Housing

The new home’s covered porch takes inspiration from the porch of the 150-year-old cottage shared by the extended family, just 100 yards away from the main home. The porch is designed for enjoying summer sunsets.

The primary suite, with custom oak casework, offers views to the south and east.

Every room in the home enjoys views of the landscape—including the dining area. The natural material palette of the interior emphasizes this connection between inside and out.

The LP turntable is concealed under a walnut bench, which allows the family to use the space for multiple purposes. When they want to enjoy their extensive record collection, they can simply open up the bench to reveal the record player.

At the entry, a hidden walnut cabinet provides a place to keep wallets, keys, phones, and other distractions, signaling that the home is a place of relaxation.

The mixology station has a clever door system meaning it can be completely hidden away or opened up as the family desires.

The exterior of the yoga and art studio is defined by a slatted Douglas fir screen that controls the afternoon light.

The cantilevered studio space is designed to facilitate two of the clients’ passions—yoga and painting. A floor-level window captures the sunrise during morning practice, while the views from the platform take in the surrounding landscape. “With one window positioned on the glazed living platform, and the other on the floor below, each partner has a window that encourages them down to the floor for their practice,” says architect Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel.

The custom breakfast nook brings natural light in from above and frames the surrounding landscape, allowing the family to appreciate the play of morning light over the meadow.

The great room includes a U-shaped kitchen island designed for the tradition of family meal preparation. “The joy that the family experiences while preparing a meal together at the U-shaped kitchen island, facing out to the rolling hills beyond, is particularly heartwarming,” says architect Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel.

At the heart of the open-plan living space is a great room that opens outward beneath an expanse of laminated Douglas Fir beams and western red cedar soffiting.

Operable floor-to-ceiling glass doors slide into pockets to open the entire great room—including living and dining areas—to the outdoors. “This allows the line between indoor and out to blur, inviting in summer breezes and fresh air,” says architect Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel.

The home enjoys a connection with the surrounding landscape with views from every room that invite the 100-acre site into the interior. “The framed views from each room are a source of pride for us,” says architect Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel. “They illustrate the way in which we design for a specific site, bringing the outdoors into the home and making the most of what the homeowners love about their land.”

Turkel Design prioritized the use of sustainable materials to create the bespoke prefab home. A dramatic cross-laminated timber (CLT) cantilever, for example, juts beyond the edge of the garage door. The panelized components—including the structure and shell of the garage and home home—are crafted from domestic engineered wood products that result in a straighter, tighter building.

“We often hear that our homes don’t look like prefab,” says architect Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel. “But there’s no reason high quality, good design and prefabrication can’t work together.” Mulmur Hills Farm, for example, makes use of thermally modified ash cladding that contributes to both durability and beauty.

Fritz Tiny Homes can equip their homes off-grid sites. Other available additions and upgrades include window blinds, a dishwasher, and air conditioning.

Fritz Tiny Homes offers to outfit the concrete bathroom with either a walk-in shower or a soaker tub.

The units are filled with custom millwork and concrete tile. Flush mount LED lighting is also added throughout: from the bathroom mirror to the staircase treads.

Apart from concealing surprisingly deep drawers and closets across their units, Fritz Tiny Homes curates other thoughtful, space-saving solutions: for example, the Gemini sofa from Resource Furniture that can be pulled up into a bunk bed.