The project is a small owner-designed and built house in the Willamette Valley college town of Corvallis, Oregon.
The major task was to design and build a site-specific house in a traditional, walkable neighborhood close to the city center. As the site was within a newly designated National Historic District, the design had to be compatible with the mix of historic early 20th century houses as well as overall neighborhood patterns. Compatibility was reviewed by the local historic board.
Beyond compatibility and connection with the surrounding neighborhood, the desire was to create a house that was purposely small. The intention was to work contrary to the national prejudice against things diminutive, and taking the cue from the Japanese Tea masters, use and celebrate constrained scale for its aesthetic virtues.
In addition to being part of a traditional neighborhood, and small in scale, the house had to feel expansive, full of light, and well connected to the outside. This requirement for openness could not sacrifice the opposing need for a sense of security and privacy. Privacy had to be provided for the household from the street and surrounding town, as well as privacy and a sense of distance or separation for family members within the house.
The design aspires in many ways to find a modern middle ground between the Arts and Crafts bungalow and the urban Classical Chinese Scholar’s Garden. On one hand is the model of the bungalow, built with natural materials and simple detailing, modestly scaled with a variety of windows and a front porch to enhance and engage the pedestrian character of the street. And on the other hand, is the example of a garden/world behind a wall, with a series of pavilions, courts and corridors in which constrained view, manipulation of scale, and the tempo of a winding path expand the perception of space and feeling of refuge.