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Fall Home Design: 20 memorable NW Living moments (plus 5 bonus bathtubs!)

THEY FLASH LIKE FIREFLIES: vivid, unbidden, briefly flitting mini-memories — sometimes individually, sometimes in a swarm, always somewhat magically.

Out of the dim twilight of that nowhere bridging Right This Second and Some Other Time, they materialize: a home. A room. A setting. A conversation.

All originate from one dusty-but-apparently-not-totally-rusty attic of the past: NW Living, the architecture and design feature that was a weekly staple in these pages for decades.

It makes sense, I guess, that those stories, and places, and memories, would linger. When people invite you into their homes — whether it’s through a tattered screen door at Grampa’s lopsided fishing cabin or a mahogany masterpiece framed in stately brick — it’s a big deal. Our homes are our personal sanctuaries, our family hubs, our communal holders of our accumulated stuff, our (“Oof!” and “Yay!” combined) modern-day workspaces.

Over the decades, NW Living writers and photographers were warmly welcomed into, easily, hundreds and hundreds of distinctly designed local homes. From my time in the guest chair (fall 2015 until we retired the feature in June 2020), I toured more than 200, and met even more inspired and inspiring architects, interior designers, DIY-ers, builders and homeowners (plus oodles of kids and critters). (Please note that we’re not naming the homeowners this time around, in case they no longer live where they did.)

So, yeah: I saw (still “see”) some memorable things.

Which is one key reason (another one — ahem — rhymes with veronacyrus) for this year’s special Fall Home Design issue, a Vintage Pacific NW collection of 20 of those most insistently memorable NW Living moments. And, to add to the assets of our memory bank, we’ve invited along a truly retro entry from 1968 by the incomparable Margery Phillips that makes an impression even from the outside, more than 50 years away.  

Welcome back in.

In the woods-from-around-the-world great room of the Lake Forest Park home designed by architect Roger Wallace, “It’s really important to me that it be just a warm, wood-filled space,” he says. “As you’re sitting here, this is like living in this gigantic piece of furniture. It’s very much like living in this finished cabinet that’s a treehouse.” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2020)


1. Woods of the World
Feb. 15, 2020; Lake Forest Park
How much wood could just one room hold, if one room could hold much wood? Well, here is what’s in the majestic great room (just the great room) of the contemporary, distinctly curvy home that architect Roger Wallace designed among some seriously towering trees: The walls are Waterfall Bubinga, from Africa. (Originally, that is. Wallace got his from Edensaw Woods in Tacoma.) The floor: curly cherry, from Maine. The sofas and chairs Wallace designed as a graduate student — and then ended up building, with his carpenter friend Brian Gregory — are Paldao (from Indonesia and New Guinea), with African Zebrawood trim. The ottomans at the feet of the shiny Eames Lounge chairs are of Santos Palisander, from South America. The legs of the stunning dining table are African mahogany, with midcentury chairs in rosewood. Cabinets by Ross Day are Jatoba, from South America, and Western Tiger maple, with smaller accessories in walnut burl and teak. And tying it all together, all through the house: “Just a normal cherry,” says Wallace.

Expansive glass walls in the family room, left, and one of the kids’ rooms frame a majestic tree in a Beaux Arts Village home by architect Jim Cutler. All construction materials, including custom masonry, were locally sourced to reduce the impact on the environment. (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2015)


2. A Tree-Hugging Home
May 5, 2016; Beaux Arts Village
This magnificent, way-more-than-a-cabin “treehouse” was envisioned, designed, built and inhabited to wholeheartedly embrace the site’s seven old-growth Douglas firs and all they so stately stand for. “The trees were such a gift that we organized the building around the experience of the trees,” says architect Jim Cutler of Cutler Anderson Architects. “How could you not love this presence? It’s like a relation or an ancestor, like having your grandfather in the room all the time.”

The dining and living areas of The Cliff House in Anacortes are separated by a wall that frames a painting of a shipwreck on Sheetrock, which pops out from CLEAF paneling made in Italy, says architect Brooks Middleton. The paneling also shows up on the kitchen cabinets, but in a different color. (Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times, 2018)


3. Paneling That Pops
Dec. 7, 2018; Anacortes
Everything about The Cliff House, a one-of-a-kind inhabitable observatory more than 50 dramatic feet above the Guemes Channel, stands out: so much so, the home won two awards from the Skagit/Island Counties Builders Association, including Project of the Year, in 2018. But that paneling! The word sounds so standard, but this is anything but. This is a laminate manufactured in Italy by CLEAF that “comes in giant sheets,” says architect Brooks Middleton, who worked with Strandberg Construction. It coats the walls with the richness of hot fudge. It fronts the kitchen cabinetry in melty French vanilla mixed with just one dollop of hot fudge. It’s warm and really, really cool, and you can’t not touch it. And then — surprise! — it takes on a whole new dimension when Sheetrock pops out to frame the homeowners’ art pieces. 

The upstairs kids’ loft of Heron Hall on Bainbridge Island overlooks the cathedral-like great room, with giant salvaged beams and columns from the island, a Big Ass Fan (“It’s a heck of an air-mover,” says designer Jason F. McLennan) and the only deliberately imported element in all of Heron Hall: David Trubridge lights ordered from New Zealand that come flat-packed in a tiny box. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2017)


4. Extra-Bright Shades of Green
May 11, 2017; Bainbridge Island
Heron Hall, designed by Jason F. McLennan of McLennan Design, is a genuinely groundbreaking tribute to regenerative design, local materials, salvaged treasures and bespoke green products and techniques — one of the most advanced buildings ever and “completely solar-powered and completely off the water grid,” says McLennan, who worked with general contractor Smallwood Design & Construction and a bevy of contributors and craftspeople. Two-foot-thick rammed-earth walls start at the entry gate, rise two stories through the powerful central stair tower and ground the entire home with what McLennan calls “a literal stabilizing presence.” “We wanted Heron Hall to be timeless, for generations,” he says. “We hope it’s the kind of house that 100 to 200 years from now, families will be in it, loving it and using it.”

White Panton chairs surround the COR-TEN steel-topped dining table, custom-designed by Hilary Young Design Associates, under a Logico Triple Linear Suspension Light. Bowling art further brightens the already-light living room. Peace Industry felt rugs, in custom designs by Young, anchor the space; the black chairs are Mies van der Rohe Barcelona. (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2016)


5. Whimsy to Spare
Aug. 19, 2016; Enatai
A giant neon bowling-alley sign is the shining North Star of the neighborhood. (As in, “Hang a left after the giant neon bowling-alley sign.”) You can see how that might happen: The thing is 8 feet tall, 6 feet wide, nice and high in the living-room window and — repeated for emphasis — neon. It’s also the whimsical kingpin of this strikingly renovated midcentury-modern home, a veritable gallery of singular finds artfully united and sited by interior designer Hilary Young of Hilary Young Design Associates. That giant sign (neon; did we mention?) ties together the whole airy living/dining area. “Not many houses can handle it,” Young says, “but this house is perfect.” Just a 7-10 split away, over the fireplace and its original surround, hangs a series of Warhol-ized official White House photos of Richard Nixon. He. Is. Bowling.

Intricate woodwork by Makoto Imai, who crafted this entire Japanese guesthouse in Shoreline, graces the ceiling of the gathering room. “Japanese homes are post and beam,” he says. “The posts are cedar — white or yellow color, with the opposite color, red, as a nice contrast. At some special point, we add hardwood. It looks simple, but it’s all simple beauty.” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2020)


6. Masterful Craftsmanship
May 10, 2020; Shoreline
Makoto Imai is a true master craftsman of traditional Japanese woodworking and construction. He uses no nails, no bolts, no screws — just precisely aligned, gorgeous joinery, and hand tools carrying 8,000 years of history that he brought from Japan. Over his 50-year career, Makoto (he’d prefer we call him Makoto) has designed and built homes in Japan, in California, on the East Coast and in Washington — including this one-bedroom Japanese Sukiya Guesthouse, designed with Cardwell Architects “primarily as an entertaining space” and situated on a serious 100-foot-high bluff overlooking sparkling Puget Sound, amid Zen gardens and a languid pond. Typical of Makoto’s work, the materials are natural: clay tile, concrete foundation, Japanese clay plaster walls. And the wood, of course, is perfection: Alaskan yellow cedar posts, Western red cedar beams, entry stairs with bamboo insets — with all wooden joints shaped by hand, by Makoto.

Up on the rooftop of this modern home in Magnolia designed by Jill Rerucha of ReruchaStudio (the builder was Mint Build), a super-roomy yoga studio pops up atop a view-perfect deck. (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2016)


7. Stretch Higher!
Nov. 4, 2016; Magnolia
“[One of the homeowners] needed to stand on his hands.” Jill Rerucha, of ReruchaStudio, tosses out that statement from the skylighted yoga studio that pops atop this sparkling home almost as if it’s a design requirement she hears all the time: “We’d like natural materials; an awesome indoor-outdoor connection; and, you know, plenty of overhead (overfeet) clearance.” Turns out, a daily handstand also worked as a metaphor for the entire home-design and -building experience. “It really was a balancing act,” Rerucha says — of processes, and of options. “With a modest budget, you choose selectively. It’s like an outfit. Prada shoes and a Gap T-shirt are just fine. You do not need all Prada.” But this transitional, transformative, upside-down space really was a must.

Fir plywood with a whitewash stain brightens the previously dark attic, now brilliantly transformed with a curved translucent wall, a wood-burning stove, a new skylight and the home’s only TV (hidden behind plywood). This classic Tudor Revival home in Queen Anne was updated by architect John DeForest while maintaining its historic charm. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times, 2019)


8. A Surprisingly Artsy Attic
March 8, 2019; Queen Anne
In the top-to-bottom remodel of this 1915 Tudor Revival home, you will not see THIS top coming — which is the whole idea. The classic/modern mishmash starts right inside the formal entry and progresses — gradually, intentionally, surprisingly — as you climb. You might have to seek out the plywood stairs to the attic (they’re hidden behind what looks like a closet door), but — ohmygosh. Find the stairs. Climb them. Pick up your jaw from the plywood floor. Then follow the bright, barely stained plywood up the walls and onto the ceiling, as it defines angles, shadows, spaces … and perhaps the most unexpected element of all: a curved, supercool translucent wall. “In the attic … there was just this amazing shape,” architect John DeForest says. “As soon as we tried a rectangular wall up there, it detracted from the roofline, so we inscribed this elliptical shape in creating all these different, interesting spaces that are surprising, not conventional.” Along the attic edges, a guest bedroom, a bathroom, nooks and crannies tuck along squeeze-through, watch-your-head passageways — “all these ins and outs, a whole network of spaces,” DeForest says. They are not easy to navigate. Also not an accident. The experience, it turns out, is the ultimate intent.

Customized COR-TEN steel entry ramps lead over a fountained moat to this Innis Arden garage, a hefty 22-foot-span of more COR-TEN that’s raised and lowered with a hydraulic pumping station. (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2016)


9. One Highly Designed Driveway
Dec. 9, 2016; Innis Arden
Typically, as its name so aptly implies, a driveway simply gets you to a house. Right? Drive (this) way! Keep it between the lines. There; you made it. So let’s not call the artful entrance to this home a driveway, K? This brief stretch of deep imagination, this unexpected collection of textures, features and materials, carries far more than the random sedan: It embodies the entire aesthetic of the equally inspired home it leads to. This driveway is designed. There is grass. There are pavers. Lights. Fountains. There is a moat. People! A moat. You must cross it, on custom ramps, to reach the gorgeous garage. When the homeowners decided to remodel this solid circa-1946 specimen of Paul H. Kirk architecture — with Rainier Custom Homes and architect Darrin Petersen (Bjorn & Poulsen Fine Home Design) — they really did not want “the whole house to look like a garage” from the street. Now, even the garage doesn’t look like a garage from the street. 

This new detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU) is connected to the century-old main house in Ravenna via a new deck, with cable-railing stairs leading to the sunken patio, where sliding glass doors open to a guest bedroom/workshop and bath. There’s a 200-degree view from the top deck, accessed by an awesome yellow popup loft space. (Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times, 2019)


10. DADU to the Rescue
Oct. 12, 2019; Ravenna
This mighty little DADU has saved the day, in so many ways. Before it existed — before its existence even was conceived — a family of four (plus two pets) was contending with seriously confined quarters in their century-old Craftsman bungalow. Every option seemed too complicated, too disruptive, too not quite right. To the rescue came Living Shelter Architects, along with Mighty House Construction and Entero Design, with an especially inspired out-of-the-bungalow idea: a detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU). It made sense, and it also could make history: This backyard cottage is designed to be one of the first carbon-neutral DADUs in the country, says Living Shelter founder and principal architect Terry Phelan. The 620-square-foot DADU is a mini-marvel of energy- and space-saving ingenuity, plus gigantic fun: A custom foldaway staircase leads to an upper-level light-shelf/loft space and a rooftop deck with spectacular views. 

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels in the second-floor master suite and the adjoining bedroom of The CLT House in Madison Park, designed by architect Susan Jones, were routed with a design Jones created to evoke the knots in the wood, allowing for increased light, and privacy from the alley below. (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2016)


11. Gorgeously Green
Jan. 15, 2016; Madison Park
Architect Susan Jones of atelierjones LLC said this home was the first permitted building in Seattle, and one of the first multistoried structures in the country, to use cross-laminated timber (CLT), highly energy-efficient, layered engineered wood panels oriented at right angles and glued into bigger, stronger structural panels. All told, 67 prefabricated CLT panels were delivered from British Columbia; they act as both structure and interior wall finish. The home’s exterior is strikingly charred shou-sugi-ban Douglas fir; inside, it’s luminously light and open. The white pine CLT is raw, textured and only slightly whitewashed, and upstairs, sunlight slices through two CLT panels where the manufacturer carved a design Jones created to evoke the wood’s pine knots; the result is both natural and somewhat nautical. “The first thing is to let the wood speak for itself,” Jones says. “We wanted to express the volumes of the wood, to let the grain move with the space — not decorate it, just let the light fall across it.”

The dramatic floating staircase of this Washington Park home rises in the grand entry hall, with French limestone floors and a textured steel wall crafted by Decorative Metal Arts. “The challenge to design the stairs was to keep them as open as possible through the window,” says project manager Michael McFadden of Stuart Silk Architects. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2017)


12. Elevated Stairs
Oct. 19, 2017; Washington Park
In a gleeful expression of collaboration, Stuart Silk Architects (principals Silk and Mike Troyer, and project manager Michael McFadden) teamed with builder Schultz Miller, interior designer Amy Baker and a passel of craftspeople to create this gleaming, gabled, contemporary-yet-traditional waterfront home. The blended delight continues right inside with a dramatic staircase backed by a towering, textured steel wall crafted by Decorative Metal Arts. Says Silk: “We always wanted a center spine of steel, so the stair was floating and kind of wrapped up and around that. The embedded stair detail is pretty memorable. That was, I thought, a really great way to bring another level of detail to the wall.”

A glass dividing wall crafted by Glassworks “screens the dining area from the entry” of this Kirkland home, says architect Rick Chesmore, who custom-designed the Oregon black-walnut table under a cloud ceiling that “screens mechanical equipment and brings the scale down.” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2017)


13. Cutting-edge Glass
April 7, 2017; Kirkland
The glass masters at Glassworks, a Seattle company that designs and creates custom architectural glass, crafted a massive wall that elegantly divides the dining area and the entry of a cool and contemporary home designed by architect Rick Chesmore of Chesmore|Buck Architecture. “That wall … you wouldn’t have thought: ‘What keeps it there?’ ” says Steve Shahbaghlian of Glassworks. “The only thing for us was: ‘Can we do that?’ We came up with the idea and took exact measurements. Everything’s very specific.” 

A can’t-miss mariners compass anchors the beautifully curved library of this Hood Canal home. “Since there was only one place for books, we wanted it to be special,” says architect Greg Belding. “The house is a box with a few angles; it felt right to have a circular element — different and special.” (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2016)


14. Which Way Is Up?
Nov. 11, 2016; Hood Canal
There are two mariners compasses embedded in this views-for-nautical-miles waterfront home along Hood Canal. One is big and bold and plain as day: the tiled focal point on the floor of the exquisitely circular library. (The other is easier to miss, on the stone porch.) “We wanted a place to discover, especially for the kids,” says architect Greg Belding of Rice Fergus Miller, who teamed with Steve Rice. So the lower shelves in the cozy library hold kids’ books and a stuffed animal near an heirloom rocking/reading chair. A ship’s ladder rises to a streetside loft, with a metal-spring bed from the site’s original cabin, a porthole for waving a flag to Grandpa as he works in the hobby shop/garage across the street, plus sleeping bags tucked into a hidden storage nook.

The pool on the lower level of the historic Bordeaux House on Capitol Hill “was existing, and a pretty big topic of conversation,” says Kim Clements of JAS Design Build. “The kids wanted to keep it. We thought: ‘What would Teddy Roosevelt have done? Let’s have some fun.’ We added the new ‘No Diving.’ ” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2019)


15. C’mon In/Down for a Swim!
Oct. 5, 2019; Capitol Hill
When the team at JAS Design Build — including creative director Kim Clements, project architect Nick Robertson and designer Kaitlin Tripp-Addison — updated the majestic 1904 Bordeaux House, the overall mission was to bring its 20+ rooms to a more personal scale and to honor the legacy of all the families who lived here before — along with the existing pool on the lower level. This historic home encompasses 8,000 square feet over five levels, so it takes 50 cardio-hardy steps to ascend from the main-level kitchen to the tippy-top-floor media room — and that’s not even counting the other stairs down to this fabulously fun pool room. And those stairs really count. Because: fabulously fun pool room.

The entry stairway in this stone home on Lake Washington “started from a picture of a staircase in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel,” says architect Tom Kuniholm. “Nathie (Katzoff, of NK Woodworking & Design) did the sketches, fabricated and tooled it. He had to make each piece differently, the curve is so tight.” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2017)


16. A Grand Entrance
March 24, 2017; Bellevue
Informal and formal, Old World and state-of-the-art, this luxuriously romantic stone home on Lake Washington succeeds grandly on many levels — literally, many, many levels: “three floors with half-levels in between, to get the hillside to work with the house,” architect Tom Kuniholm says. All those levels require a lot of stairs, as you might imagine — with one almost-unimaginably OMG stairway in the entry: locally milled walnut treads, risers and stringers bracketed by meticulously hand-wrought iron. “It’s the tour de force,” says Kuniholm. That could be an understatement. “All the steelwork is hand-forged, with a hand-shaped, carved railing,” says artisan fabricator Nathie Katzoff, of NK Woodworking & Design. “Each piece is unique in geometry and 100{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} custom.” The elaborate handrail is held together by just two or three fasteners, he says; otherwise it’s all wood joinery. “It’s really traditional, 2,000-year-old techniques. It was a fair amount of work.” That could be another understatement. Katzoff crafted the staircase in the shop and installed it in pieces. All told, he says, it required 3,000 hours of labor. 

In the brilliantly luminous kitchen of The Elliott Bay House, beech cabinets showcase a custom CNC-milled pattern freehand-sketched by architect Nils Finne; he calls it “imaginary landscape”: river valleys with mountain topography between them. Three sets of free-form, sensuously curved steel lighting bars, drawn “all in one piece” by Finne and crafted by Landbridge Lighting, are set in recessed beech panels in the ceiling to unite the kitchen and adjacent dining area. (Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times, 2016)


17. Hands-on Craftsmanship
May 5, 2016
On one hand, architect Nils Finne embraces state-of-the-art design machinery, like super-sophisticated CNC routers and extra-large industrial water-jet cutters. On the other hand … well, the other hand is kinda busy sketching those designs, thank you very much, with a good old inkbrush, on good old paper. In one giant design high-five, it all comes together in the touchable, true craftsmanship throughout The Elliott Bay House. “The human hand drives the machine,” says the namesake of FINNE Architects — and crafted modernism results. “Crafted modernism brings back the idea you can use natural materials and machine them to suggest natural patterns. Technology allows us to bring a level of craft to the design of the home that is unheard of.”

The master bedroom and great room of “City Cabin” glow from the secluded Seattle backyard. “Siting the 2,400-square-foot house on the northwest corner of the lot maximizes garden areas on the south and east sides,” says architect Jim Olson, of Olson Kundig (OK), who worked with OK project manager/architect Renee Boone, OK interior designer Christine Burkland, landscape designer Brandon Peterson of The Palm Room and Dovetail general contractors on this super-sustainable urban retreat. “The home’s staggered footprint allows for more glazing, which increases sun exposure and garden views from every room.” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2017)


18. An Oooh and Ahhh Oasis
Dec. 1, 2017; Seattle
Design principal Jim Olson, of Olson Kundig, and the homeowner have been friends-that-feel-like-family most of their lives, and this glorious super-sustainable retreat in Seattle — Olson calls it “City Cabin” — certainly benefited from interpersonal inspiration. The owner envisioned sun-worshipping clerestories and windows, along with a nothing-fancy-please common area, two separate bedrooms and a private connection to nature — all on an ordinary city lot. So Olson maximized the anything-but-ordinary home’s 2,400 square feet, working to “get as much as you can out of as little space,” he says. Its fabulous, functional design organizes around a brilliantly bright, high-ceilinged great room, with two extending wings (one the master suite, and the other a guest room and storage) and soothing garden views from every single room.

The intricately carved original door to this 1929 Capitol Hill home was solid mahogany (except for a Speakeasy door) and solidly dark. The new handmade door keeps the mahogany and the original shape, but adds glass. (Benjamin Benschneider/The Seattle Times, 2016)


19. Quite a First Impression
Oct. 7, 2016; Capitol Hill
“This brick is special,” architect Eric Gedney says of this classically elegant 1929 home. “The character of it is so strong.” As Gedney expanded, preserved and updated the home, artisan mason Todd Taylor of Ernest Construction counted bricks to see how many could be salvaged or restored. Bricks were removed, matched and reinstalled, and now original bricks, found bricks and re-created bricks coexist, seamlessly. At the entry, the intricately carved original door was solid mahogany (except for a Speakeasy door) and solidly dark. The new handmade door keeps the mahogany and the original shape (and the dramatic brick frame), but adds glass. “There’s a lot to figure out in its character,” Gedney says. “Do you know it’s not original? No.”

The livable lunar lander designed and built by naval architect Kurt Hughes on the banks of the Columbia River near Beverly, Washington, shines, somehow especially appropriately, during the Aug. 21, 2017, solar eclipse (which was near-total, 96{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48}, in this photo). Hughes’ lunar lander features familiar geometric shapes. “I think every lunar lander was different,” he says. “Obviously, I’m just exploiting the form, but no one has looked at it and said, ‘That’s not accurate.’ It’s far back enough in history, people think: ‘He must know what he’s doing.’ ” (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2017)


20. An Excellent Use of Space
Dec. 8, 2017; Central Washington
Houston, we have a project. Technically, it is not a starship, but it certainly has proved quite the enterprise. Its DIY commander, naval architect Kurt Hughes, systematically designed and built this livable, lovable lunar lander, securely perched on an acre of peaceful riverfront terrain. It is out-of-this-world spectacular. And this is no tiny house that vaguely resembles something space-y, fellow Earthlings. This is a “retrofuturist” and officially permitted lunar-lander tiny house (total weight, less than 3,000 pounds; total square footage, 250). It kind of stands out. “There are four sides and four truncations — it’s technically a hexagon,” Hughes says. “The intent is that it’s cool from every side.” Mission accomplished.

Bonus Bathtubs!
I must be drawn to baths (ha!), because each of these serene soaking sites is deeply seared into my memory.

1b (for bathtub!). June 27, 2018; Mercer Island.
Interior designer LeeAnn Baker, LeeAnn Baker Interiors, with architect Craig Stillwell of Stillwell Hanson Architects and Joseph McKinstry Construction Company.

2b. Oct. 25, 2018; Ellensburg.
Principal designers Jeff Bates and Trevor Lunde (GLY Construction); builder: Town & Country Homes; landscaping: Central Valley Nursery; interior design: homeowner.  

3b. Sept. 15, 2016; West Seattle.
Architect Tom Lambright (Lambright Design Group).

4b. Nov. 16, 2019; Clyde Hill.
Principal architect Paul Michael Davis and a team from Paul Michael Davis Architects, Boom Builders, art adviser Lele Barnett and Dan Di Zazzo Landscape Architecture.

5b. Oct. 25, 2018; Mazama.
Architecture: Dan Nelson, Designs Northwest Architects, principal architect, and Matthew Radach, project architect; general contractor: Impel Construction; landscaping and plantings: Goat Wall Landscaping; interior design: homeowner.


Sandy Deneau Dunham
writes about architecture and design for Pacific NW and is associate editor of the magazine. Reach her at sdunham@seattletimes.com.

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$34 Million, 7 Miles of Stream Restoration to Benefit Anacostia

By Whitney Pipkin, Bay Journal News Assistance

Federal and nearby governments are making ready to shell out an approximated $34 million on stream restorations in two branches of the Anacostia River, which flows from Maryland headwaters into the District of Columbia. Following yrs of preparing, development is scheduled to begin in the drop of 2022.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) break up the $1.8 million examine charges for the project with Prince George’s County, Md., where the get the job done will manifest. They will restore seven miles of stream habitat in the river’s Northwest and Northeast branches in Prince George’s County. Eliminating blockages to fish passage will open up up four miles of stream for species this sort of as alewife and blueback herring to spawn and connect them to 14 miles of beforehand restored stream reaches.

“One of the important functions of this project is [that it will] url all of these former endeavours and open up up a larger corridor of restored streams, so the fish can vacation farther upstream,” said Tham Saravanapavan, a venture manager for USACE.

The $34 million envisioned to be invested on these second and 3rd order streams encompasses about six significant tasks designed possible by decades of collaboration in between federal, state and local governments and other partners. They are some of the larger sized initiatives amongst the 3,000 that had been initial proposed for the river in a sprawling 2010 Anacostia Restoration Plan.

“The Anacostia River will hardly ever yet again be the pristine river watershed it was in advance of growth and urbanization,” the introduction to the 163-webpage prepare states. “However, the watershed can and must be restored and protected to reach environmental and ecological functionality and sustainability.”

Operate to boost the Anacostia, which runs through populous Maryland counties and Washington, D.C. into the Potomac River, began in earnest, like several clean up h2o initiatives, in the 1970s. Lawmakers and neighborhood residents could no for a longer time ignore the affect of “converting the pure landscape into an impervious, manmade landscape,” as Saravanapavan put it.

Considering that then, millions of dollars have absent toward retrofitting wastewater and sewer devices, decreasing impervious surfaces and enhancing habitats in and about the river. Among the following important actions in the mainstem of the river is eradicating toxic sediment from the bottom of the river, where by industrial pollution together its financial institutions has left a legacy of contamination.

Chris Williams, CEO of the Anacostia Watershed Culture, stated stream restoration operate in the upper reaches is an critical piece of that large-photo puzzle. And, soon after many years of laying the groundwork, quite a few of people main jobs, such as toxics remediation, will be coming on-line around the exact time.

“In purchase to make sure that the Anacostia system is major-to-bottom restored, you want to not only function in the mainstem but also in these tributaries that are sources of new pollutants,” he reported.

U.S. Military Corps of Engineers map of the Anacostia River watershed.

If unrestored, upland streams can lead surplus nutrient and sediment air pollution to the river. Gushes of stormwater from surrounding produced areas scour dirt absent from stream financial institutions and send it careening downstream. Cutting down some of people hardened surfaces and including rain gardens and retention ponds can decrease flows to waterways. That do the job, termed ideal management techniques or BMPs, has been underway for several years in Prince George’s County. 

“Upland BMPs are instrumental to just about anything that is performed with the getting waters,” mentioned Frank Galosi, head of the county’s stormwater administration division. “All that is collectively needed to tackle the issues. It is all related.” 

Many of the more compact streams that feed the sections involved in this project have been previously restored. This exertion will carry people positive aspects farther downstream to next and third buy streams that are wider and frequently speedier flowing—making the do the job additional challenging. That is one particular of the variables driving the project’s price, together with the sheer scale of the do the job, Galosi stated.

The venture will entail going or functioning around infrastructure that blocks fish from touring upstream, which include old utility crossings and culverts. Getting rid of blockages in the Northwest Department and alongside Sligo Creek will enhance obtain for alewife and blueback herring from about 20 {6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of their historic habitat assortment to about 80 p.c. In the Northeast Branch, people advancements will enable the fish to attain 90 percent of their historic assortment, when compared with 10 percent currently. 

Williams of the Anacostia Watershed Culture claimed the work will advantage not just the fish but also the individuals who connect with this region house.

“These are city streams,” he explained, “but they are increasingly getting an critical section of the landscape to enhance the livability of towns and communities.”

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New art installed along Greenwood trailway

The otherworldly growths sprout from beside a person of Greenwood’s most well-known trails, seeming to sway and shimmy in the breeze.

Not far away, a large “V” with a circle inside symbolizes the triumph over psychological health issues and despair. An iron and metal article tapers around the leading, as celestial designs burst into the sky.

A carefully plotted bevy of designs stand out from the pastoral landscape in beautiful shiny blue.

The Polk Hill Trail in Greenwood has gotten an artistic makeover this calendar year. By way of the city’s Art on the Trail method, 4 new public operates of artwork have been additional to the walkway, which stretches from Craig Park east down Smith Valley Street. The 4 decided on sculptures were being “Triumph” by Ben Pierce of Cape Girardeau, Missouri “Sea-Saw” by Robert Craig of Des Moines, Iowa “Nature’s Quintet” by Stephanie Sailer of Kingston, Illinois and “Vase” by Steven Maeck of Burr Oak, Iowa.

For the up coming two a long time, walkers, runners and cyclists can bask in the creative imagination and creativity of the taking part artists, though experiencing Greenwood’s most family members-pleasant facilities.

“Their art provides an aesthetically attractive experience to our city’s network of trails, and the Polk Hill Trail is a prime instance of beautification attempts that we want to go on during Greenwood,” Greenwood mayor Mark Myers said.

Artwork on the Trailway has been in place due to the fact 2012. Every two yrs, new sculptures from regional and national artists are leased and mounted together a stretch of trail east of Craig Park.

The idea for the art trail came from Rob Taggart, director of Greenwood Parks and Recreation. He worked with the Bigger Greenwood Arts Council to arrive up with a system to entice completed artwork from throughout the country to put in in Greenwood. Submitted sculptures are juried by a committee that seems to be at durability in the outside, relevance to the record and lifestyle of the metropolis and measurement and scope.

After two decades, new artwork is put in alongside the path. The only lasting piece is “Strider II,” an imposing sculpture depicting a lean figure strolling into the wind. Greenwood purchased the piece after it was included in the very first round of the trailway plan.

One more sculpture from the prior spherical of Artwork on the Trail, “Pod Stop,” by Greg Mueller, was donated to the town and will continue to be on display at a new location, to be announced in the around long run.

Organizers of the artwork path marketed requests for submissions throughout the state. A juried panel comprised of neighborhood artists which include users of the Larger Greenwood Arts Council, Southside Arts League, and Arts Council of Indianapolis, as properly as a Greenwood Parks and Recreation Office staff members member, picked the 4 most effective.

Pierce is a army veteran and artist who employs a minimalist method and mindfulness of detrimental room to build special sculptures. He is motivated by mother nature and architecture, getting people inspirations to build uncomplicated geometric forms that capture the viewer’s interest and stir their thoughts, according to the artist’s web site.

“Triumph” was made as a way to carry awareness of depression and mental ailment.

“A whole lot of mental illness is experienced in silence — I am choosing to use my art as a way to assist other folks communicate up. Possibly a person will hear about this or examine this and sense HOPE. You are not by yourself,” Pierce wrote in an artist’s statement mounted with the sculpture.

Craig developed “Sea-Saw” as a contemplation of mechanical perform, human interaction, steering and movement. His substantial-scale sculptures have been exhibited in museums, universities, and sculpture parks across the country.

“Discrete, identifiable objects are re-imagined, blended and transformed into one thing that cannot be commonly named even though some representational feeling of the origins of the abstraction are retained,” Craig wrote in his assertion with the sculpture.

Sailer, an educational advisor at Northern Illinois University College of Artwork and Layout, focuses on organic and natural varieties that evolve from an imaginative interpretation of character, specifically of seed pods.

“Nature’s Quintet” characteristics metal growths dependent on the columbine flower, a species that is indigenous to the Midwest, which include Indiana.

“The harmonious romance involving every petal mirrors the sensitive movement of dance or songs, every single part positioned in tandem with the others,” Sailer stated in an artist statement.

“Vase” is produced out of previously used metallic, which Maeck labored to resemble authentic foundation products.

“The focus of my latest perform has been virtually solely in the utilization of industrial salvage which I change and recombine in a method that is not only resonant and original but manifests the aura of obtaining been produced from foundation raw content, i.e. forged bronze,” Maeck wrote in his artist assertion. “Of system, there is, and should really be, a subliminal sense of processed heritage of the metallic.”

The four new sculptures will be up alongside Polk Hill Path until finally 2023.

In addition to the new artwork alongside the trailway, Greenwood’s parks officers prepared new benches and trash receptacles alongside the path.

“Between the new artwork and path amenities, we are eager for Greenwood residents to practical experience these changes and generate new reminiscences in this part of the city’s trail network,” Greenwood Parks and Recreation director Rob Taggart claimed.

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Four Seasons Total Landscaping comes full circle with MSNBC special

One particular yr to the working day right after Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiLev Parnas discovered guilty of breaking campaign finance rules Giuliani associate Lev Parnas will not testify at trial Four Seasons Whole Landscaping comes comprehensive circle with MSNBC unique More and other Trump allies made it well-known, the Philadelphia-place 4 Seasons Complete Landscaping will see the release of a documentary about its wild journey.

“Four Seasons Total Documentary” is established to premiere Nov. 7 at 10 p.m. on MSNBC.

The earlier gap-in-the-wall organization shot to fame after then-President TrumpDonald TrumpGrant Woods, longtime buddy of McCain and previous Arizona AG, dies at 67 Super PACs release ad campaign hitting Vance more than past comments on Trump Glasgow summit raises stakes for Biden offer Extra touted that a press convention that includes Giuliani, then his own attorney, was poised to be held at the Philadelphia Four Seasons lodge as his campaign challenged the effects of the 2020 presidential election, held four days before.

But as an alternative, the landscaping enterprise — positioned close to a intercourse store, crematorium and a jail — was the chosen venue for the news party.

“Everyone required to know: How did that materialize? Why did that occur?” director Christopher Stoudt advised ITK in an job interview. “It just seemed like this best storm of situations led to something that could barely be considered had occurred.”

The Los Angeles-based mostly filmmaker claimed he in fact experienced a front row seat to the day’s drama simply because his then-roommate’s brother was a revenue director at Full Landscaping.

“As it created, it felt like this Holy Grail of a minute to be so near to, and I really feel as nevertheless I received the lottery in conditions of my entry to it,” Stoudt said.

When the mulch-associated combine-up created buzz and amusement, how significantly could definitely be claimed about the political snafu?

“It’s the greatest film ever built about a landscaping enterprise,” Stoudt, 37, quipped.

“At face price you could perceive it as becoming a obstacle to convey it to the screen,” he said. But his work, he described, was to “go to the root of why it occurred from the point of view of persons that were being there. So the objective was often to lean into the views of the precise people that ended up experiencing it.”

The fifty percent-hour MSNBC Movies documentary households in on the company’s owner, Marie Siravo, and the personalized aspect to a enterprise that was struggling to survive ahead of the viral, circus-like minute, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Stoudt, who directed final year’s “Camp ALEC,” said though “Total Documentary” breaks down the bizarre Trump marketing campaign occasion, it’s not about politics. His team, he stated, was “just striving to get to the coronary heart of who these people were and how they bought there.”

The venture also details how the spectacle planted a social media seed for Full Landscaping, which capitalized on its meme-deserving fame by selling far more than $1 million in items and starring in a Tremendous Bowl industrial.

Stoudt referred to as it an American “underdog story” about “a group of men and women in absurd situations, and who are preventing for their survival to consider to get out of it.”

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This Beauty Brand Is Helping to Restore Priceless Art

When it comes the romantic relationship concerning contemporary artwork and natural beauty, La Prairie couldn’t be extra relevant. The Swiss luxury house’s friendship with artist Niki de Saint Phalle assisted shape the impression of their coveted Skin Caviar line, and in 2017, they recognized a partnership with worldwide artwork good, Art Basel, for which they fee an authentic art piece every single 12 months. Now, they’ve leaned even more into their patronage to maintain some of the most recognizable art of all time: the get the job done of Piet Mondrian, in partnership with Switzerland’s most frequented museum.

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The two-yr collaboration between La Prairie and the legendary Fondation Beyeler will assist to conserve 4 masterpieces by the Dutch painter, who is most effectively recognized for his signature summary, graphic oil paintings that defined the De Stijl movement. The four Mondrian paintings, manufactured concerning 1921 and 1938, are currently being studied and researched to help the world’s comprehension of the artist’s one of a kind mastery. By means of this new initiative, new aspects about Mondrian’s creative approach are getting found, and will be uncovered at an expansive Mondrian show at the museum in 2022.

This articles is imported from Instagram. You may be capable to locate the exact same articles in one more format, or you might be ready to discover a lot more details, at their world wide web web-site.

“Art is an vital section of our lives. It testifies to how men and women see and have an understanding of the entire world in which we are living. It is hence vital to protect artifacts so we can don’t forget, find out about and honor all those who had been involved,” explained Markus Gross, Head Conservator at Fondation Beyeler. “We are delighted that La Prairie supports this job and contributes to raising awareness of the relevance of art conservation,” he additional. There is no question that the Swiss brand—like the Swiss itself—are passionate about all factors wonderful and erudite, consequently their motivation to preserving the functions of the earlier and the potential.

“As a Swiss house, we are particularly very pleased to assistance one particular of Switzerland’s most prestigious cultural institutions. We have frequent values and the objective to share art from Switzerland to the earth,” states Greg Prodromides, Main Marketing Officer of La Prairie. “With this new initiative, La Prairie’s expands its cultural engagement exemplifying our prolonged-expression motivation to the entire world of artwork and tradition.”

This information is created and taken care of by a third get together, and imported onto this site to enable customers offer their electronic mail addresses. You may possibly be able to locate extra information about this and equivalent written content at piano.io

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At the World Expo Pavilions, Future Visions Combine Past and Present

The international locations with pavilions in the three districts of this year’s Earth Expo in Dubai — Sustainability, Mobility and Prospect — are every single presenting their visions, combining things of the past, the future and nowadays. Singapore is sharing its eco-friendly dwelling principles by immersing site visitors in a tropical landscape. Angola is displaying how its heritage and present-day technological improvements are intimately linked. And then there is the architect who designed the elaborate portals that guide to every district. The adhering to interviews have been edited and condensed.

Titled “Nature. Nurture. Upcoming.,” Singapore’s practically 16,000-square-foot pavilion in the Sustainability District of the expo recreates a lush tropical environment. As designed by the Singapore-centered architectural organization WOHA, it functions three cones coated in vertical greenery with a overall of 45,000 pots of plants the inside is linked by a cover wander that showcases various scenes reminiscent of Singapore: a rainforest, a cityscape and a flower yard.

In all, visitors can be expecting to see a lot more than 170 versions of crops and trees for a overall of 80,000, which include orchids, jasmines, hanging vines and ficuses.

Larry Ng, the pavilion’s commissioner-common and the registrar of the board of architects for the country reviewed the idea and execution of the pavilion.

Why did you pick out a tropical environment for the pavilion?

We desired to recreate a mini-Singapore and transportation guests there. Nevertheless we have a dense urban ecosystem, we also have considerable greenery that is integrated within just our cityscape — trees of all sizes, vegetation and bouquets just about everywhere you seem.

How does the Singapore Pavilion replicate the sustainability tale of Singapore itself?

Our pavilion offers our vision of becoming a metropolis in mother nature, which is aligned with our Singapore Inexperienced Prepare 2030, a movement to progress our agenda on sustainable improvement. In Singapore, we use technological know-how for our green approach, and we are doing the exact same in this article.

For illustration, the pavilion is built to be a self-sufficient ecosystem to attain web-zero electricity making use of renewable power. We have 517 photo voltaic panels that will provide us with ample electrical power for the 6-month length of the expo. Renewable strength is also popular through Singapore. We have solar panels floating on our reservoir that obtain power, which can probably offer substantially of our infrastructure with power.

In addition, the pavilion utilizes solar electricity to desalinate the groundwater that we use to h2o our vegetation and electric power 51 dry mist lovers to cool the pavilion. The dry mist enthusiasts, blended with the shade and greenery, lowers the perceived temperature by 40 to 50 degrees [Fahrenheit], in contrast to the exterior temperature, earning it relaxed for readers even with no power-intense air-conditioning.

Again, in Singapore we have a diversified water supply which we get from 4 sources including a community catchment and desalinated h2o.

Design is also a component of your inexperienced method at the pavilion and in the state. Can you notify us far more about the part it plays?

Singapore is large on utilizing vertical greenery every time we can and has extra than 617 acres of it during the country. This is enabled by a coverage referred to as L.U.S.H. — Landscaping for City Areas and Significant-Rises — where the incorporation of vertical and sky-increase greenery is inspired in our developed environment. This greenery encourages biodiversity with the presence of butterflies, bees and birds. It also insulates buildings and keeps them cooler. And it is aesthetically extremely desirable, which is what style is about.

By using landscaping as a design and style element, we are demonstrating that the created natural environment does not want to displace mother nature but can, in point, coexist with it.

You are working with climbing robots to treatment for the pavilion’s crops. What precisely do they do?

The pavilion has three prototype climbing robots, which had been made in a collaboration in between our landscape architect organization, Salad Dressing, and a Singapore-primarily based get started-up identified as Oceania Robotics.

The robots traverse the inexperienced partitions and are equipped with cameras and sensors that monitor the wellness of the vegetation and gather info these as humidity and oxygen ranges. With the facts they collect, we can calibrate the amount of money of h2o needed for irrigation or alter the amount of money of develop lights required for the crops to thrive.

Angola, in southwest Africa, has a pavilion in the expo’s Mobility District, an space dedicated to human progress and comprehending cultures.

Spanning virtually 27,000 sq. toes, the country’s screen showcases the traditions of its Chokwe individuals, who date back hundreds of years, along with latest improvements. It is divided into three clusters: society, schooling and technology.

Every options motion pictures, light-weight exhibits, exhibits and impression projections. Portion of the pavilion also has a stage for new music and dance performances.

Whilst Angola is Africa’s 3rd- biggest producer of oil, that is not a matter that the pavilion touches on. “There is so a great deal extra to us than oil, which is what we want to share with the environment,” claimed Albina Assis Africano, the pavilion’s commissioner general and the country’s former minister of oil.

In an interview, Ms. Africano reviewed the notion and the execution of the pavilion.

What is the goal of the pavilion?

We want to show the partnership involving Angola’s Chokwe men and women and the Angolans of right now.

There is a ton of interconnectedness in between them. The way the Chokwes ended up regarded to be forward-pondering [centuries ago] is very considerably how Angolans strive to be right now.

In what strategies do you display this link?

The whole pavilion has shows of symbols that were critical to the Chokwes. They applied hundreds of them, but we picked the 7 that had been the most substantial. One particular, for illustration, is of a significant parrot who is portion of a story from their time about the independence of thought. This parrot, termed a Toje, is in the schooling cluster.

One more symbol, which is in the culture cluster, is of a dancer with open up arms named a Mascarado Cihongo. This determine is neither male nor female but just a individual whom the Chokwes revered. We show these symbols in distinctive strategies: A person area emits them through a laser gentle demonstrate, for example, and one more has an LED installation.

How is contemporary Angola offered in the pavilion?

One of the greatest techniques is in the technologies cluster, the place we share information and facts about the lots of new enterprises in Angola, which are beginning up each working day. There is Tupuca, a vehicle-sharing and foodstuff-delivery provider like Uber, that’s turn into very preferred. A different, Appy Saude, is an application that allows people to obtain the closest hospitals and pharmacies. It has been a must have through the Covid disaster.

We also connection fashionable engineering to the earlier and the Chokwes with displays of the solar drawings, which the heads of villages would attract for guys to educate them about lifetime. Some of these drawings experienced mathematical origins and have been a complicated of geometric styles referred to as fractals, which is a strategy that lots of Angolans and people all about the planet learn about now in math.

The education cluster also offers contemporary Angola. Just one screen, for instance, is on our country’s application to teach students who are interested in the aerospace marketplace. Element of this application involves the prospect to go to a technological innovation room institute for no cost.

Society is also a critical section of the pavilion. Can you tell us far more about your culture cluster?

We will have nightly performances throughout the expo’s six months in which musicians from Angola will perform modern-day and historic music employing modern-day instruments these types of as guitars and drums. We are also hosting frequent performances on traditional and up to date dance forms. And visitors can show up at workshops to learn about ancient instruments and how they were being handmade.

Your pavilion’s topic is about reintroducing the disappearing artwork of storytelling. Why is this significant to do?

Storytelling was critical to the lifestyle of the Chokwe people, and we preferred to spotlight its significance due to the fact previous-fashioned storytelling is disappearing as the fashionable globe will take in excess of. We consider it is a critical art kind that demands to be preserved.

The three gateways of the expo are really hard to miss out on. Created by Asif Khan, a London-dependent architect and designer, these towering entry portals are made of ultralightweight carbon fiber and are 70 ft in height and 100 toes in length. Futuristic still classic, they are slim, translucent constructions with a woven sample.

Each sits at the entrances of the expo’s a few districts: Sustainability, Mobility and Possibility.

Mr. Khan also built several of the expo’s public spaces, which includes walkways and a 180-foot-tall observation tower named Yard in the Sky, which has a going system total of ficus and hibiscus trees and a 360-degrees watch of the show’s web site.

Can you explain to us about your inspiration for the entry portals and explain the structure?

They’re inspired by a structure aspect that’s really frequent in the Arabic region referred to as a mashrabiya [a latticework wooden screen]. In the West, this element is normally missed as mere decoration, but is in reality a machine to control air flow and daylight.

The first expo was in 1851 in London [then called the Great Exhibition]. Considering that then, they’ve been held all over the globe, but by no means in the Menasa region, which includes the Center East, North Africa and South Asia.

When I learned this, I preferred my design and style strategy to demonstrate what this region has to give the environment. From wherever you see them, the portals discuss of the record and potential of Islamic aesthetic society.

The reason of the expo is also to showcase the long term, and the portals are a representation of that they are a feat of engineering designed with the most recent resources.

In actuality, they have been such a tough construction to build that we could only have robots do the occupation and worked with a structural engineer from the plane sector on the style.

What mandate have been you provided by the expo for both the portals and the general public spaces you developed, and what problems did you experience?

The short offered to us by Her Excellency Reem Al-Hashimi was to devise a language and spatial sequence for the community realm — a unifying context — in which just about every architectural or landscape element would have strategies and tales from the location to curiosity and inspire the customer and most likely even challenge preconceptions.

It’s constantly complicated when you establish a little something that has never been finished. For me, it was tough to discover the appropriate collaborators, like the structural engineer who assisted me with the style and design. I experienced to inspire each individual collaborator to believe that that the not possible would be probable.

What’s the ideal way for the expo’s website visitors to knowledge your function?

They must arrive in the morning when it opens and see the carbon-fiber gates opening like substantial doorways. It’s a ceremonial procedure with a unique man or woman invited to open the gates every single day, and you see the portals when they are the two open and shut.

Discuss about the public areas you designed inside of the expo.

They’re marked by black-and-white striped paths that mimic Emirati weaving patterns. The benches that people today can sit on are a reproduction of the Emirati benches in previous Dubai, and we have hundreds of them during the walkways.

There are also 50 calligraphic benches developed in collaboration with the calligrapher Lara Captan, which capture Arabic terms picked by a team of Emirati thinkers, researchers and poets.

Also, I designed distinctive lanes on the identical path so people today can just take their time, wander briskly or run. People move at distinct speeds and in different strategies, so when you’re right here, you can uncover your very own tempo.

What will come about to the general public areas and the entry portals immediately after the expo?

The public areas will keep on being and be open up for everyone to use. The portals are manufactured from modular factors with the particular intention to allow for them to be re-erected in public spaces about the Emirates.