AIA Homes

A classic box makes the most of space and site

Architects: Lane Williams, Brett Burnette and Henry Lo of Lane Williams Architects

Builder: Dave Weitzel, Weitzel Construction

Construction cost/size: $595,000/3,200 square feet

The intent: To provide the owners, a couple with two young children, with a large, modern home that fit their needs and met their tight budget. The house, adjacent to a small lake in Sammamish, is basically "a simple, classic box with a hipped roof," says architect Williams. "The owners sought to build as much space as possible now to preclude the need for later additions." The family living spaces and master suite are on the main floor. Downstairs spaces include two children's' bedrooms, a media room and home office. Poured-concrete walls and fir-trimmed trusses are among the home's stylistic highlights.

In fir and glass, modern melds with tradition

Architect: Brian McWatters of Alchemy Design Lab

Builders: McWatters and owner Tod Nelson

Construction cost/size: $335,000/2,745 square feet

The intent: Owner Tod Nelson loves his 1905 brick home, nestled in Seattle's Denny Blaine neighborhood. He also loves modern design. The two were melded in a rear addition to the existing home that also rectified prior earthquake damage and structural decay. The new space gives Nelson a 745-square-foot living room, a new office suite and a remodeled and enlarged kitchen. The addition's stylistic motifs include exposed-fir columns and beams, and 11-foot window walls with more than 30 window sizes.

In one classic home, four new town houses find a fit

Architect: Lukas F. Delen of Archstone Co.

Builder: Archstone Co.

Construction cost/size: $1.2 million total/four units of varying sizes

The intent: Redeveloping the corner site of an old duplex on Seattle's Capitol Hill into four town houses, Delen "tried hard to make it fit into the neighborhood, so the town houses look historical." Steep gables and arches help accomplish that outside. Inside, Delen also went traditional with oak floors, painted millwork, ceramic tile and marble. Each three-story town house has its own entrance. With living space of about 1,300 square feet apiece, the units were priced in the half-million-dollar range.

By the beach, condos are stacked up and squeaked in

Architect: Philip Christofides of Arellano/Christofides Architects

Builder: Constructive Energy

Construction cost/size: $2.05 million total/three condo units ranging from 1,700 to 2,800 square feet

The intent: To design a top-floor unit for the owners, real-estate agents and developers Tom and Nancy Roth, above two for-sale units ($1.3 million each) that are actually larger than the Roths'. The building is across the street from West Seattle's Alki Beach. "I think the thing to appreciate is that the (owners') unit is, in a way, a bonus," says Christofides. "We squeaked it inside the zoning envelope and squeaked in the mezzanine." That 500-square-foot mezzanine is used as a loft bedroom open to the main living area below.

At one with the land using a variety of materials

Architect: Freeman Fong of Freeman Fong Architecture

Builder: Thornberg Construction

Construction cost/size: $298,100/1,300 square feet

The intent: The owner, an avid gardener, loved the two acres surrounding his 1980s rambler on a hill above Lake Sammamish. However, the home on it — a dark, poorly designed rambler — left a lot to be desired. So Fong, working with designer Joel Snyder, remodeled it to better connect with the out-of-doors. They also added a 547-square-foot loft and finished the whole project off with a wide variety of materials. Among them are maple cabinets, white-oak flooring, aluminum stair railings and a galvanized metal roof.

New tree house gives old cottage the boost it needed

Architect: Lisa McNelis of McNelis Architects

Builder: Erickson Construction and the owners

Construction cost/size: $185,700/1,880 square feet

The intent: McNelis and her husband, Grant Glover, wanted to stay in their 80-year-old West Seattle cottage, but not at its original 855 square feet. So she designed a 1,025-square-foot "tree house" of an addition. The existing house became the public spaces. The tree house contains bedrooms atop a new garage and office. "Although this is my own home, in many ways it was no different than any other project where the owners include a spouse who studied art and a very opinionated 9-year-old," McNelis says.

A contemporary pavilion rises from a 50-year-old footprint

Architect: David Foster of David Foster Architects

Builder: FTW Construction

Construction cost/size: $330,000/2,116 square feet

The intent: "This was one of your typical ranch houses — low ceilings, low eaves, pretty uninteresting," Foster says of the original 50-year-old North Seattle rambler he turned into a contemporary pavilion, replete with heated concrete floors and a fireplace faced with steel. The existing footprint remained, and the living room and master bedroom stayed where they were, but everything else changed. Now the living room has a 12-foot ceiling, the kitchen opens to a dining and a family room, and a covered rear patio orients entertaining outdoors.

In style and rock solid in Magnolia

Architect: Tim Rhodes of Rhodes Architecture + Light

Builder: Collins Construction

Construction cost/size: $1.2 million/3,217 square feet

The intent: Jim and Audrey Collins wanted their new home to be stylistically compatible with neighboring houses along one of the prettiest streets in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood. Rhodes gave them that with a two-story stone-and-stucco neo-traditional whose entry opens onto a skylighted atrium. On the main floor is a guest suite, a living room with recycled beams and an ultra-luxe kitchen and family room that open onto a private, walled courtyard. Upstairs are two wings of bedrooms connected by a bridge. Various stones, including granite, limestone and travertine, are used extensively throughout.

Opening up to Zen-like simplicity

Architect: David Vandervort of David Vandervort Architects

Builder: Brian DeYoung of Stonewood Builders

Construction cost/size: $320,000/1,765 square feet

The intent: This house is the result of many years of saving and planning following a fire that destroyed the original tiny cottage occupying this lot on the east side of Magnolia, in Seattle. The resulting new house is, by design, very Zen-like in its restraint. For example, there are few interior walls. No designated master suite was created; there's no garage, either. But special features abound: there are soaring walls of glass in the living room, a combination bedroom/study loft and a studied use of durable, eco-friendly materials, including stair treads made of compressed sunflower seeds. Below the two-story main home is a ground-floor apartment for the owners' adult son.

Elizabeth Rhodes is a Seattle Times real-estate reporter.