
Lopez Residence
Bringing an island getaway to life
Project
A weekend home and guest house for a young family with ageing parents. The waterfront site presented many challenges, including a category III wetland and an active eagle’s nest. By maintaining the same footprint as the original structure on the property, we were able to locate the home closer to the water’s edge than otherwise would have been permitted. The constraint of the original footprint led to the development of an eroded farmhouse with public spaces below facing out to the water and bedrooms and office space above.
I joined the project in concept design as the project architect and took it through permitting, design development, construction documentation, and finally construction. This involved numerous meetings with consultants and county officials, scheduling and sourcing challenges due to eagle nesting schedules, the Covid-19 pandemic, and environmental factors, and extensive creative problem solving, as well as weekly coordination calls with the client and general contractor.
Press
“This Modern House in the San Juan Islands Defers to Nature,” Sunset Magazine, April 2023
Details
3-story, 2,200 sf main residence
3 bd, 2.5 ba
530 sf guest studio w/ attached carport
Details
Location: Lopez Island, WA
Firm: Heliotrope Architects, ZEHTA Studio
Year: 2019 - 2022
Status: Complete Summer 2022
Skills + Programs
Architecture, Permitting, Creative Problem Solving, Project Management, Client Communication, Consultant Coordination, Detailing, Construction Administration, Invoicing, Presentation, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Enscape