Bowstring Truss House

This private residence and studio was adapted from a 5,000 sf former warehouse and auto repair shop. The space is clear spanned by a series of four bow-string trusses and exposed roof framing. The intent of the design was to maintain the vast trussed ceiling and the open floor plane, while inserting a standard residential program that the clients could live among. 

The result manages both scales simultaneously: a sense of the expanse of the entire structure as well as scaled discrete living areas. A new environment; a simplified terrain between earth and sky.  The functionality of the house flows lucidly. A free pattern of new skylights create a constellation of light and discrete pools of sun. At the center of the house, the groundscape and the roofscape align to form a central courtyard—a vitrine of nature, and a vessel to capture the elusive Pacific Northwest light.

Bowstring Truss House – Atrium Time Lapse Video (by Joshua Jay Elliott)