Seattle Architect Wins Aia Award For Idaho Ski Home
Seattle architect Arne Bystrom has received his second national honor award for design excellence from the American Institute of Architects, this time for an impeccably detailed ski home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Bystrom received the award last night at a gala in Washington, D.C., at which Prince Charles of Great Britain spoke. Bystrom's was one of 19 honor awards this year.
The Sun Valley House wraps sophisticated solar technology in the warmth of Northwest redwood, cedar and fir. All of it is connected in complex fashion with a kind of old world master cabinetmaker's care.
The home has been likened to ``an architecture
predicated on poetic construction,'' or as this year's AIA jury effusively stated:
``. . . A way station between the past and the future, this house is proof that technology can have a soul.''
Completed in 1987, the home took three years and $5 million to build including the computer technology and interior furnishings. Basic construction cost was $3 million. It was a second house for California owners Reid and Peggy Dennis.
The soul of this expensive 8,600-square-foot ``lean-to'' structure lies in its respect for craftsmanship and alpine tradition.
``It is impossible to detect a single detail that has been overlooked,'' said Progressive Architecture magazine, which featured the house on the cover of its April 1987 issue.
Most distinctive on approach is the sweeping overhang of copper roof - a huge bent plane supported by tree-like redwood columns - which shelters the home from heavy winter snows.
Under the roof - which is angled for maximum exposure to the sun - is a row of solar collectors set in an all-glass wall. The home's interior apparently reflects care at every turn.
``Natural light pours into the house from every corner, exposing the warm, rich wood detailing throughout,'' said the AIA jury. ``Every joint, beam, and mullion has been carefully crafted with lavish detail rarely found today.''
Progressive Architecture speaks of the attention ``lavished on its structural system, pegged bolt connections, treelike columns and an incised pattern
on every third course of the redwood siding.''
``Arne had to show some of the craftsman how to build this because it was such intricate wood construction,'' said his daughter Ashley Bystrom.
Rooms are arranged in a sawtooth plan that allows good sun exposure and privacy. Each bedroom suite is independent and can be individually temperature-controlled. The home's sophisticated technology includes computer-controlled ventilation and passive/active solar heating and cooling.
Bystrom first received an honor award in 1979 for a small beach cabin on the Olympic Peninsula which - in contrast to the high-tech Sun Valley site - has no electricity or water.