It is designed with the idea of bringing nature into the city, and making it part of the life of the occupant, even for small lot. It looks out into a highly vegetated courtyard garden and natural pool in the center (landscaping is unfortunately not shown) and 100% extensive green roofs above. Around the outer sides I would wrap another layer of vegetation and large boulders artfully carved into the landscape to give it weight and texture.
It is also designed for sustainability. It is south facing, which is wonderful for getting sunlight and passive heating in the winter months (although in Seattle we rarely get the sun), and it has a light shelf that bounces light up to the underside of the ceiling of the main living room to create an ambient glow, minimizing use of artificial lights during the day, even in typically dark cloudy Seattle weather.
This house could potentially be designed as a Passive House, a house that insulates itself so well that it saves 95% of energy use, but this would require a significant reduction in windows, even those that are south facing. There is also a natural path for capturing water from the simple shed-style green roofs, I imagine storage cisterns at the corners.
The design is highly influenced by my love of Chinese gardens in which buildings look out to nature; and my love of traditional Japanese architecture. In many ways it is also consistent with what has become the ``Northwest Style'' of architecture -- a simple vocabulary of wood and glass, with exposed wooden structural framing, weighted with a beautiful outer wall of concrete.
For the concrete I am imagining something very similar to that used in the Seattle University All-Faiths Chapel:
It is a beautiful, subtly shifting color of concrete that is cast very smooth. Steven Holl designed this chapel, and I recommend visiting it, as it has very beautiful lighting.
Thanks for visiting, and I hope to generate more detailed drawings and renderings of the project soon.
best,
Brett
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