Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Architecture Wednesday: North Beach Residence

I love a good beach getaway, and I love a good beach getaway in a home that’s environmentally friendly, which is why we’re stopping at the North Beach Residence, on Orcas Island, the largest of the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast. 

While the 2,400-square-foot house is sited on a northwesterly oriented beach, facing the Strait of Georgia, to take advantage of the views, the property is also home to second-growth Douglas firs, a beech grove and a grassy meadow with good solar exposure. 

This single-story somewhat narrow home is set among mature fir trees, has walls of glass along both sides, one open to the beach and the other to an upland meadow. Steel columns minimize the visible structure from the interior, with metal-clad walls on the exterior. Flood-plain and archeological conditions necessitated a design approach that elevated the living areas while letting the building rest lightly on the land.

In addition, the roof is vegetated, filtering rainwater that is then collected and stored in tanks near the garage for irrigation. Potable hot water and hydronic heating are aided by solar collectors on the roof while photovoltaic panels above the vegetable garden provide supplemental electricity. And, while the home is intended to be used from May through October, these water and energy collecting systems completely zero out electricity use for the entire year.

But it’s also pretty and open and sleek and modern and white, with the primary bedroom at one end of the home and two other bedrooms at the opposite end. In between is the great room with a cozy living area anchored by a fireplace and bookshelves, a dining space, and an open kitchen, with an enormous pantry just behind it.

It's a nice space to get away from it all and relax in the beauty of the woods, the meadow and the beach while knowing that you are being especially green.

As always, click to enBIGGERate ...

One Kind Design

11 comments:

  1. Well you know me and beaches love each other...so this is a yes. You know I love me some white, and Id be spending a lot of time in that living room with the bookcases built in. And the roof that is vegetated, filtering rainwater that is then collected is brilliant. I have friends who have a home that does that. Very green!!!! Mostly I just like the simplicity and un-busy this home has.

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  2. @Maddie
    I like the green, and the bookcases, and the views of both forest and beach, depending on which side of the room you're in.

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  3. The green roof is a fantastic idea. That alone would sell me in the house. Add the location and I'd be there in a heartbeat. There's something about this mid-century idea of opening the house that I really like, too.

    XOXO

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  4. Great part of the state.
    Loverly views.
    xoxo :-)

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  5. This is a yes! And a beauty part of the country, too.

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  6. Love the exterior. The interior? All the warmth and comfort of an office space.

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  7. These is a beautiful home.

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  8. I could be convinced to move in there, but I imagine it stays pretty cool on Orcas Island. Summers might be okay, but it would probably not be a good place in the winter. I don't need to be concerned about it, though, because I'm quite sure the owners will not invite me to join them.

    Love,
    Janie

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  9. Oh YES, YES, YES, I will have what he's having. I don't even need to add red. And with that pantry I can live with the kitchen.

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  10. @Six
    It kinda hits all the buttons for me.

    @TDM
    The views sell it!

    @Mitchell
    It’s just so peaceful and calm!

    @upton
    I want to work in YOUR office then!!

    @SickoRicko
    Simple and pretty and green!

    @Janie
    When I win the Lotto and buy this place you can come and visit ... in Summer even!
    xoxo

    @Travel
    That pantry’s good, right?

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  11. It's a beautiful house, and it was always my dream to live in something with so much glass. (Like Philip Johnson's Glass House, or Mies' Farnsworth House.) But I can't help wondering how many birds clobber themselves against those windows?

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