Master's in architecture course presented an opportunity for me to internalize some of the design principles behind a West Coast Regionalism style represented by the work of architect Pietro Belluschi through research, interviews, and house walk-throughs.
Research/Interview Takeaways
Pietro was 89 and in the middle of detailing the stained glass windows of a church he was designing when we sat down for a 1:1 interview at his house. He generously expanded on his writings and offered thoughts on how to cultivate a sense of space with authentic details and utility.
My takeaways:
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The quality of a creative life has originality with a complete sense of being convinced when living is about trying to understand what is valid, permanent, central, interesting, and defensible. When one projects these qualities in both life and creations, the result is "a quality you don't get with contrived architecture."
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The aesthetic of a building is measured by the degree it expresses a humanness. Of all the arts, architecture has the highest value in asserting the qualities of human dignity and self-worth. Architecture can express our human capacity for self-realization through reason, compassion, and sympathy.
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"Architecture is not sculpture. Architecture must shine through logic and through a mental process whereby the externals and the internals and the interrelationships of the materials and the light and the proportions and the scale — all these factors work towards one particular goal of making a crystal, just the best crystal."
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The "poetic texture" of a building results from a clear pattern of reasoning and relationships.
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"It is important for an architect to be cultivated in the sense that he understands people's motivations - what makes them happy or unhappy, what stirs them to do things one way rather than another." From understanding one's own motivations foremost, one can sense the motivations stirring the actions of others and develop a fruitful relationship.
The Joss House
The Joss House (1941) represented Pietro's early work with houses when business was slow in Portland.
The house rested on the highest hill in Portland, and the owner, Phillip Joss, relished giving a tour, pointing out several advanced details and enduring concepts in Pietro's West Coast Regionalism style of house design.
The Joss family had little money at the time, but they owned a spectacular view property on a wooded lot and wanted to build a simple two-bedroom, two-bathroom house. Costs were not to exceed $5300. They had seen a small wooden Norwegian pavilion at the San Francisco Treasure Island Exposition the previous year and asked Pietro for something compatible in warmth and character.
Pietro gave the Joss house an 'L'-shaped plan that opened to views on both sides of the house while preserving the existing maple trees on site. He used unpainted rough spruce for exterior siding, clapboarded horizontally to visually reinforce the low horizontality of the house. Smoothly sanded cedar was used for interior walls, with hemlock board ceilings and random-width oak floors.
The house seemed to reference the Usonian designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, which had been published around that time, but specific details actually came from a book called "Architectural Details" by Czechoslovakian architect Antonin Raymond, then working in Japan.
The Packard House
The Packard House (1987) gave Pietro an opportunity to create the ultimate update to his West Coast style. In a personal tour of the house a few months after construction, Bob Packard spoke of a friendly working relationship with Pietro and pointed out dozens of design concepts and details.
Pietro was easy to work with. After his first phone call with the client, Pietro prepared five quick conceptual floor plans and elevations to illustrate his intent at their first meeting. He felt it was important for them to all agree on a basic way of living before he would agree to be their architect. They would have to share a fundamental person-to-person bond enabling them to build together under a contract.
At one early work session, Bob brought some books with images of the kind of house he was looking for. Pietro kindly set them aside without looking at them. He felt that the shape of a house originated from what happens to the life on the inside, not from what it will look like from the outside. The outside would take on a form that looks good because it suited the needs of the activities inside.
The Packards brought three design criteria to the architect:
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Timelessness - not the 80's look.
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Low profile - considerate of neighbors and woods.
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Materials - wood and stone with modern windows, roofing, and hardware.
The architect readily accepted these ideas and worked true to Bob's adjacency drawings. He helped in site selection and gave clear insights and rationale for all design changes. The final site was a sloped lot on Fairmont Boulevard near Council Crest in Portland, Oregon, and the final plans called for a two-level house with a carport. Living, dining, and kitchen spaces were combined without separation into one large room on the main floor, while all bedrooms were placed on a lower floor.
The Packard's initial maximum cost was $175,000 for 2,700 sf. The design process began in October 1986, construction started in March 1987, and the house was completed in August 1987, just slightly over budget at $187,000.
Spatial Definition
Similar to other houses by the architect, the Packard's house has an open floor plan, with overlapping spaces both indoors and outdoors. Library shelves near the entry help divide the living room from the entry. The indoor ceiling planes extend past the exterior walls, covering outside decks, with the same wood and recessed lighting detailing to reinforce a visual continuity between indoor and outdoor spaces. Doors to outdoor decks do not have glass. Pietro felt that solid doors gave the windows a greater emphasis.
Views
A view axis through the kitchen and family rooms balances extroverted Valley views with views to an intimate hillside garden in opposite directions. Unobstructed internal views through the house connect the family visually so they can interact on a visual level.
Economy
In this house design, no space is wasted. The building shape is simple, hallways are kept to a minimum, details are repetitive, and dimensions are standard. The singular roof shape makes simple gutter lines. A single fireplace stack is used for downstairs and upstairs rooms.
Materials
Wood is used wherever possible. Ceilings have 3 1/2" hemlock boards inside and 3 1/2" cedar boards outside over the decks. Varnish is used on these woods instead of stain to preserve natural color. Only the bedrooms, storage, utility, and kitchen walls use sheetrock. Board and batten is used on the exterior, with metal roofing and metal frame windows. The fireplace is concrete with a stone veneer.
Daylighting and Ventilation
All rooms receive natural light, with an abundance of daylight at the entry. Hinged vents at the base of windows, even in storage, utility, and bathroom locations, draw cool ground-level air into the house during summer months.
Landscape
The carport with storage and driveway was placed at the back of the house to let the house read foremost from the street. Pietro had some say in the landscaping as it related to site circulation or the view from interior spaces.