Forest Pavilion on Dwell
Working closely with the contours of the site, Signal Architecture + Research designs a couple’s dream home to suit the needs of the surrounding forest—boulders and all. Photos by Nic Lehoux, text by Rachel Gallaher.
"We wanted a house in the middle of the woods that looked like you dropped it right in between all of the trees," Joan says. "I wanted to feel like I’m outside in and inside out at all times." Both Joan and Ken were born and raised in Washington (he on the eastern side of the state and she in Seattle), and after spending a decade in Salt Lake City, getting back to the Northwest was a priority for them.
"The project evolved from the site," Mark Johnson [Signal Principal] says. "Joan had initially envisioned a linear building with bedrooms on either side and a public space in the middle. In response to the land, we started to break things into nodes anchored around a central gathering space."
The clients had three main requests: the house should be a single story, have cement floors, and have large walls of windows in as many places as possible. Additionally, Joan was hoping for a midcentury touch. "My parents had a very modern home, so I grew up with that architectural style," she says. "Clean lines and open, spacious living have always appealed to me."
In response to these prompts, Signal designed a 2,600-square-foot house divided into three connected volumes: a primary suite, an entertaining hub (with the kitchen, living room, and dining area), and a guest suite that holds Joan’s painting studio and a flexible-use space. To the north of the house sits a garage. At one end, the architects and builders built Joan a surprise potting area featuring a large workspace crafted from leftover cedar used on the interior ceilings.
In order to save as many trees as possible, Signal revised Joan’s original floor plan from a linear volume to an L-shaped block, and its exterior palette of dark-stained cedar siding and steel is designed to blend in with the surrounding woods. The disturbance of the existing forest was held to five feet from the house, and in some places the structure is cut into the site’s slight hill. Windows abound, many strategically placed to frame views of the trees and nurse stumps. During excavation, Dovetail uncovered more than 40 giant glacial boulders, a handful of which were worked into the landscape design.
Inside the house, a minimalist approach prevails. Cedar ceilings are a warm nod to the trees outside, while concrete flooring and a custom steel fireplace add slight industrial touches. In certain areas, like the living room and bathroom, the architects brought in the black-stained cedar siding to further the outside-in motif. When the weather is nice, a large concrete patio (and smaller seating area with a firepit a few steps away) provides a place for outdoor dining: All the couple has to do is slide open the large wall of windows opposite the kitchen and roll out their wheeled table.
When the seasons turn and the Pacific Northwest’s signature rains reappear, Ken and Joan enjoy a custom-designed water-catching system on the roof that creates waterfalls that splash onto the large boulders unearthed during construction. "Joe developed this waterfall gutter system that works with capillary action," Johnson explains.
The idea is that as the water splashes on the rocks, it will eventually produce moss, continuing the forest’s life cycle and allowing plants to continue to grow. It’s a microcosm of Ken and Joan’s entire approach to building their house, which is a love letter to the environment around them. "They wanted to create this building that’s of today and tomorrow," says Johnson, "and at the same time serves as a legacy to the forest."