Hoke House
Skylab designed the Hoke House to provide a venue for interplay between the vibrant outdoor environment and dramatic interior spaces that simultaneously shelter occupants, and frame the expanse of the surroundings in Portland.
The Hoke House lies at the edge of Portland’s Forest Park. The sloping site presented technical challenges, and demanded an innovative approach to marry a desire for a relatively small building footprint and generous and flowing spaces.
Living volumes are cantilevered in order to simultaneously minimize the building footprint, and heighten the light tree-house experience of the principal interior spaces. The residence melds the technological and the primitive in its materials and systems. The home features daring cantilevers, advanced building systems and controls, and cutting edge details—yet the surfaces, textures and spaces are natural and intuitive. Daylight and electric light play quietly against the warmth and textures of natural materials, but are modulated by surprising and inspiring geometries. This duality is mirrored in the dwelling’s flowing spaces, moving between crisp and deftly angular details, and framed views of the forest canopy or the primeval boulders upslope.
The house features an extensive system of decks and patios connected to the interior spaces by floor to ceiling openings. These outdoor living zones are located strategically in opposite cardinal directions from the core living spaces, to provide generous outdoor spaces useable at different times of day and through different seasons. The occupants can shelter from, or open themselves to the sun and rain, light and shade, depending on need or whim. At once urban and wild, the residence is in harmony with, and a reflection of its location at the border of Portland and Forest Park.
Design: Skylab
Photography: courtesy of Skylab
