Reclaimed Materials Make Up This Artist Studio in Washington
Located in Washington’s Puget Sound region, the Scavenger Studio is an 818-square-foot artist's cabin designed by Les Eerkes, now of the Bainbridge Island–based Eerkes Architects, while he was the design principal at Olson Kundig.
The home's minimalist construction includes a mix of unfinished and charred plywood to form a simple, two-story volume with a slightly sloping roof and a cantilevered bedroom loft with clerestory windows made from polycarbonate panels.
Artist Anna Hoover collaborated with Eerkes on her studio retreat in the woods. Hoover even charred the plywood using the Japanese shou sugi ban technique to preserve it, the darker shade also allowing the home to better blend into its sylvan surroundings. In addition to using reclaimed materials, Eerkes raised the cabin on six concrete foundations instead of digging downwards, keeping construction costs to a minimum and creating a distinctive structure with minimal impact on its surrounding environment.
The home features materials, cabinetry, and plants salvaged from homes that were going to be demolished.
The double-height interior features a kitchen and living area on the ground level with a sleeping loft above.
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A door next to the bed drops down, opening the room to its environs. Hoover has said that her favorite aspect of the house is its calm mood and "the quietude and solace I experience while inside."
In the sleeping loft, floor-to-ceiling windows overlook a canopy of trees.
The home hovers above the ground on concrete bases, so as not to intrude too heavily on the natural landscape. The red hatch door from the loft bedroom is lowered in this image.
Project Credits:
Architect of Record: Olson Kundig
Building/ General Contractor: Schuchart Dow
Structural Engineer: Collons & Smith Structural Engineers
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