The Walla Walla Hillside Residence
Case Study: Blending Modern Detailing and Traditional Forms at the Walla Walla Residence
Designing a custom home in Eastern Washington is an exercise in scale. When a site offers uninterrupted vistas of rolling vineyards and the distant silhouette of the Blue Mountains, the architecture must find a way to anchor itself without competing with the landscape.
For the Walla Walla Residence, our challenge was to design a hillside home that honors traditional low slung architectural forms while executing the clean, minimalist lines of contemporary Pacific Northwest modernism.
Reinterpreting Traditional Forms with Modern Detailing
Many of our clients are drawn to the timeless, grounded quality of traditional agrarian silhouettes - pitched roofs, clear gables, and honest structural volumes. However, they want the open spaces, expansive glazing, and minimalist feel of a modern home.
We resolved this tension through a hyper-disciplined approach to detailing. The home uses a classic gable form as its primary architectural volume, but we stripped away the traditional heavy overhangs, trim, and fascias. Instead, we detailed a thin, flush roofline that meets the vertical wall plane with precision.
By executing a zero-overhang detail, the traditional pitched roof transforms into a sculptural, modern mass. Inside, this gable form allows for dramatic, vaulted ceilings that give the main living pavilion a soaring, light-filled volume that contrasts beautifully with the intimate private wings of the home.
Navigating Hillside Topography & View Calibration
Building on a sloped vineyard hillside requires a careful manipulation of the earth. Rather than forcing a massive, multi-story structure onto the hill, the Walla Walla Residence is stepped into the natural topography. This reduces the building’s visual profile from the road, making it feel like an organic extension of the ridge.
Stepping the house also allowed us to cultivate a sequence of views. As you move through the home, the windows act as calibrated frames:
The Entry Court: Offers a compressed, intimate view of the immediate landscape and native plantings.
The Great Room: Opens up completely with expansive, floor-to-ceiling glass walls that reveal the panoramic sweep of the vineyard and the Blue Mountains.
The Private Spaces: Feature lower, horizontally oriented slot windows that frame quiet, painterly vignettes of the changing seasons in the valley.
The Material Intersection of Craft and Durability
Because Eastern Washington’s high-desert climate subjects materials to severe weathering - from blistering summer heat to freezing winter winds - the exterior envelope had to be exceptionally resilient.
We selected a palette of raw materials designed to patina gracefully over time, requiring minimal structural maintenance:
Vertical Cedar Cladding: Treated to weather into a muted silver-gray that mirrors the natural tones of the native sagebrush and dry summer grasses.
Blackened Steel Elements: Used around window callouts and structural transitions to provide crisp, dark lines that break up the wood massing.
Polished Concrete Sub-structures: Providing a heavy, solid base that ties the building directly to the hillside.
Inside, the material language shifts to a warmer, more tactile palette. Plaster walls catch the shifting valley light throughout the day, while white oak cabinetry and integrated stone elements provide a refined softness. By solving the dual challenges of a sloped site and a demanding climate through rigorous detailing, the Walla Walla Residence stands as a quiet, enduring pavilion that celebrates the best of wine country living.
