This Washington State home cements an extended family’s connection to the Pacific Northwest

This new house in Washington State brings heritage, history and landscape together in a celebration of contemporary domestic design. Designed by Adam Lawler and Solomon Berg of Ment Architecture, the house was built for Lawler’s parents, long-time residents of the region.

Through careful design, Heritage House is intended as a place to age gracefully, appreciate the landscape and welcome the extended family. Visual elements help tie it into the site, with framed views across the plan, while the entire structure is arranged across a single level for ease of access and practicality. ‘My parents wanted the home to support aging in place, so it was designed without any steps at entries or throughout the interior,’ says Lawler.

‘Family was a major focus for this project – fittingly, it’s called Heritage House,’ says Lawler, ‘The gable roof is inspired by minimal gabled houses that define the architectural vernacular in Underdahl, Norway, a small fishing village on a fjord that is the ancestral hometown of my family.’

Beneath the roof pitch are lofty rooms, with white walls and large expanses of frameless glazing and large sliding doors looking out on the forest and mountains beyond; an east-facing terrace opening off the living room has views of Mount Rainier. Arranged as two structures in a T-shaped plan, the principal element of the house is akin to a traditional long house, with one end given over to living and dining and the other to three bedrooms.

The other wing houses a generous office as well as storage and the essential water treatment plant. Lawler describes how ‘Scandinavian details of the ancient village have been modernised and adapted to the Washington context,’ with the cedar siding intended to weather as the house ages. The house is furnished modestly with lighting and furniture by RBW, Resident and Hay, including the Mags Soft Low sofa and About A Lounge 82 armchairs.

‘This home celebrates family living,’ the architect continues, ‘it is a place for new memories to be formed and old experiences to be fondly remembered. My parents have lived in this area for many years – this property is actually only about a mile from the house I grew up in.’

Ment Architecture’s approach takes this very personal connection as a starting point, shaping a house that celebrates a long association with place. ‘[My parents have] always had a deep connection to the landscape and the small, tight-knit community there,’ says Lawler, explaining how the ideas and vision for the house have been circulating through the family for years.

The approach to structure and form was deliberately simple in order to make the most of the budget. Prefab trusses were carefully placed to allow windows to reach from floor to ceiling, accentuating the framing of the garden and the house’s connection to the wider Pacific Northwest landscape.

MentArchitecture.com