The client wanted to build a residence on a steep waterfront property in Point Roberts, Washington. Sites bordering the ocean can have difficult topography, and in order to make the site "buildable", land is often added or removed in order to fabricate a level foundation. Housescape takes a different approach. Instead of intervening on the site, the design has allowed the land to integrate a house.
Every part of the house was designed using the natural landscape as a guideline. The roof continues the ground plane at the top of the site, every stairway shadows the contours of the land down to the water, and exterior paths are the natural topography that lead from the second floor bedroom to the lap pool below or across to the deck. The view out to the ocean is not cleared or flattened to fit the shape of a window. Instead, the view displays how the building is truly connected to its
natural surroundings. The procession through the house is a direct experience of moving through, and living in, the land.Text and images from: Tony Wai
