Innis Arden

Pietro Potestà

• Architects

Building a home wedged in the gentle hills of Innis Arden connecting a fun lifestyle to the board views of the puget sound.

photo_credit Pietro Potestà — Pietro Potestà

Innis Arden is a special place along the West coast of the Puget Sound, gently rolling down to the water. When it was first developed in the fifties, the land was divided in half-acre lots and each house had view rights and height restrictions to allow for the view to be preserved for everybody.

This project started as a remodel of an existing 1954 L-shaped mid-century house and slowly turned into a complete rebuild that yielded a close to net-zero new home, imagined by the owner for low impact, low maintenance and for full enjoyment of the indoor-outdoor connections.

The first thing to know about this house is that the owners are the most fun, imaginative, life-enjoying, hard working people ever. All these qualities are reflected in the shapes, choices, materials, and colors of the house. The design of the house was profoundly influenced by their contagious attitude. On top of that, they were directly involved in the construction process, with great professionalism, I must add.

The house is equipped with eight 3,500 Gallons water storage tanks (three under the dug-out crawl space, and five in a special bermed area beyond the garage). The rood hosts a 10KWh solar array that feeds two Tesla wall power storage units. All insulations far exceed the already high standards imposed by Washington State. Given the vicinity to the salt water and the exposure to wind and rain, all exterior materials are thought for the lowest possible maintenance. To facilitate a continuous indoor-outdoor connection the floor choice also fell on scratch free surfaces.

The lower floor includes additional space for the main unit and an AADU, mostly thought as an independent guest unit, with its own access to the yard and view. The hardscaping and landscaping work includes additional site drainage features, and provide a seamless adjustment in elevations that allow the house to have a permanent direct connection with the outdoor spaces.

The view is the obvious trait d’union of the whole project, as it’s revealed already from before touching the front door, that provides a thru the house view of the Sound. This house is a HAPPY place.