A Wood and Concrete House Designed with Clean Geometric Forms and “Pivoting” Floors

When it comes to unusual design that moves away from the mundane and gives homeowners a fresh perspective on spatial rearrangement, the House Between Trees in Brazil comes up trumps. Designed by Ateliê de Arquitetura Líquida, the design of the house has been largely influenced by the unique lot its sits in, giving it a […]

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A new exhibit at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum tells the story of how two midcentury masters met, and how their shared obsessions produced a lasting midcentury aesthetic.

Built for family and friends as a space for sport and gathering, the Fieldhouse is a simple, functional structure. Like the immersion of nature and recreation in the development of state and national parks of the early 20th century, this family wanted a structure where friends, family, and neighbors could gather, play sport, celebrate and relax in the country. The Fieldhouse feels distant and secluded, located on a mostly undeveloped seven-acre site, surrounded by a meadow of natural grasses, a fruit orchard, wetland ponds and a maintained field for sporting. As long time natives of the Pacific Northwest, the family was keen to convey a specific sense of place and longevity. The architecture responds to those ideas in its simplicity and versatility, and in its construction from durable, local materials. Inspiration was taken from vernacular stone and timber structures built across the country in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The architects and clients channeled their own recollections of summers spent in Seattle’s waterfront parks and their simple elegant structures, often by early 20th century Seattle architect Ellsworth Storey. The 1,664-square-foot structure consists of a covered outdoor patio flanked by two, offset and enclosed spaces housing a sun room and inglenook to the west, and a kitchen, grill and two bathrooms to the east. Designed to accommodate almost any situation, the Fieldhouse can shelter four as comfortably as it can 60, hosting sleepovers, family sports tournaments, reunions and outdoor dining with ease. The structure employs a gradient of enclosure and structural qualities from the immersive intimate inglenook to the ever thinning shed roof structure, gently lifting off above the central patio. The building can be shutdown to weather storms, or opened wide to allow light, air and activity to pass through freely. The structure provides a straight-forward and visibly-constructed language of materials. It progressively lightens from a solid stone base, to thick timber columns, to pairs of rafters and thinner yet pairs of purlins, supporting the single-plane shed roof. The timber is all Douglas fir and cedar harvested and salvaged from the Pacific Northwest. The stone is taken from a quarry on nearby Vancouver Island and the early, factory-style steel casement doors and windows are West Coast built. This timeless assembly of materials and method of construction suggest that this is a building about its surroundings and a stalwart of the region it resides in, functioning as well today as it will in 100 years. Hoedemaker Pfeiffer design team
Steve Hoedemaker, co-founder and partner
Justin Oldenhuis Project team
Hoedemaker Pfeiffer (Architecture)
Hoedemaker Pfeiffer (Interior Design)
Joseph McKinstry Construction Company (Contractor)
Swenson Say Faget (Structural Engineer)
Kenneth Philp Landscape Architects (Landscape Architect) Photography
Andrew Giammarco

Kūono is a modern cabin located on the Big Island of Hawaii near Volcanoes National Park. Its exterior was inspired by the modern sea cabins of Norway, and was designed to appear as a modern shape glowing in contrast to the dense Ohia forest. The exterior features of the property fade seamlessly into the boundaries of the site, with a crushed basalt driveway, native landscaping and outdoor sitting areas that were leveled with rocks dislodged during foundation preparation. Water to the property is supplied by a catchment tank and pump house, screened from view by horizontal cedar lattice. Kūono’s design allows for the experience of minimal restriction between indoor and outdoor. Its living spaces include both an open concept interior floor plan as well as an expansive lanai that features a central fire pit, lounge chairs and cedar ofuro soaking tub. From inside the cabin, a full height window wall and sliding glass doors give guests a complete vertical panorama of soil to blue sky through the Ohia canopies above. The floor plan efficiently accommodates four, with a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom and a vaulted sleeping/living space. In addition this home was under construction during the 2018 eruption that lasted 4 months. Although it was 20 miles away from the flowing lava that decimated over 700 homes, it was 4 miles away for the Halemaumau Crater which at one point experienced a 30 day stretch with daily 5.0 or greater earthquakes including one with a magnitude of 6.9. Minimal, modern, yet comfortable, Kūono is meant to be a place of respite, where guests are immersed in the beauty of Volcano’s natural landscape with the comforts of a luxury guest home still at hand.