Panorama House

Methow Valley, Washington

The house is located on a twenty-acre parcel of land perched on a flat plateau at the north end of the Methow Valley. The Valley sits just east of the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State about a four-hour drive from Seattle. The southern view is a ten-mile vista, down the valley, towards Pearrygin Lake and the Chewuch River. The northern view is a curtain of mountain peaks, some of which reside in Canada. The views east and west are shorter, looking into the Chewuch river valley and a stand of Aspen trees that change throughout the year like a colorful mosaic.

The client, who grew up with a love of hiking and the outdoors, left the urbanism of New York City to find a calmer life in the Methow Valley. With her dog, Toby, she has crafted a place to live for decades and wanted a house that always connected her to the land no matter where she was in the house. At the same time, it needed to be a house that could feel warm during the snow-heavy winters and protected from the intensity of a warming planet and the forest fires that have become common in the Valley.

The client’s parents, eager to visit after the global COVID lockdown from their home in Germany, referred to the house as the “Panorama House” for its abundance of views, each with a distinct character. The house is laid out as a cloister of three boxes around a central living room that each contain a private function of the home. The boxes support a simple, low-slung shed roof that evokes the slope of the surrounding hills and holds the building close to the land. The house is purposely sited away from the edge of the property’s dramatic slope to reduce its impact on neighboring views of the property.

Completed 2022

 

The low pitch of the roof echoes the slope of the surrounding foothills. Light, air, and views carry through the house.

The house appears as a series of dark forms supporting a delicate, luminous roof. A carport and entry-way appear between the masses of the home, sheltering the door from the elements. The entry way sits in alignment with a longer view across the Valley.

The front door is tucked deep under the carport to protect it from blowing winter snows.

When the front door is opened, a visitor is greeted by a vista through the house to the “morning porch” which looks out to the east side of the valley.

The siting of the building maximizes the building’s relationship to the views down valley. The position of the centrally located living room (circle at the center of the home) establishes the position of each of the more secluded living spaces (main bedroom, kitchen, guest rooms).

Landscaping is minimal, serving as a defensive fire barrier. Large boulders excavated during foundation work help mark transitions in the land.

The house is set back from the edge of a flat terrace on a twenty-acre site situated on the slope of a foothill in the Methow Valley. This is to respect sightlines from other parts of the Valley and to contribute a vista of grassland for the spectacular views from within the site. A low slung roof line disappears into the hills in the distance, rather than standing out.

A stand of Aspen trees anchors the east side of the property and provides a dramatic, changing element that is juxtaposed against the quiet massiveness of the distant hills to the south and east.

 

The dark finish of the burnt cedar and the lighter natural finish meet at the floor-to-ceiling windows and along the sides of the “boxes” enclosing the house’s private spaces. The clerestory window above the living room brings natural light into the center of the house to balance the quality of light in the landscape.

 

The main bedroom enjoys a sweeping view down and up valley through a pair of windows that wrap the corner. The ceiling on the inside aligns with the porch ceiling.

An indoor shower easily transitions to an outdoor shower with a dramatic cross valley view to the east.

A large sliding pocket door to the main bedroom sits in the open position most hours. This enables the light, air, and view to be seen from the living room. The corner window resides within a large recess where personal effects are positioned.

 

The eastern elevation has a stepped form with deep-set porches to limit the building’s visual impact to the east and provide shade. This open corner enables the kitchen to be flooded with light in the early morning hours year round.

The north porch has a Murphy bed integrated into one wall for temperate summer evenings. The wall of the house stretches out to screen the main bedroom’s outdoor shower, which is connected to the indoor shower by a sliding door. The main bathroom shower looks across the valley through a sliding door that also accesses an outdoor shower. (left)

Detail of murphy bed deployed (above)

 

The panoramic qualities of the home are created by enabling the landscape to flow through the house visually. Wrap-around windows, long views borrowed from adjacent rooms, and floor-to-ceiling windows facilitate this experience.

The kitchen places most storage in full-height cabinets allowing overhead cabinets above counters to be minimized. A mudroom sits directly off the kitchen for expanded storage.

In the kitchen, a bench seat is the perfect spot to start the morning with views toward the Canadian Cascade Mountains where the sun rises each day. Even late in the evening, on summer days like this one, the room is again filled with light.

The kitchen possesses a large pantry that doubles as a primary structural bearing wall. The northern porch is directly accessible from the kitchen for a morning coffee.

 

The sweep of the southern view from the living room. A propane heater supplements the heat pump central air system. A discrete return grille is integrated into the siding detail at the right side of the clerestory.

The southern porch is deep to block the sun during the summer while allowing it in during the winter. The size affords multiple ways to occupy the outdoor space at different times of year.

The living room, situated between the three more enclosed and private living spaces, is designed to replicate the light quality “outside” via a large clerestory overhead. The exterior cladding detailing and materials is drawn into the interior to enhance the quality of being outside, in landscape.

The clerestory creates the sensation of exterior light by scooping natural light into the back of the central living space, reducing glare and balancing the intensity of the light outside.

The living room sits below the clerestory while the kitchen and dining room have a lower ceiling plane. A dark wood island echoes the charred cedar cladding on the exterior.

 

Owing to the remarkable richness of vistas, each punched window within the the private functions of the house frame the landscape like a piece of art. A reminder of the wildlife that abounds, artifacts from Toby’s explorations adorn the sill.

 
 

Just off the living room is an area for guests: two bedrooms and a bathroom. A discrete pocket door at the alcove entrance enables the areas to be acoustically separated from the living areas. One bedroom is designed as a study for the homeowner.

 

Details are simple and reinforce the larger idea of shadow as form giver and hider (camouflage). Cedar boards are used to trim openings, adding depth and shadow. The paly of charred and oiled cedar creates further complexity in what is otherwise a simple clad wall system.

The house absorbs the color and light of the seasons, existing in harmony with the landscape.

 
 
 

The house is a collection of three boxes under a large shed roof. The living room, porches, kitchen and car port allow visual and physical access to the landscape.

Photography By Lara Swimmer Photography