How is Umbrella House different than the work I see from other firms.

 

Umbrella house is distinct in its emphasis on regional adaptation. Each project represents an attempt to delve deeper into a single question: What does a house look like that is uniquely adapted to the challenge of living well in our climate?

 

Why modern architecture? Can’t you achieve the same goals with more traditional forms?

 

To some extent. Traditional homes have an established compositional canon. Follow those rules, and the houses looks “right”. Violate those rules and the house looks “wrong”. With traditional forms, you can purse the climatic adaptations only to the extent that those ideas aren’t in conflict with a given styles compositional rules. The freedom inherent in Contemporary design allows a much wider range of materials, finishes, and compositional forms to be used in pursuit of our design goals. It’s noteworthy that the Pacific Northwest doesn’t really have an indigenous traditional housing style. If you look around the city you’ll see a mishmash of housing styles, but none of them that originated here in response to our own climate, culture, and local economy. Our first truly regional housing ideas didn’t emerge until the 1950’s, with the work of Modern architects like Paul Thiry, Paul Kirk, and Wendell Lovett. Umbrella House is a continuation of that tradition - a search for an indigenous Northwest home.

 

What’s with all the Stucco and the Cement Board? It’s the Northwest. What’s wrong with Wood?

 

Wood architecture is part of our culture and part of the design heritage of the Northwest. Wood is our most abundant natural resource, and our architecture has always featured it’s use prominently. In today’s world, it’s also important to see wood as a dwindling resource, and to understand that its particularly choice cuts (clear cedar, vertical grain fir) are contained within the last remnants of our old-growth forests. We use wood, but we honor it by using it sparingly, in places where it’s visual impact will be the greatest, and in locations where it is protected from the weather. We don’t celebrate wood by putting it out in the weather to rot.

 

Is Umbrella House green?

 

Green architecture is a movement to change the culture of building, to raise consciousness about the environmental costs of construction, and to move us toward methods of providing for our own material needs in an ecologically responsible manner. With Umbrella House we’re trying to create architecture that succeeds in such a fundamental way that the buildings will be valued now and in the future, that they will be durable, and will be valued by future generations, and will ultimately prove to be a wise use of the resources used to build them.

 

Is an Umbrella House more expensive than a conventionally designed house?

 

An Umbrella House isn’t inherently more or less costly than conventional design. One of the most promising elements of Umbrella House is that by creating an architecture that derives its power by adapting the home to it’s site and climate is that we’re able to create successful and compelling architecture regardless of the level of finish that we have in the budget..