Vestibule North

Located on one of the San Juan Islands, north of Seattle, the project combines residential and cultural programs on a distinctive site. Defined on the east by a thick pine forest, the site opens up to the west, looking to the ocean, past a dramatic bluff that leads to beach below.

The clients plan to use the site both as a second and future full time home and also as a site for artist residencies and events – bringing the program of a gallery they operate in the city to the country, and expanding on the gallery’s existing program.

The building that will serve as artist quarters and workshop / studio, hugs the sloping grade of the site approaching the bluff. The interior volumes of the studio grow in size in plan and section towards the ocean and the ground, with the roof maintaining an even datum above. The roof deck becomes a site for less defined program. Covered by a polycarbonate roof and surrounded by screen walls, the roof / porch above will be a site for art installations, gathering, and sleeping outdoors.

In collaboration with Ets Architecture