Heliotrope Architects, the Seattle based architecture and design studio has designed a stunning summer residence in the San Juan Islands in their home state of Washington. Their design won them the Merit award of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Seattle chapter, who honor architects and their project teams from across Washington State for projects exemplifying the best work in a broad array of sectors from single- and multi-family residential, to civic, to commercial. Facing the Strait of Georgia, the dwelling placed on a northwesterly oriented beach, has minimal impact on the environment. The second-growth douglas firs, a beech grove and a grassy meadow and ample of sunshine offers a heavenly living experience.
The architects have created a design that is a true depiction of a very low-impact, easy to maintain summer home that provides necessary programmatic functions with minimum distractions from the land and the view. Placed amongst the trees directly between the beach and the meadow, the Northbeach Residence has glass walls that provide complete openness to the view around, while steel tube columns minimize visible structure from outside.
It also incorporates a matt-slab that helps in keeping away from excavation, and the foundation recessed to minimize the footprint. Other features include a vegetated roof that filters rainwater that in turn is collected and stored for use in irrigating the garden and flushing toilets, potable hot water and hydronic heating with 90 evacuated tube collectors on the roof and a 4kW PV panel system above the vegetable garden to provide supplemental electricity.
Via: AIA Seattle