Five Peaks Lookout sits at the heart of Oregon’s wine country in the Chehalem Mountains. Perched on a site offering expansive views of five different mountains (Jefferson, Hood, Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier), maximizing the scenery while maintaining an intimate connection to the sloped landscape posed a design challenge. With this challenge also came an opportunity to create a solution unique to the site and the client’s vision.

The home is organized in a bar running south to north with exterior covered spaces carving away at the volume of the bar. The home features floor-to-ceiling windows, and sliding doors are used in every east-facing room, all with the intent to blur the line between inside and out. The interiors are modern and clean, using contrasting blacks and whites and polished concrete floors. A variety of wood accents, like the feature stair treads and the kitchen island, are used throughout the home to warm the space and mirror the surrounding forest.

In a dramatic move to maximize the view from the public rooms of the home, the living and dining spaces are cantilevered out over a steep drop, capturing a 270-degree view of the site and all five mountain peaks. The cantilever is supported by a concrete double-sided fireplace and chimney structure and floats above the landscape as it slopes more steeply to the north into the valley of a small perennial creek. The cantilever informs the design language carried throughout the home by inspiring ‘suspended’ elements. 

The interior design honors the indoor-outdoor aesthetic by relating finish materials to the architecture outside—the main bathroom’s dark wall tile connects to the ebony-stained exterior siding, which wraps through the glazing and defines the main hallway. Elemental materials like concrete, wood, and steel are used throughout, giving the minimalist architecture richness and a natural feel.

Team:

Architects: Scott Edwards Architecture

Engineers: MD Structural Engineering; HHPR - Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc.

Landscape Architects: Shapiro Didway

Contractors: IBuildPdx Company LLC 

Other Participants: O-llc

Photo Credits: Peter Eckert, Jeremy Bittermann, Flyworx Drones

Materials Used:

Facade cladding: Cedar, Lakeside Lumber
Flooring: Wood, Northern Wide Plank
Doors: Portland Millwork 
Windows: Fleetwood Windows and Doors, 3 Series
Roofing: PVC, “Duro-Tuff 80-mil”, Duro-Last
Interior lighting: “ELEMENT Entra” Downlights + Wall Washes, Tech Lighting
Flos – Aim pendant. 
Sonneman – Thin Line

A minimal marvel in the heart of Oregon’s wine country, Five Peaks Lookout invites the outside in. The cantilevered home calls on floor to ceiling fenestrations and naturalistic materials that let a sweeping view of the Cascades take centre stage. Paired with the home’s classic palette and effortless, almost Japanese simplicity, the wide plank flooring gives way to its clean, geometric lines. A board-formed concrete fireplace continues the linear rhythm, playing host to the homeowner’s art collection.

“In a modern, minimalist home such as the Five Peaks residence, every surface becomes that much more critical to get absolutely right, and the NWP flooring helped bring the interior of the home together.”

Brian Campbell - Architect