Blaine Stairs

The Blaine Stairs project is actually two side-by-side townhouses within a single structure. Cantilevered off the edge of Seattle's capitol Hill neighborhood, the site owes its sweeping views to a natural promontory with steep slopes on three sides prone to landslides. The side-by-side arrangement of the units gives equal access to light and views for both units. Both units share a common courtyard, roof deck and roof garden. A careful strategy for space planning, window arrangement, and access provides units that are at once intimate, yet still expansive as they take in some of the best views in the city from this site previously considered unbuildable. Accessed via separate private entryways, the units reveal themselves from the wide open middle floor; from here the stairs lead up to the master suite and roof deck, and down to the lower floor with flexible spaces meant to be used in a variety of ways. All spaces are visually connected with each other through open floor plans and windows that, while expansive, still manage to carefully guide the eye to maintain privacy. The exterior cladding is stucco in a rain screen application offset by areas of waxed steel and reclaimed Alaskan yellow cedar siding, Interior and exterior detailing is restrained in order ot make the spaces as visually fluid and boundless as possible. Built-in casework provides discrete storage and contributes to the individuality of each unit. Photography by: Lara Swimmer