Family retreat

Henry Island Guesthouse is a thoughtful response to evolving a family retreat on a remote location. Through its sensitive approach to site, a compact linear form, restrained material selection, and strategies for occupant wellbeing, the project provides abundance without excess, offering guests immersion within a remarkable natural environment. Benjamin Benschneider Benjamin Benschneider The guesthouse is an addition to a secluded site in the San Juan Islands. The main residence on the 24-acre property, designed by our practice in 2012, sits in a meadow overlooking a shallow bay. When new owners purchased the property, they engaged us to create additions that respected the natural character of the island and its few homesites. Th... More

Akb Architects has created a multi-generational family cottage clad in rough-sawn cedar boards and cedar shakes to merge with the northern Ontario terrain of windswept trees and Pre-Cambrian bedrock. The 7,500-square-foot residence comprises three interconnected volumes that form an interior of cozy spaces and open rooms with spectacular views of a freshwater lake. The simple, volumetric shapes are distinctly contemporary while also embedded with vernacular features that give the house its cabin-in-the-woods appeal, including gabled rooflines with pronounced chimney stacks and an abundance of naturally aged wood. Shai Gil The client requested a year-round retreat that would serve as an inviting destination to entertain guests while al... More

Ocean Drive is a 6,112-square-foot single-floor condominium unit within a new residential tower overlooking the Atlantic in Miami Beach, Florida. The clients are based in Seattle and travel often but have deep roots in the panhandle and had been looking to return home. To accommodate a family of six, this down to the slab renovation combined two smaller units to create a five bedroom retreat on the beach. Kevin Scott First conversations focused on the ever changing views from the space and the almost tactile quality of light at this latitude. The design grew out of a desire to amplify these phenomena and let the interior architecture be a canvas and a frame. To that end, a simple diagram was developed with a solid, shadowy service cor... More

This beautiful, south facing, ten-acre site on Useless Bay sits at the southern end of Whidbey Island. Our clients wanted a home to accommodate large groups of friends and family—a place in which to celebrate weekend gatherings over food and shared time together.   The focal point for the home is the dramatic, two-story great room. The space—which includes a dining area at one end and a generous seating area at the other—is book-ended by two identical national park-scaled stone fireplaces. A series of stone columns surround the space and support the exposed structural system above. Stained, clear fir ceilings are layered with a crisscross of wood purlins and trusses in a tapestry that recalls traditional Japanese de... More

Located at the point where rolling hills meet meadows of native grassland, this house was designed to sensitively merge with its landscape. Commissioned as a getaway for a London-based couple and set within a 19-acre parcel of Central Coast landscape, the house is loosely based on traditional California ranch houses. Nestled among oak trees and into the contours of the site, the house defers to its surrounding. Composed of two primary elements—residence and pool house—the compound is defined by low-slung wings that form a central, private courtyard within. A series of integrated courtyards and terraces accentuate indoor-outdoor relationships. The courtyards and terraces provide refuge from the wide open spaces, establishing inti... More