Projects
A Pacific Northwest retreat that treads lightly on the land
Growing up in the Seattle area, Neal Andrew Barber, AIA, spent plenty of weekends exploring and recreating in the western Cascade Mountains on the border of Washington state and Canada, so it was only natural for him and his wife to gravitate toward this area when they decided to build a weekend home. When they stumbled upon a parcel with a meadow full of mature bigleaf maple trees, they knew they’d found their place. It stood out from its heavily forested surroundings, giving Barber an opportunity to test out stylistic ideas that had been floating around in his head since graduate school and to design a home that responds well to local conditions while meeting modern needs for sustainability.
Connecting with nature
Barber chose to site the home in a way that maximizes southern and southwestern light and vantages of the meadow and adjacent pond. Large E-Series windows take advantage of these unobstructed views, framing them like paintings. But it wasn’t just the views out that Barber considered. He also put great care into framing views of the home itself.
Neal Andrew Barber, AIA
“When people think of Pacific Northwest architecture, it’s more about blending in,” he said. “For this project, we wanted it to stand out in the landscape.” To achieve this, he carefully considered how the home would interact with the surrounding natural features — trees, pond, meadow, as well as the walking paths.
At the same time, he wanted to make sure the building looked like it had been there for a long time. Taking inspiration from the local vernacular, he modeled the home’s primary volume after a barn. Clad in vertical strips of cedar siding, it will develop a silvery patina as it ages — thus the home was dubbed the “Silver Residence.”
