This house takes inspiration from Peter Doig’s “Concrete Cabin” paintings in which the modernist architecture of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’hibitation building is depicted being engulfed in trees.  The mandate for this house was to disturb as little of the existing natural topography as possible. The house was set back from the main street to allow for any construction disturbance to return to its natural state and provide privacy to the home.

A covered walkway and patio, evoking a Japanese Engawa, surrounds the main floor allowing for multiple points of permeability from inside to the outside.  Views from the inside frame the surrounding forest on all sides.  On the second floor, windows are placed to allow views between the forest canopy toward the Columbia River Valley and its flanking mountain ranges.

Photo Credits: Tanja Malnar