Architecture Wednesday: Broadmoor Residence

This is the remodel of a home built back in 1958 in an area of Seattle known as Broadmoor. It was conceived as sprawling, single-tory ranch on a half-acre lot, but the currents felt as if the house and the landscape were two separate entities that never really converged.

Enter David Coleman Architecture who set about merging interior and exterior space, defining access to the house, and movement through it. Now, from the street, you walk along the original, meandering stone stair to a new courtyard, defined by building and stone landscape walls. A portion of the courtyard was excavated to create space for a long, low window opening into the lower level yoga room, and to allow construction  of a bridge between the front garden and home.

The interiors are organized around a gallery on the street side of the building. The rooms open onto one another and overlook the meadow, located in the back yard. Oversized lift-slide doors and large planes of glass dissolve the line between inside and out and allow free movement, physically and visually.

The plan retains the open plan living most people want in a home today, but also retains a sense of intimacy through the use of  subtle yet effective architectural devices, like changes in ceiling height, changes in wall and flooring material, and free-standing cabinets.

The master suite seems an open, yet completely separate space; you enter the dressing room first, complete with vanities, access to the bath, the walk-in closet and then the sleeping chamber which opens onto the meadow; the bath is conceived as a wet-room, with a free-standing bathtub that opens onto a private courtyard.

It still is a rather sweeping home, but seems far more open, to the outdoors and to itself.

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Photography by Steve Keating

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