Overview

This 1,300-square-foot vacation residence stood at the top of a promontory on six acres in Eastsound, Orcas Island, WA. It was designed by Leah Martin of Allied8 Architects and her husband, the University of Washington Professor of Architecture, Vikramaditya Prakash for their family of five. Martin took great care in placing the house lightly on its site, removing a minimum of earth and situating it on a steel frame above its hilly perch. This ecologically-minded placement of the house and its use of wood to blend with its environs tied it together in a long tradition of environmentally conscious residential architecture practiced on the West Coast north of Big Sur. Its lineage connects it with such designers as Bernard Maybeck, William Wurster, John Yeon, Gene Zema and Joseph Esherick.

Building History

Seattle architect Leah Martin designed this house in partnership with her husband, the architect and University of Washington Professor of Architecture Vikram Prakah. The house was located on a six-acre parcel in the Eastsound section of Orcas Island, one of the larger San Juan Islands. They began the house with their building contractor C.A. Reed in the fall of 2020, but construction was slowed by building materials shortages during COVID-19, and wasn't finished until 08/2023. The house served as a weekend getaway spot from their Seattle home, a bit over three hours away to the south. (See Tim McKeough, New York Times.com, "On Location: An Orcas Island Home Was the Dream. Here’s How They Made It a Reality," published 06/25/2024, accessed 07/02/2024. This article was also published in the Seattle Times on 06/30/2024.)

PCAD id: 25326