Your home should be a place that welcomes your extended family. At least that's what Leah Martin and Vikram Prakash thought. But while they loved having fun in the home they shared with their three children, the experience wasn't quite what they had in mind.
“With everyone coming home to Seattle, our lives get so busy that we don’t get to spend time together in the way we really like,” Ms. Martin said. “We’ve been thinking for a long time that it would be great to find a place where we could really unwind as a family.”
The obvious solution, they decided, was to build a second home in a rural area outside the city. And since they are both architects, Mr. Martin, 53, is the head of architecture firm Allied8. Mr. Prakash, 60, is a professor of architecture at the University of Washington. They enjoyed the idea of designing their own home.
But where? When Martin's father moved out of New York in the summer of 2019, he wanted to visit Orcas Island, a popular vacation spot accessible by ferry. Mr. Martin and Mr. Prakash had never been there before and were fascinated.
“It was the most beautiful place,” Mr. Martin said. “We were really confused.”
While on the island that week, they began looking at properties. “There were a lot of beautiful places,” Mr. Martin said. “We couldn’t afford them.”
As soon as they got home, they created a search on Redfin to alert them to new listings in that price range. The next day they were a hit. This was a new listing for a 6 acre property in Eastsound. The view looked good, so they turned around and headed back to the island.
Mr Martin said as soon as they saw the property they “knew immediately” it was the one. Perched atop a ridge shaded by towering Douglas firs, it offers views south to Mount Rainier and north across the Salish Sea to Vancouver, Canada.
Building a house there would be difficult because the land is so steep and there is little level ground. But that also meant the property was relatively cheap. The couple closed on the land for $375,000 in October of that year and began work.
To avoid the problem of conflicting creative visions, they decided that Mr. Martin would take on the role of lead architect and Mr. Prakash would provide feedback.
“I thought, ‘Okay, you do the project and I’ll act as the client,’” he said. “My original vision was very different, but I let her lead.”
Mrs. Martin was so fascinated by the natural beauty of the place that she tried to disturb it as little as possible. “Our demand was that not a single tree should be cut down,” she said. She also did not want to flatten the top of the hill to create a flat building site.
She envisioned a long, slender 1,300-square-foot house on a steel frame that touched the ground in only six places and couldtilevered over the top of the hill on one side.
The house she designed—a simple rectangle with a stand-seam metal gable roof—is clad in Kebony, a wood siding modified to be weatherproof, and has steel overhangs to protect the windows and doors from rain.
Inside, Mr. Martin created half of the house as an open-plan space with a living room, dining area, and kitchen, providing plenty of space for family and friends to gather. For the other half, we designed a basic suite and a bunk room that can sleep up to 12 people with six full-size mattresses.
To make the most of the home's relatively small size, she left the ceiling open, painted the roof trusses white, and laid sturdy lumber between them, known as car decking, to create an attic accessible by ladder.
“We have bean bag chairs that fold up into beds, carpets and lighting,” Mr Martin said.
She went on to say that the space was taken over by their children Saher (now 20), Renzo (16) and Saumya (14). “They like it because they feel like they have their own little space, even though there is no acoustic privacy. dot.”
CA Reed Construction began work on the project in the fall of 2020, but it was not completed until last August due to pandemic-related supply chain issues and weather. Mr. Martin said the total cost was about $850 per square foot. That's a lot less than typical construction costs on the island, she noted.
Now she has a hard time believing it's hers when she visits. “It’s magical.” she said “I don’t know how to explain it.”
Her husband and customer agreed.
“I think it’s really amazing. Participating in the situation and surrounding conditions on the ground creates this sense of belonging and quiet,” said Mr. Prakash, a former professor. “It’s a sacred place.”
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