“I love this little courtyard house,” said one of our jurors. “It’s a different scale and feels somewhat attainable.” Situated within Eugene, Oregon’s urban grid, its design thoughtfully addresses an adjacent public meadow, the rainy Northwest climate, and the homeowner’s wish for a low-maintenance dwelling. Chief among them was the meadow, whose “big beauty” called for a house that has presence but also blends into the natural surroundings. Ben Waechter, FAIA, and his team accomplished this with a squarish house wrapped entirely in Bonderized standing-seam metal, “as if carved from a single material,” he says. Its four pavilions anchor each corner across glass connectors, forming a porous square around an interior native grass courtyard.
Upon entering the house, its shift from park scale to human scale comes as a surprise. Outside it reads as a monolithic flat-roofed, story-and-a-half structure, but along the inner courtyard the cantilevered rooflines pitch down, delivering rainwater to the central garden. This move serves two purposes. “There’s the practical thing of pitching the roof to the inside and directing all the rain to the garden, but also from a form perspective, the interior courtyard has a more intimate scale because the eaves line is so much lower,” Ben says. “The house doesn’t have gutters, so the move is really simple and low maintenance. It’s practical but also spatially feels good to occupy.”
The judges agreed. “It seems like it would be stunning to be in,” one said. Visitors enter through a gate on the north between the one-car garage and the entry/kitchen pavilion, which contains a mudroom/laundry, powder room, kitchen, and pantry. Abutting it on the southeast is a full-glass dining room and lounge breezeway that connects to a third solid pavilion housing two guest bedrooms and a bath. A 90-degree turn takes you to the second glassy space—the living room—and then to the enclosed primary suite on the southwest corner. Completing the rotation, an open terrace between the bedroom and garage faces both the larger preserve and the interior meadow. Materials are modest but durable and keep the focus on the courtyard: slab-on-grade terraces, white oak floors and quartersawn white oak cabinetry, quartz-composite countertops, Sheetrock walls, tiled baths, and aluminum-clad wood windows.
Our jury admired the responsive design, offering special praise for its environmental fit. “The outdoor covered space as one edge of the courtyard is such a great move,” a judge observed. “It’s a very appropriate house for Oregon for the spaces provided and the amount of rain they get, and the idea that you’re channeling water into the meadow. It’s doing a lot with a little.”
Honor Award
Custom Urban House
Waechter Architecture
Eugene, Oregon
Meadow House
Project Credits
Architect: Ben Waechter, FAIA, principal in charge; Lisa Kuhnhausen, project architect, Waechter Architecture, Portland, Oregon
Builder: Chalus Construction, Eugene, Oregon
Structural engineer: Grummel Engineering, Portland, Oregon
Project size: 2,000 square feet
Site size: 0.22 acre
Construction cost: Withheld
Photography: Lara Swimmer Photography
Key Products
Dishwasher: Miele
Doors/Windows: Sierra Pacific
Faucets: MGS Taps, Watermark
Lighting: WAC, Foscarini, Artemide, Kuzco
Paint: Benjamin Moore
Range/Range Hood: Miele
Recessed roller shades: Lutron
Refrigerator: Blomberg
Showerheads: Watermark
Sinks: Kraus, Duravit
Toilet: Duravit Starck
Tub: Blu Bathworks
Washer/dryer: Samsung