Then, he visited the site five times to identify important trees, view corridors, and just hang out. Brandt watched the sun, to determine where to put windows.
So many factors impacted the design of the house. “Even if we're just doing a simple remodel on a house, we look at everything,” says Brandt. That includes other buildings, trees, views, streetlights, even power lines.
In rainy Seattle, Brandt makes sure to do a solar analysis to learn where to place windows for maximum sunlight. And then he concentrates on maximizing the views.
In his neck of the woods, builders tend to use the environment as a tool in the process. “Seattle's got such lush vegetation—it comes up in every project,” says Brandt. “The greenery is so healthy and rich here that you can use it to create privacy and sense of space and connection to the outside world.”
In addition, in this West Coast city it's a plus to try to grab “peekaboo views” of Mt. Rainier, the downtown cityscape, or the Cascades, whenever the clouds part.
MARRYING LIVES AND LANDOnce he knew how to site the project, Brandt started developing the concept of the house tied to his buyers' passion for the water. In this case, he decided to make the two-piece house resemble a boat tethered to a dock, divided by a concrete retaining wall.
Everything to the right of the divider, the “dock” portion, is clad in stained cedar siding. The windows are bronze aluminum, the hues intentionally darker, more earthy, in an effort to evoke the idea of trees and earth, the grounded feel of dry land, says Brandt. The dock side consists of entry hall, guest bathroom, and music room, where Barbara gives recitals on cello and piano.
To the left of the concrete wall is an 8-foot-wide vertical ribbon of glass. This serves as a transition space from the dock to the “boat” portion, giving guests a sense of being on a gangplank.
The boat side of the house features painted cement-board panels, with colors and materials different from those on the dock side. Inside, the “boat” features lower ceilings and tighter hallways, and houses the dining and living rooms as well as bedrooms tucked into the hillside. Interior materials also convey the idea of a boat—lots of wood as one might find on a cruiser, including Jatoba wood with an oil finish and high-end Douglas VG fir.
Brandt is careful to give credit for the finished project to the builder, as well. Like many architects, Brandt is the poet in the project, but it's the builder that gives a house its brawn—in this case, Scott Engler of Seattle-based Heartwood Builders.
“The myth is that [builders and architects] knock heads, but when they work together, they produce a very beautiful thing,” says Taylor.
As time-consuming as this process was, Brandt believes it really paid off in the end.
“The level of consciousness about the relationships between home and landscape and the human psyche is something that most architects struggle to bring to people's attention,” says Brandt. “A house has to be about the people that live there and the environment that it's in. Ahouse should be a very personal thing.”
Lynne Meredith Schreiber is a freelance writer based in Southfield, Mich.