Green Design 2009: The Perfect Fit

Eric and Judith Knowles knew that they were going to remodel their two-bedroom, 1948 Sand Point home some day. Besides being natural light- and space-deprived, its old-fashioned, compartmentalized design didn’t suit the young family’s out-going, interactive nature. 

A brief change of scenery jump-started their remodeling time line. 

“We came home from vacation and we were just tired of our house,” explains Eric. “So we said, ‘Let’s just do it.’” (Fortuitous timing: the couple shortly learned that their family was growing by another child, Josh; joining daughter, Taylor, and son, Aiden.) 

A self-confessed research junkie, Eric hit the Web hard and found a cache of architect prospects on the AIA Seattle site (aiaseattle.org). The Knowles ultimately selected Coates Design Architects on Bainbridge Island. Strong selling points included the firm’s reputation for contemporary sustainable design and Matthew Coates’ considerable people skills. “He’s got heart and passion for what he does,” says Judith. “He really asked a lot of questions about our lifestyle. ‘Do you entertain? What do you do during the day with your kids? What rooms are most important?’ ” (The firm has all clients fill out a lengthy lifestyle worksheet.) The deal sealer was Coates inviting the whole family to visit the ultimate portfolio piece, his own island home. “None of the other architects did that,” says Eric. 

The architect’s tour of the Knowles’ existing home was equally enlightening. “It was narrow, low and dark; all these things that were just the antithesis of them. Judith’s got this beautiful, wonderful big personality, and Eric’s physically a big man. Even when he was giving me the tour, he bumped his head on some of the ductwork in the basement two or three times,” Coates recalls with a laugh. The key issue, he says, was that “the house lacked what I would call a heart. It lacked a central energy focus... . My immediate response was we need to make a heart, a center, for your home, and that’s essentially what gave rise to the ‘lantern’ at the center of the home.” 

The soaring glass-wrapped center section, a.k.a. the lantern, was designed to slide in between the “saddlebags” of the existing house. (Although the plan was to work within the house’s original framework, surprise structural flaws—including walls that weren’t plumb with each other—necessitated gutting it to the sub-floor.) The resulting signature light-filled great room, boasting a ceiling section 13 feet high, now ties together the living room, dining room and kitchen, and the family. “We really made the central room a jewel box,” says Coates. Eric requested lots of warm woods, and the architect delivered, from buttery FSC-certified birch ply used for the custom cabinetry wall and ceiling, continuing out to the soffits, to the rich, renewable eucalyptus floors. The crowning touch is the Louis Poulsen globe pendants that were a house-warming gift from the firm. Says Coates, “I thought they were perfect because they look like droplets of light sort of hanging in the space.” 

In the kitchen, the streamlined, sustainable style is maintained thanks to a high-efficiency induction cooktop that melds perfectly with the absolute black honed granite countertops, and has a telescoping down draft that eliminates the need for a clunky ventilation hood. Says Coates of the cooktop, “It’s definitely the wave of the future… . They boil water faster and use half of the electric load and half of the electricity compared to an electric range, and significantly less energy than gas.” Above the cooktop, a glossy green square of glass is actually an artful back splash. “It was my idea. I found it in a magazine and I fell in love,” says Eric. “Early on, everybody’s like, ‘Nah, we can’t do that.’ Then Matthew’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s do that.’ Despite a near-catastrophe while affixing the heavy piece to the wall, Dyna Contracting did, indeed, do that. 

Rounding out the house’s new floor plan is a pantry/laundry/mudroom that was handily inserted behind the kitchen. The boys share a bathroom and a large bedroom divided by a wall-closet. Next door, their parent’s modest-sized master bedroom comes with a new master bath, and Taylor has her own room in the refinished basement. 

Happily for Eric, the basement’s head-bangingly low duct-work was removed due to one of the redesign’s smartest eco elements: replacing the forced-air heating system with hydronic radiant heat. “We elected with the clients, because the budget was tight, to follow the same design principles without the LEED certification,” explains Coates. “So they have a really energy efficient heating system… . It’s maybe 50 percent again in terms of cost, but in terms of efficiency, it’s 150 percent more efficient than a forced-air system. For anyone who has allergies, this is a much better way of living.” 

As for client satisfaction, “They actually said to me, ‘We just want to be at home. We hate to leave,’” says Coates. “That’s the biggest compliment any architect could ask for.”


OPEN HOUSE
Edition 5: Number 26
Architectural Firm: Coates Design Architects
Cost: $325 per square foot for a 2,800-square foot house (total project cost includes a variety of additional fees for other services, such as landscaping, not reflected).
Tour it: Sunday, July 19 

Open House Tour
Our ongoing partnership with the American Institute of Architects Seattle Chapter (AIA Seattle) continues our commitment to bring the experience of Puget Sound–area residential design to our readers. Each issue, we showcase an architect-designed home, selected by AIA Seattle and Northwest Home, which will be open to the public for a Sunday-afternoon viewing. We invite you to tour this issue’s featured home, designed by Matthew Coates of Coates Design Architects, located in Sand Point at 7710 Crest Drive NE, on Sunday, July 19, between noon and 3 p.m. For more information on the tour and the Open House program, please visit nwhome.com or aiaseattle.org; 206.448.4938.