For the Dyes Inlet House, Shed Architecture sought inspiration from the Swedish archipelago and its traditional farmhouses for this new waterside home in Washington. Drawing on the simple forms of the Scandinavian structures, the home was designed around accommodating extended family, providing spaces suited to long-term, later-life comfort, and, of course, maximizing the location’s sweeping views of the water.

The house takes its cues from traditional Swedish farmsteads, with two gabled volumes crossing to form a T-shaped plan, this structure creating a sheltered entrance courtyard to the north, while opening the main living spaces towards the water on the southern side. Designed with accessibility in mind, the three-bedroom home keeps everyday life on one level. The kitchen, dining and living areas form the social heart of the house, while a quieter wing contains the primary suite and two bedrooms for visiting children and grandchildren. Across the floorplan, the architects play with changes in scale, placing more intimate rooms at one end of the home in contrast to an area with dramatic, double-height ceilings at the other. The effect of this switch-up of scale ensures that the home’s interiors give a sense of variety, while allowing different generations to enjoy both connection and privacy in the way they engage with the space. 

The material palette was deliberately restrained, the designer’s opting for a combination of timber, concrete, glass and alder plywood that would create a warm, tactile interior rooted in the Pacific Northwest. Large openings across the home framed grand views of the surroundings, keeping the location and its landscape constantly connected to the interiors.

Photography © Rafael Soldi