the Valley.
The dark finish of the burnt cedar and the lighter natural finish used inside meet at the floor-to-ceiling windows and along the sides of the “boxes” enclosing the house’s private spaces. The monitor window above the living room brings natural light into the center of the house to balance the quality of light in the landscape.
The living room, situated between the three more enclosed and private living spaces, is designed to replicate the light quality “outside” via a large clerestory overhead. The exterior cladding detailing and materials is drawn into the interior to enhance the quality of being outside, in landscape.
Conceptual sketches show the living and dining space, and the relationship between the enclosed “boxes” of the private spaces and the common spaces of the house, which are open to the landscape.
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