7th street hillside residence
location: bend, oregon year: 2016 size: 2,400sf status: complete
(images and drawings courtesy of Lightfoot A+D and Kayla Mckenzie Photography)
Situated at the south-facing base of Awbrey Butte on Bend’s West side, this compact modern custom home directs its views away from adjacent homes on all four sides, instead angling its gaze up to the treetops and passing sun visible to the south, above the horizon and neighboring rooftops. The long, narrow lot running combined with the steeply sloping hillside aspect of the land combine to influence the design of the home, in which the main day-to-day living and sleeping functions are elevated in a single bar running most of the length of the buildable area.
This elevated main floor is in essence one large open living space that opens to the south below a continuous vaulted shed roof. Ample sunlight penetrates the interior spaces via strip clerestory windows, while a deeply-overhung lower flat-roof provides cover for a wraparound balcony on three sides. The main living bar is stepped-up above and offset from a partial ground floor dug into the hillside, which contains the garage, guest rooms, a family den, and a covered at-grade patio tucked below the cantilevered balcony above. Vertical stained cedar slat screens begin at the entry stair and travel along the entirety of the south facade, helping to obscure views of the neighboring homes and providing varying degrees of dappled shade to the covered upper balconies.
The continuous three-sided window clerestory system is designed carefully in concert with the overhanging roof geometry above to take maximum advantage of three-season solar gain to the interior, while thermally-absorptive flooring on both levels serves to hold the heat in when desired and passively regulate internal temperatures throughout the year. Operable windows low to the ground on the lower floor combine with operable clerestories at the highest point upstairs to encourage stack-effect passive ventilation and night-flush cooling potential.