When Mike Mora first saw the three-acre site for this Pacific Northwest retreat, a new residential project north of the city, he knew the heavily forested and marshy site would be a challenge. ‘The big thing for us was how to create a built environment in this wet, densely wooded site where the main living spaces would feel as sunlit and open as possible,' says the architect and principal of Seattle-based Heliotrope Architects. However, the forested context turned out to be the central design inspiration for the low-slung home, which gently stretches out into the landscape to provide the perfect respite for a young family of four.
Explore Interurban Residence, a Pacific Northwest retreat
'The clients wanted a quietly elegant, comfortable living environment,' reflects Mora, who worked with landscape architects Land Morphology and interior designer Amy Baker on the 5,000 sq foot home. With a central vision of creating an easygoing, livable home with a strong connection to the outdoors, the team got to work shaping the design.
The L-shaped home is organised as a series of three long and narrow gable-roofed pavilions, with a bedroom and guest wing extending to the west and north, while the main living areas anchor the home in the centre. This layout, along with high ceilings and many floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, allows for an abundance of natural light inside.
Throughout, the home mediates between a manicured lawn and pool area on one side, and an untouched forest on the other. Native planting, including salal, sword ferns, and evergreen huckleberries, brings the forest habitat right up to the home, with immersive woodland views from every room.
‘The experience of the home is very much about this beautiful landscape the house sits within,' says Mora. 'With the design, we were leveraging the light, trees, and green nature that you see from every window. It’s the best wallpaper.'
To help the home blend into its forested surrounds, Mora and his team selected a Kebony exterior siding that Seattle-based general contractors Dovetail applied in a vertical orientation. Sourced from sustainably managed forests, Kebony is a thermally modified pine wood that requires no additional finish treatment and will patina over time to a soft grey colour. 'We liked Kebony’s sustainable qualities and that it has a living quality,' explains Mora.
Inside, interior designer Amy Baker assembled a palette of neutral colours, natural materials, and practical furnishings. 'The clients envisioned a gathering place where people could nest and really sink in,' explains Baker. Rift sawn white oak cabinetry and white oak flooring finished with a hard-wax oil offer slightly different colourways to provide visual contrast, while custom-designed wallpapers in the primary bedroom and powder room along with art glass pendant lights in the kitchen offer moments of joyful interest.
Together, the result is a home that provides a canvas and container for life to unfold within, and a frame for the Pacific Northwest landscape just outside. 'We believe in design that does only what needs to be done to create something healthy and meaningful without overstating the case,' says Mora. 'Hopefully, that leads to a home that doesn’t ever feel out of date and will be loved for a long time.'
-
We are the world: Pininfarina’s ‘Orbis’ taps Papal support for an eco-friendly agendaThe Orbis is a ‘symbolic object’, a gift to Pope Francis from the Italian design agency at a time of political upheaval and social fracture around all aspects of sustainability
-
An appetite for design: 10 of our favourite dining tablesDiscover the best dining tables: a curated selection of enduring favourites and exciting new pieces from designers around the world.
-
Apple’s new Miami store employs the principles of biophilic designApple’s first mass-timber store connects shoppers to nature while echoing the Art Deco architecture of Miami
-
Apple’s new Miami store employs the principles of biophilic design
Apple’s first mass-timber store connects shoppers to nature while echoing the Art Deco architecture of Miami
-
The World Monuments Fund has announced its 2025 Watch – here are some of the endangered sites on the listEvery two years, the World Monuments Fund creates a list of 25 monuments of global significance deemed most in need of restoration. From a modernist icon in Angola to the cultural wreckage of Gaza, these are the heritage sites highlighted
-
Reflections from Los Angeles: a local writer's personal account of the LA firesArchitecture writer and local resident Michael Webb reflects on the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires and offers his personal account of the events of the last two weeks in California
-
LA Mayor Karen Bass outlines her plan for rebuilding the cityFollowing the devastating LA wildfires, which have destroyed more than 12,000 structures, the city’s mayor has outlined her plan for reconstruction
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House, a Usonian modernist Michigan gem, could be yoursFrank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House in Michigan is on the market – a chance to peek inside the heritage modernist home in the countryside
-
Cabin House is a simple modernist retreat in the woods of North CarolinaDesigned for downsizing clients, Cabin House is a modest two-bedroom home that makes the most of its sylvan surroundings
-
A Texas ranch house blends Californian charm and Asian minimalism in a 'balance in hybridity'Pontious, a Texas ranch house designed by OWIU, is a home grounded in its owner's cultural identity, uniting Californian, Chinese and Japanese roots
-
The three lives of the Edith Farnsworth House: now, a modernist architecture icon open to allThe modernist Edith Farnsworth House has had three lives since its conception in 1951 by Mies van der Rohe; the latest is a sensitive renovation, and it's open to the public
