HONOR Award
Project: Fauntleroy residence
Fauntleroy residence

Location: West Seattle

Submitting firm: Suyama Peterson Deguchi

Design team: George Suyama, David Derrer, Chris Haddad, Carl Mahaney, Kevin Miyamura, Matt Scholl, Jeff King

Owner/client: Anonymous

Consultants: Swenson Say Faget, structural; Geotech Consultants, geotechnical; Alchemie, landscape; Brian Hood, lighting design

General contractor: Crocker Construction

Jury Comments: “The Fauntleroy residence stands out as an instance of masterful design, an achievement of international stature. Informed by a worldly understanding of architectural possibility, the residence nevertheless engages its context and site at every level.

“Seattle’s climate — mild, sometimes wet, sometimes dry — is welcomed with deep overhanging eaves and the patient sequencing of rooms alternately open and enclosed, covered and uncovered.

“The site’s history is evident in two original structures, small beachside cabins, and the use of the prior residence’s foundation and porch as a transition between the new structure and the old. At the most basic level, the design emphasizes the long, narrow lot itself. A continuous stream engages the house along its northern edge, narrowing and then pooling in the way that people, moving through the house, flow or pause and then gather. Alongside it, the program unfolds in a syncopated series of spaces that step easily from the modest street-front, into shelter, then enclosure, and open finally onto views of water and mountains framed by the two cabins and a tall cluster of 100-year-old Douglas fir.

“This house exhibits tremendous sureness of hand, never needing to stray from its essential conceptual ideas to generate the logic of its details. At ease with its transitions and variety, simple and exacting in both materials and craft, the Fauntleroy residence is a deeply personal, world-class achievement.”

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