Urban Canyon

Community starts here. Urban Canyon is a speculative project that maximizes allowable density, utilizes cutting edge sustainable technologies, acknowledges neighborhood patterns, and creates spaces that enrich and enliven the soul. Pedestrian focused site planning and attention to detail lays the groundwork for establishing community between the homeowners through multiple places for people to gather and circulate. The seven clustered homes are more than the sum of their parts. The combination of roof shape, materials, texture, and void create spaces that feel distinctly rural, yet unmistakably current. The owners share a reclaimed brick and wood pedestrian canyon that physically, emotionally, and architecturally links all the homes and their front doors. Where dead cars resided, a pea patch garden transforms the southern most edge of the property. The pea patch connects the owners with the soil and each other. Pass between the solar powered shed and pea patch to access a grasscrete driveway and pervious parking at the project’s edge. Achieving nearly a woven texture, seventy year-old reclaimed fir siding wraps its way around the structures, defining the volumes. The scale and rhythm of cladding encourages lingering by its repetition, shadows, and profile. Interior spaces typically receive natural light and air from at least three sides in all homes. The material pallette is simple and restrained, relying heavily on local products and sources. All homes utilize the sun to preheat hot water for both domestic and heating purposes. A shared shed and half of the homes utilize photovoltaic panels for electricity.