Creating a beautiful living space within a bountiful landscape, this Pacific Northwest residence distills light, views, materials and scale into a cohesively detailed home. The purposefully restrained design highlights the site’s natural abundance in the forests near Puget Sound.
The architectural focus allows for greater appreciation of the overall context. Intentional positioning and proportions, and thoughtfully selected shapes and textures enhance the interplay of brightness, shading and sightlines. Seemingly subtle choices profoundly affect the lived experience as the quality of light and outdoor views gracefully change throughout the day and the seasons.
Jeff Adberg, principal of Adberg Architecture & Design, created the space for his family -- an empty nest couple and their three dogs, wanting to immerse themselves in a “magical retreat space” while retaining modern style and comfort to age in place. Adberg drew from his more than 35-year professional career and lifetime love of residential design for this extraordinary project. Being in the unique position of wearing two hats, that of architect and resident, Adberg carefully synthesized the sometimes-divergent programmatic needs and desires of a couple, to shape a “forever” home that respected their individual sensibilities and the splendor of the surroundings.
Through the decades, Adberg has selected from Kolbe Windows & Doors’ fine-crafted wood products for more traditional projects. For this modern design, he chose from Kolbe’s VistaLuxe AL LINE. The narrow profiles of these all-aluminum windows and doors are finished with Dark Bronze, framing each opening and presenting a continuous interior connection with the outdoors. The expansive sizes, European-influenced clean geometry, energy-efficient performance and easy maintenance reinforce the home’s guiding design principles.
Worth the Wait
Having owned the property for nearly a decade before actively beginning the design process, Adberg took in the panoramic views during his visits and imagined how it would feel in their future home.
The property sits nearly 300 feet above sea level amid Douglas firs, western red cedars, hemlocks, maples, madrones and alders, with an understory of native salal, ferns and huckleberries. Looking west, views extend toward the Kitsap Peninsula and ultimately to the peaks of the Olympic Mountains.
The wooded setting provides another luxury: privacy. Although the house opens broadly toward its surroundings, neighboring homes and structures remain out of sight. This experience became a fundamental objective. Yet, wetlands, steep slopes and mature trees, including a grove of established cedars, constrained where the home could be placed.
Rather than treating those conditions as competing requirements, Adberg sought to “preserve as much as possible of the wooded area” and the sense of being “in the midst of our own little park”. Capturing the western views and maintaining southern exposure for solar access also were top considerations.
Reinterpreting an Agrarian Form
For this project, Adberg asked himself, “How do I make reference to the landscape being this organic, irregular, natural environment?” Rather than resorting to an organic shape, he accepted that the house would be “very much a reflection of what is man-made, both in form and in materials used with it. Sitting in opposition to, yet sympathetic with the environment.”
He explored several substantially different concepts before arriving at one that he and his family could see themselves enjoying far into the future. He acknowledged, “There’s no one right answer. Everything is an interpretation of an expression of an idea.”
An early option arranged three pavilions -- living, sleeping and working -- with low-sloping, shed roofs nested around a partially enclosed outdoor space. Another option considered building a high tower in hope of capturing more distant vistas. Ultimately, these variations did not deliver the additional views or the intended experience.
Maintaining the generative, three-pavilion concept, the architect rotated the building composition and introduced steeply pitched roofs to provide the ideal response to the programmatic and site exigencies. Simple, gabled barns served as a design reference. Adberg re-interpreted this familiar form across three interconnected, two-story volumes with decidedly contemporary detailing.
Beneath each triangular roof, Adberg designed each “pavilion” with a focus on certain activities. Two conjoined, offset volumes host the primary functions for daily living and sleeping, with indoor spaces extending out to the patios and decks. A separate, and single third pavilion is designated for working spaces. A two-story glass-enclosed bridge connects the dual-volume primary spaces to the more utilitarian functions of the single volume.
The final orientation worked with the site’s landscape, accommodated photovoltaic panels and evoked the region’s rural, agrarian history. “The choice of materials stemmed from a simple, recognizable palette of old barns: standing seam metal roof, knotty pine siding, all sitting on a concrete foundation.”
Shaping Simplicity
The home’s simple geometry and disciplined materials provide a counterpoint to the landscape rather than a reproduction of it. This philosophy continues at every scale.
Adberg wanted visual calm without sterility; indoor comfort with outdoor access; spaciousness without being cavernous; beautiful character, yet a casual enough feel for everyday life with pets. A “less is more” approach carefully balances these juxtaposing forces.
Approaching the home, visitors identify the main entrance by its five horizontal mullions. “Every other window or door in the house is a single pane of glass. On the front door, we call out that this is different. The mullions give texture and distinction to the door. It’s also the only door that is in-swinging. All the other doors open out, leading out to the decks or patios, whereas the front door brings you in.”
“I am particularly drawn to shape and texture,” said Adberg. “By simplifying many things, it allows those details to come forward and the pieces to fit together.” Throughout the house, conventional details have been reconsidered or removed: applied trim is largely absent, transitions are carefully resolved, hardware is minimized or concealed, and surfaces remain clean and linear.
Adberg worked closely with Holly McKinley Interior Design who applied similar constraint. Natural materials including wood, stone, metal and glass establish the foundation, while textiles and soft goods bring tactile warmth to those inherently hard surfaces. Breezy whites, silky creams, bronzy browns, moody grays and rich black colors predominate, with saturated color used selectively.
Removing the visual noise, Adberg’s and McKinley’s harmonized design enables proportion, material, texture, light and view to become more noticeable.
Visible style with inherent functionality
The controlled discipline within the home’s design imbued the windows with even more significance. From Kolbe’s VistaLuxe AL LINE, Adberg selected a combination of direct-set and tilt-turn windows, which are strategically positioned for optimal outdoor views.
The tilt-turn windows are precisely aligned along the home's wood-clad side walls. The width of the siding’s boards established the width of the window’s framing, creating a deliberate rhythm within the vertical siding pattern rather than interrupting it.
“Much of the detailing in the house is very planar. We have no applied trim overlaying the walls,” described Adberg. “We have no side casing on the windows. There’s just an interior sill.”
The structure’s 2-by-10 framing encases the windows with generous wall depth. “The windows open within the thickness of the wall,” explained Adberg. “They work seamlessly with clean, crisp detail, while functioning beautifully.”
Installed across from one another, the windows promote cross ventilation throughout the house with their subtle hopper operation. When even more fresh air is desired or the glass needs cleaning, the sash can fully open as an inswing casement. “Because the windows open inward as opposed to outward, the screens stay in place. That double function is a great feature,” noted Adberg. He elaborated, “The quiet details and simplicity of this particular tilt-turn casement window fits so many of my design sensibilities.”
“The quiet details and simplicity of this particular tilt-turn casement window fits so many of my design sensibilities.”
Dissolving walls, endless views
As the tilt-turn windows prominently declare each individual opening, the home’s gabled elevations feature transparent glass walls. Rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal and custom-shaped VistaLuxe AL LINE direct set windows are mulled together to trace the steeply sloped roofline and fully span from corner to corner and floor to ceiling. A single, 9-foot-tall swing door incorporated into each wall provides direct outdoor access without sacrificing the clarity of the continuous views.
“I wanted to completely open up the end walls to be glass, transparent, and blur the line between inside and outside,” said Adberg. “I’m super happy with the windows and the doors. There’s a clean, contemporary, crisp detailing that really lends itself to what I wanted to do.”
“I’m super happy with the windows and the doors. There’s a clean, contemporary, crisp detailing that really lends itself to what I wanted to do.”
The Dark Bronze, narrow aluminum frames of the doors and windows articulate the openings without overwhelming them. Their outlined transparency deliberately contrasts with the solidity of the wood-clad walls.
From inside looking out, Adberg recessed the glass plane approximately 4 feet to allow “the distinction between the exterior rough-sawn knotty pine siding and the smooth white sheet rock walls of the interior.” This design feature presents a gradual, visible transition between outside and inside.
A work of art
Complementing his extensive drawings for the house, Adberg used 3D modeling to optimize the position for each window in capturing the natural views and light. As the sun’s path travels from east to west, the morning sun filters into the front room through the trees and progressively illuminates the home throughout the day.
“The single biggest surprise is that all of the side windows look like framed art,” shared Adberg. “You have these vignettes – whether there’s two windows in the dining room or three in the living room – every room has multiple windows. They look like they’re framed prints of a beautiful outside scene.” And each of those scenes change with the weather, seasons and time of day.
The largest window walls provide a different experience, extending sightlines outward toward the water and mountains. The glass bridge between the primary pavilions and the single, secondary pavilion offers an immersive physical and visual connection. Massive glass panels were sized and engineered with input from Kolbe, then precisely positioned. Sunset views of the distant Olympic Mountain peaks are enjoyed by all, including the family dogs. Walking through the house, Adberg said, “It feels like I'm outside, even when I'm inside because of all the side windows and the glass end walls. No matter what space you’re in, you always have a reference to the outdoors.”
“It feels like I'm outside, even when I'm inside because of all the side windows and the glass end walls. No matter what space you’re in, you always have a reference to the outdoors.”
Transparency plus thermal performance
In the Pacific Northwest’s climate and marine environment, natural light, energy efficiency and durable performance are all valuable assets.
With the windows being such a major component of the home, Adberg emphasized, “I very much wanted to make sure that the quality and technology were going to be at the highest level. Knowing Kolbe sits within a range of what I consider high-end windows and doors, that gave me the assurance that I’ve got their backing. I was certainly not going to go with any less.”
He advised, “If you’re going to make some concessions, don’t ever make it with the windows and doors. Stretch on these and compromise elsewhere.”
Kolbe’s VistaLuxe AL LINE windows and doors feature slender, all-aluminum, thermally broken frames to deliver modern aesthetics and high performance. Within their framing, the insulating thermal barriers reduce energy transfer. Their Low-E insulating glass also mitigates heat transfer and blocks the UV rays. These performance qualities not only help save energy, but they also protect interior furnishings from fading and keep indoor temperatures comfortable regardless of the weather outside.
The result is evident throughout the residence: performance and aesthetics were not treated as separate objectives. The same windows that frame the forest, water and distant mountains also allow Adberg’s family to comfortably coexist within the natural setting.
Living in peace
Adberg’s vision was realized through a careful design process and thoughtful decision-making across the project.
The result is not a showpiece designed around an abstract ideal of residential life. It is a home designed to be lived in comfortably, casually and for years to come. Its character does not depend on a single dramatic component; it emerges from hundreds of deliberate choices: the orientation within its site, the pitch of its roofs, the alignment between its windows and siding, the careful framing of its views, and many more.
For Adberg, the project brings together ideas refined through decades of architectural practice. Kolbe VistaLuxe AL LINE windows and doors also have become part of his professional knowledge, helping define both small details and grand expanses in his home.
When asked what he hoped guests would feel after spending just five minutes in the home, Adberg responded with a smile and a single word: “peacefulness.”
