Western home awards

We explore truly great home design every two years with the Western Home Awards, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and Sunset since 1957. This year's jury, composed of architects and Sunset staffers, met last September to choose 13 homes out of 250 entries from across the West. The winners--which range from a forest-inspired getaway on Orcas Island, Washington, to a "stealth addition" in Santa Monica--demonstrate that a strong sense of place, along with a vivid connection to the outdoors, is a key measure of quality. The winning projects also spotlight the expanding trends of eco-savvy building and innovative community design. It's an inspiring architectural buffet. Dig in!

MERIT AWARD

Custom house

TUCSON

At one with the desert

This low-slung dwelling fits its sloping site like a saddle straddling a horse, yet still offers tall interiors that open to outside sitting areas.

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Why it won: The U-shaped house celebrates its setting in numerous ways. It wraps around a private central courtyard, with sliding glass doors that let the living/dining room flow into the sheltered outdoor space. The main rooms face south; an overhanging roof protects the interior spaces from summer sun but allows low-angled winter sun to store its energy in the concrete floors. The house takes color cues from its desert surroundings: Concrete-block walls and colored concrete floors echo the subtle mauve gray of the landscape's volcanic rhyolite stone.

Design: Wilson Peterson Architect, Tucson (520/884-1702)

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HONOR AWARD

Remodel

SAUSALITO, CA

History with a light touch

Built in 1869, this home needed an updated kitchen, seismic and electrical upgrading, and more light in interior rooms.

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Why it won: The simplicity of the remodel shows sensitivity to what was there before, while bringing in much more natural light. Owner and architect Mary Griffin replaced a 1920s shed-roof addition at the back with a slightly larger addition that allowed the kitchen to move out of the historic part of the house. She turned the new kitchen into a large light box with a translucent roof made of aluminum-and-fiberglass Kalwall panels (www.kalwall.com). Widened openings between the major rooms further brighten the interior.

Design: Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects, Berkeley (www.tgharchs.com or 510/841-9000)

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MERIT AWARD

Vacation house

JULIAETTA, ID

Natural slant

The challenge of this home was to create a nature-oriented getaway for fishing, writing, gardening, and welcoming grandkids on a steep slope overlooking the Clearwater River, while keeping the setting as pristine as possible.

Why it won: Its simple outline and rustic materials echo the shape and character of the rural surroundings. The house is a straightforward, rectangular, galvanized sheet metal-clad box inserted into an earthquake-resistant timber frame: the shed roof follows the angle of the slope, and the footprint of the house is minimal because rooms overlap as they stairstep down the slope. Views are of the canyon and eagles fishing for steelhead in the river below.

Design: Paul Hirzel Architect, Pullman, WA (509/335-1373)

MERIT AWARD

Remodel

SANTA MONICA

Modern dollhouse

This two-story rear addition to a 1950s house includes a master suite over a printing studio that opens to a new pool patio.

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Why it won: The clarity of the design--continuing the modern post-and-beam architecture of the original house in a subtle way--makes for an almost seamless addition. Yet there are understated differences between old and new, as in the glass corner of the master bedroom; the 5-foot cantilever over the lower floor that shades the patio; and the 18-foot-long wall of sliding glass doors that opens the entire studio to the pool patio, a great feature for parties. The design caused minimal intrusion into the existing structure so the family could remain at home during construction.

Design: Michael W. Folonis and Associates, Santa Monica (www.folonisarchitect.com or 310/450-4011)

MERIT AWARD

Vacation house

ORCAS ISLAND, WA

Elegant lean-to

Dixon and Ruthanne Long wanted to inhabit a private wooden "sculpture" with protected water views.

Why it won: The building is pared down to its essential parts--roof, supports, and enclosure. It resembles a graceful lean-to, with a long, angled roof held up indoors by a series of massive tripods of peeled Western red cedar logs. A wall of glass makes the house almost disappear into the forested hillside, and allows for an unobstructed view of ferries moving through Puget Sound. "The one word that [architect] James Cutler used for this building was transparency," says Dixon Long. "We never imagined the drama."

Design: Cutler Anderson Architects, Bainbridge Island, WA (www.cutler-anderson.com or 206/842-4710)