A house is not enough when you live by doing and inhabitation is only coincident. More is needed, and, of course, for the experience of doing, it must be obtained in a rewarding hands-on, hand-built manner. This project is an example of how ‘more’ is reconciled when good values dictate less. As a precept, doing more with less is embraced: more space for less; more detail with less precious materials; more warmth with less fuel; and ultimately, because experience is what is shaped by form, ‘more’ and varied experience centered on doing.

Starting with what is left over: a steep south facing lot ,considered unbuildable within a town, the core program of house + separate studio, guesthouse, and shop is inserted into the hillside as part of a passive solar strategy. The buildings bracket an internally travelled between space, accomplishing more privacy from neighbors, with less driving than building in a rural area would entail. With few experientially derived exceptions, nothing beyond what is typical and available is used in construction. Anything that can reasonably be made on-site is, like custom doors, showers, tubs, and counters. Other things come from town, like recycled concrete siding board from the local college, random-width Beetle-killed Spruce for siding, and custom metal stairs fabricated by a local boat builder. Ideals meet constraints and the most care is given to what is immediately seen and touched, even if this means taking a soak in a hand made concrete tub, looking through a cottonwood framed picture window at an eagle with six glaciers visible beyond.