Urban Cabin
Suyama Peterson Deguchi
ARCHITECTS
Suyama Peterson Deguchi
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Swenson Say Faget
PHOTOGRAPHS
Michael Burns
MANUFACTURERS
Landbridge Lighting, Tod Von Mertens
GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Esmb
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
R. David Adams Associates, George Rudko
INTERIORS
Jeff King, Sarah Macdonald, Aya Sakurai
PROJECT TEAM
George Suyama, Heidi Epstein, Suyama Peterson Deguchi
SITE AREA
29,090 Sf
ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS
Suyama Peterson Deguchi
DESIGN PRINCIPAL
George Suyama
PROJECT ARCHITECT
Ric Peterson
YEAR
2012
AREA
2289 FT²
LOCATION
Seattle, United States
CATEGORY
Cabins
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Text description provided by architect.
Urban Cabin was designed for a retired couple interested in downsizing and simplifying their lives. The couple lived on the site for 26 years, creating and nurturing their private yet urban sanctuary.
The challenge was to design an appropriate response to the ideals of living with less in a neighborhood which is prone to excess. Conceptually, the design was inspired by a picnic shelter in a forest.
The ideas of a primitive picnic shelter gave direction to both the building’s form and minimal program requirements. All program elements were reduced of excesses and distilled down to the elemental.
The house is composed of a simple sheltering roof, supported on the east by a solid wall, which protects the inhabitants from a busy public park.
Informed by the topography, the house was slightly recessed into the landscape, engaging a visual connection to the site.
The remaining west-facing elevations are composed of windows and doors which embrace the surrounding garden and ponds.
The deep overhangs at the ends of the long roof create an extension of space beyond the glass enclosure.
Terraces are tucked under the shed roof to reinforce a connection to the beautiful landscape beyond.
The exterior siding on the long east wall continues through the interior spaces, and with the minimal window details, blurs the boundaries of inside space.
