Lowman
Beach
Residence

The Lowman Beach Residence is a Rhodes Architecture + Light custom home design that sits on Seattle’s Puget Sound waterfront with sweeping western views. The shoreline environment and the 42-foot-wide site drove the simple shingled “beach cottage” forms and natural weathered material pallet. The design of the house resulted too from a desire for an understated contemporary home that takes full advantage of its marine and island domain yet also folds private spaces around interior courts and opens to multiple levels of landscaped outdoor terraces. 

​

The massing of the home sought to reduce the scale of this residential architecture’s significant size while opening the various spaces to the outdoors. Creating human scale and a “beach house” small-structure aesthetic was crucial to integrating the house into its neighborhood context. The home’s materials and finishes were chosen to further meld with the environment and reflect the sand, beach pebbles, water and natural materials of the quiet site.

​

We designed the home to be highly energy efficient inside and out. The residence incorporates a number of beautiful, highly sustainable yet hardy materials and systems. It also features photo-voltaic roof-mounted panels which generate enough electricity to sell the surplus back to the city. 

​

Ceiling heights are modulated with dropped wood soffits and lighting coves to create higher, more “public” spaces for gatherings and lower, more intimate space at dining and bathing places. The structure of the house, simple engineered wood and steel beams and plywood decking was exposed and stained to create an understanding of the materials that support the house while honestly expressing them.  The result is a warm and comfortable, modern beach house that opens to natural planted courts and beach terraces and encourages the quiet enjoyment of nature. Our Seattle residential architects understand how to work alongside nature to create a wellness-centered and warm environment that compliments a coastal lifestyle.  

​

Read more about this home...