Hunt Club House
Devised by West of West as a reductive place of enduring warmth, Hunt Club House is a celebration of family connection amid a thriving wooded landscape – a life-filled haven of growth and custodianship.
Emerging from a wooded clearing in the heart of Portland, Oregon, a low-slung gabled dwelling marks the epicentre for growing up. Neatly compact with a careful balance between retreat and togetherness, Hunt Club House is a haven in every sense – an all-encompassing vessel that echoes the routines of daily life amid a sprawling leafy backdrop for play and exploration.
Designed by architectural studio West of West, the project arose through a mutual friend and long-time collaborator who knew the clients from their work together at Nike. “Their family was growing, was moving back to Portland from Los Angeles, and wanted a more generous place to raise their kids,” recalls practice partner, Jai Kumaran. Approaching the brief through a long-term lens, the clients envisioned a place for their young children to come of age – playing in the yard, going to high school, then college, and returning to visit in the distant future. The idea of connection runs throughout the project in several ways, not only as a connector of physical space, but in the experience of looking out toward the precious landscape that grounds the abode.
Planned as a framework for shared daily life, the architecture is positioned for visual sightlines between each section of the interior. “The home is organised as three distinct yet interconnected zones, arranged in a C-shape that wraps around a central courtyard” describes Kumaran. A private wing anchors the northern edge of the plan, while the southern wing provides spaces for work and amenities. Inserted between these solitary bookends, an open domain becomes a pivotal fulcrum for communal interactions – flanked by an off-form concrete wall that holds a roaring fireplace for cosy winters – the result of a true collaborative effort to test and refine the perfect finish.
The palette is restrained both inside and out in a display of craft and longevity. Poetically wrapped in a Douglas fir armature of vertical siding, the exterior is one with the prevalent species that encircles the site. A standing-seam roof and metal details recede into the background to sit quietly with nature. Moving inward, knotty timber floorboards merge into book-matched oak cabinetry, while moodier hues adorn the most intimate spaces, expressed in glazed bathroom mosaics, inky blue powder room walls and opulent marble veining.
The garden realm is equally distilled in an expression of pure utility as called for by this semi-rural locale. “The landscape strategy focuses on restoring native ecosystems through plant selections that support long-term environmental health,” explains Kumaran. Hardy grasses and sprawling groundcover mediate the gently descending terrain to a grassed outdoor area that promotes leisure and calm in the spirit of this forever home.
Everyday moments are cherished here as the home evolves with its occupants. Through clarity and restraint, Hunt Club House bestows the intrinsic values of a family-centric bolthole in the pursuit of deeper connection. Custodians of the forest in which the architecture stands, the dwelling gives back to nature without distraction, adding to the timeless beauty of this life-filled place.
