38 | Oregon Home Capturing these territorial views was an obvious focus for Akiko and Katsuya, who earned their graduate degrees in architecture and worked on their first projects in New York City before relocating to Portland four years ago. And they had a lot to work with: The site sits on a scenic stretch of land in rural Ridgefield, Wash., with Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood in the distance. They designed the home to have not only large, revealing windows but long corridors that extend the line of sight throughout the home and lead to views of the natural surroundings. Less obvious — and more challenging — was designing the home to incorporate the varying styles of the married homeowners. The husband is Japanese American and wanted aspects of the home that reflected his heritage. His wife longed for the comfort and welcoming feeling of more traditional Western architecture. “There are little pockets where there is one or the other,” Katsuya says. “The spaces take cues from both aesthetics and come together to make a house that both can call a home.” Akiko and Katsuya achieved that balance in several ways. For starters, there is an area near the front door for removing shoes — long a tradition in Asian households — as well as a meditative garden and a Japanese bathing room. In the latter is a soaking tub and slats hung on the wall made from Port Orford cedar, a fragrant regional wood that was also used in the home’s engawa, a Japanese-style wraparound deck. The homeowners went with a neutral palette, cedar siding and glulam beams that give off warm tones. This was a mutually agreed-upon direction that aesthetics of both Eastern and Western architecture could share. The kitchen mixes traditional detail with contemporary language to bring scale and approachability to the space. “It’s modern, but we didn’t want it to feel stark,” Akiko says.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==