Will Austin Photography
Lake Washington Residence: Before
It takes a thick skin to withstand Seattle’s nastiest weather, but this lakefront home also has a softer side. The art is in the juxtaposition of the two.
The owners weren’t too sentimental about preserving the character of their original 1930s home. This gave architect Ray Johnston license to experiment with a second-story addition and a 400-square-foot bump-out of the existing footprint.
The new and improved house, with its requisite glass walls overlooking the water, does give some playful nods to what stood before. Its new roof matches the pitch of the original garage structure, albeit with a gable turned perpendicular. And the verticality that once came by way of board-and-batten siding is now carried through in a recycled steel standing-seam roof that wraps down two sides.
“This house is on a lake and gets a fair amount of weather, so the concept of a protective shell was appealing,” says Johnston. “But we also had this idea there might be layers of skin underneath that are warmer, friendlier, and easier to build. So as you cut away the metal skin, you get wood skin [horizontal red cedar]. Most of the windows and doors are set into the wood.”
CATEGORY: Whole-house makeover or significant addition
ENTRANT/ARCHITECT: Johnston Architects, Seattle
BUILDER: Schuchart Dow, Seattle
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Seattle, WA, Washington, DC.
