Project Details
- Project Name
- City Cabin
- Architect
- Olson Kundig
- Project Types
- Single Family
- Size
- 2,400 sq. feet
- Shared by
- Hanley Wood Media
- Project Status
- Built
In some ways, the client for the compact, two-bedroom City Cabin in Seattle knew exactly what she wanted: an urban version of the rural house that Jim Olson, FAIA, the founding partner of local firm Olson Kundig, has been building and renovating on Puget Sound, Wash., since he was 18 years old. The client’s targeted aspirations stem from the fact that she’s known Olson for most of the six decades he’s been working on it, and that her own vacation house is located next door. For her house in the city, she acquired the antithesis of that rural locale: an 80-foot by 100-foot lot in a relatively flat residential area that features 1950s and 1960s ranch homes, built cheek by jowl.
“Jim’s first sketch was all green, like an oasis in the city,” says project architect Renee Boone.
Olson and Boone walled the lot off from its neighbors and placed the single-story wood-and-glass house at its northwest corner, positioned to maximize the landscaped area and its morning sunlight. The simple 2,400-square-foot plan places the taller living/dining/kitchen area at the center, with low flanking wings that contain the garage and a guest suite to the north and the master suite to the south. A 14.5-foot-tall main space opens dramatically to the grounds with full-height glazing on the east and southeast façades. “We created an environment that feels wild,” Olson says.
Glulam beams supported by paired galvanized steel columns form the roof plane that hovers above a clerestory that fills the space with natural light. Built-ins, including shelving along the north and west walls as well as under the countertop of the kitchen island, accommodate books and the client’s collection of Native American artwork. Olson’s experience designing spaces for art is apparent through the thoughtful placement of objects both inside the house and in the exterior garden spaces.
Net-zero energy was also a prerequisite: “The house is an example of how you can live in the city without using any resources,” Olson says. The architects engaged the building team to achieve high energy performance, with features that include a well-insulated envelope with triple-pane laminated glazing, a green roof over the lower volumes, and a rooftop-mounted photovoltaics system above the main space.
While Olson’s own cabin provided the project’s precedent, Olson says that he and the client differed on some preferences. “I like weathered wood, she wanted raw wood,” he says. “She likes warmer colors. I prefer cooler.”
Material selection was influenced by celebrating natural materials. Exterior walls utilize reclaimed fir from a fruit storage warehouse in Kennewick, Wash. The unfinished vertical siding is rendered in varying widths and thicknesses. Interior walls and ceilings are also kept simple, sheathed in unfinished 4-foot by 8-foot plywood sheets. “When you look at raw plywood, it’s like marble,” Olson says, noting that it reflects a Japanese sensibility of seeing beauty in ordinary things. When the client asked for a red concrete floor, Olson asked her to go to the beach and find a red rock. The rock was given to the contractor, who was tasked with matching the hue.
The kitchen island, which doubles as the dining table, is topped by a counter fashioned from a 2,700-year-old fir tree that a farmer discovered in Skagit Valley to the north. The wood, preserved under the waters of a bog, became a focal point for the space and a natural summation of the aesthetic of City Cabin.
--Project Credits
Project: City Cabin, Seattle
Client/Owner: Melissa Haumerson
Architect/Interior Designer: Olson Kundig, Seattle . Jim Olson, FAIA (design principal); Renee Boone (project manager/project architect); Christine Burkland (interior designer)
Mechanical Engineer: WSP
Structural Engineer: MCE Structural Consultants
Civil Engineer: Coughlin Porter Lundeen
General Contractor: Dovetail
Landscape Architect: The Palm Room
Lighting Designer: dePelecyn Studio
Envelope: RDH Building Science
Size: 2,400 square feet
Cost: Withheld
This article appeared in ARCHITECT's April 2018 issue.