Trying Glass sits on the shore of Lake Washington in Seattle, WA, United States, a reimagined home by Olson Kundig for multigenerational dwelling by the water. The venture reworks a Nineteen Nineties split-level into a contemporary, family-focused retreat, pairing reflective supplies with a peaceful, lake-ready palette. Inside and outside, the composition balances open gathering zones with quieter corners for studying, working, and watching the sunshine transfer throughout the lake.
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Gentle catches on laminated metallic and glass as guests descend towards the entry, the lake progressively widening in view under. Reflections fold sky, water, and hillside into the house’s outer pores and skin, so the method feels choreographed by altering mild all through the day.
Trying Glass is a home on Lake Washington in Seattle by Olson Kundig, remodeling a Nineteen Nineties split-level property into a contemporary, multigenerational dwelling. The venture turns a beforehand compartmentalized inside right into a collection of related rooms, unified by reflective finishes, customized furnishings, and a measured shift in colour from public to non-public zones. Throughout its hilltop important degree and lake-level pool home, the renovation leans on materials rhythm and furnishings placement to help each day household life.
Reflecting Water And Sky
Exterior, laminated metallic and glass panels type a layered rainscreen that captures the lake’s altering tones. The cladding reads virtually like a shifting mirror, pulling clouds, bushes, and water into the facade. Inside accent partitions repeat the silver metallic and glass motif, so the edge between exterior and inside feels visually porous. Clear glass artworks by Ann Gardner deepen that theme, catching daylight and echoing the “air” part of the idea in delicate, suspended volumes.
Arriving By way of The Backyard
On the entry, a former stairway provides solution to graded landscaping and a gently descending, wheelchair-accessible path. The motion down by means of planting slows the arrival and welcomes relations throughout generations. A brand new elevator inside extends that accessibility vertically, linking ranges with out drama and reinforcing the house’s dedication to inclusive each day routines. The sequence from backyard path to entrance door units up a peaceful, grounded temper earlier than the massive lake views seem.
Open Residing On The Foremost Degree
On the primary ground, eliminated partitions now permit the kitchen, dwelling, and eating areas to learn as a single, social area. Daylight strikes throughout this open quantity, helped by the elimination of a former inside loft that after interrupted sightlines to the water. The lounge now holds grand, double-height views of the lakefront, turning on a regular basis actions like studying, homework, or cooking into moments with a powerful visible hyperlink to the shoreline. A customized eating desk by Chadhaus and Mayer Designs can break aside for events, shifting from household meals to bigger gatherings with out dropping coherence.
Gradual Shifts In Tone
Non-public rooms such because the workplace and library lean into darker wooden finishes, which mood daylight and help quieter focus. Extra public dwelling areas lean as a substitute on lighter hues and reflective surfaces, reinforcing ease across the kitchen and important sitting zones. All through, new finishes and furnishings—amongst them a customized grasp mattress and art work by Cassandria Blackmore—strike a steadiness between visible impression and relaxed, lake-house informality. Customized railings made out of slender, silver-gray metallic rods tie stairs and landings collectively, whereas darker bronze railings outdoors repeat the rhythm towards planting and water.
Life At The Waterline
Beneath the hilltop home, a refurbished pool and pool home convey exercise on to lake degree. Sliding glass doorways have been repositioned to ease the motion between inside lounge and deck, so swimmers can drift out and in with out distraction. On the pool home roof, a brand new outside seating space units one other vantage level, this one nearer to the water and oriented to lengthy views down the lake. Collectively, these lower-level rooms prolong the house’s inside palette open air, translating reflective supplies and easy varieties into an informal, day-long rhythm by the shore.
As mild shifts throughout facade, stair, and pool deck, the home regularly folds its environment into on a regular basis routines. From graded entry path to hilltop lounge and right down to the water’s edge, Trying Glass retains the give attention to household life and the lake itself.
Pictures courtesy of Olson Kundig
Go to Olson Kundig
– by Matt Watts
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