North Beach / Heliotrope Architects
© Sean Airhart
This residence is located on a northwesterly oriented beach fronting the Strait of Georgia. The site includes many second-growth douglas firs, a beech grove and a grassy meadow with good solar exposure. For over a thousand years this site was a summer camp location for the Lummi Indians, and due to its archeological significance, no footing excavation could take place on the site. Further, its location in a federally designated flood plain required that the structure be raised off the ground several feet. The design brief called for a very low-impact, easy to maintain summer home that provides necessary programmatic functions with minimum distractions from the land and the view.
Heliotrope Architects received a Merit Award – 2009 AIA Honor Awards for Washington Architecture for their design of North Beach. Follow the break for more photographs and drawings of this project.
Architects: Heliotrope Architects
Location: Orcas Island, Washington, USA
Structural: Swenson Say Faget
General Contractor: David Shore
Photographs: Sean Airhart
© Sean Airhart
The design response situates the structure among the trees directly between the beach and the meadow, with walls of glass opening out to both. While actual shelter is provided, the experience is of nearly complete openness to the environment, with a minimized structure meant to disappear from view.
© Sean Airhart
Steel tube columns minimize visible structure from the interior, while wood shear-wall elements provide a bold form when seen from the exterior. A matt-slab was utilized to avoid excavation, and the foundation recessed to minimize the footprint.
diagram
The roof is vegetated, which filters rainwater that in turn is collected and stored for use in irrigating the garden and flushing toilets. Potable hot water and hydronic heating are aided by 90 evacuated tube collectors on the roof, and a 4kW PV panel system above the vegetable garden provides supplemental electricity. The home is intended for occupancy from May through October, and systems have been designed to zero out electricity use over the course of a full year.
© Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- © Sean Airhart
-
- site plan
-
- floor plan
-
- diagram
I feel like I’ve seen this house 193658 times before…
the new Mies’
5:24 PM Jan 12th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects: © Sean Airhart This residence is located on a… http://goo.gl/fb/XaLhz
5:36 PM Jan 12th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects via ArchDaily – © Sean Airhart This residence is located on a … http://tinyurl.com/6zudcrm
5:36 PM Jan 12th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects via ArchDaily – © Sean Airhart This residence is located on a … http://tinyurl.com/6zudcrm
5:45 PM Jan 12th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects: This residence is located on a northwesterly oriented beach fronting the St… http://bit.ly/ijvD8H
5:51 PM Jan 12th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects | ArchDaily http://t.co/ejXUDnP via @archdaily
6:10 PM Jan 12th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects: © Sean AirhartThis residence is located on a northwesterly oriented beach f… http://bit.ly/i5GBp5
6:29 PM Jan 12th
RT @ArchDaily: North Beach / Heliotrope Architects http://archdai.ly/ie5RaY #architecture
9:23 PM Jan 12th
RT @ArchDaily: North Beach / Heliotrope Architects http://archdai.ly/ie5RaY #architecture
9:25 PM Jan 12th
Big #architecture #crush : Heliotrope Architects | North Beach http://archdai.ly/ie5RaY via @ArchDaily
10:24 PM Jan 12th
Check out: "http://www.archdaily.com/102213/north-beach-heliotrope-architects/"( http://twitthis.com/qsiaja )
6:29 AM Jan 13th
North Beach. http://bit.ly/hTQIOV
6:32 AM Jan 13th
nice :) RT @nicholaspatten: North Beach. http://bit.ly/hTQIOV
7:08 AM Jan 13th
North Beach / Heliotrope Architects | ArchDaily http://t.co/APn34V7 via @archdaily