On the journey from Seattle to the greater Olympic Peninsula, Discovery Bay is a unique place: A tight curve in the road slows drivers down long enough to take in the expansive, calm water of the protected bay, with endless trees on either side.
Buildable waterfront property in Discovery Bay, Port Townsend is hard to come by, which is why it was so special for Estes Builders to undertake three side-by-side, completely unique custom homes there. A soon-to-be retired couple had secured one of the three lots a number of years ago and was finally ready to put their retirement plan into action and move full-time into their dream life. They designed the home of their dreams with the legendary Peter Stoner of Stoner Architects in Seattle, but as dreams often go, the lofty plans came with a lofty budget. After realizing the home, designed as planned, would take significantly more of their nest egg than they wanted to spend, the homeowners turned to Estes’ in-house design team to provide alternative construction methods and materials to help bring their wishes in line with their budget.
The original design of the Discovery Bay home called for a number of high-end features that pushed costs over the limit. Most notable was a commercial window package for the two-story great room that eliminated nearly all obstructions to capture as much of the waterfront views as possible. Stunning and dreamy for sure, but in addition to being extremely costly, the window wall also provided less than desirable energy efficiency. To draw down the cost and improve the energy efficiency of the window wall, Estes converted the plans for the commercial window package into a structurally configured residential window package that mulled units together and eliminated as many lines as possible. The solution leveraged carefully calculated reinforcement beams that separated top and bottom windows but helped preserve the expansive eye-level views across the bay and great sightlines from one end of the house to the other. Using wood residential windows added to the home’s R-value and allowed for operable windows with exterior cladding.
Clean, modern lines and a polished concrete floor combine with the black window frames to lend a modern feel to the interior, warmed by knotty beams above and radiant floor heat. Across the back of the house, the window wall transitions to a large concrete patio providing ample outdoor gathering and dining space just steps from the shoreline. Stately concrete columns provide support for front and rear overhangs of the split butterfly roof and continue the contemporary aesthetic.
The home’s open floor plan and large vaulted ceilings necessitated special inspections with the structural engineer, an extra-intricate level of scheduling required. The meticulous design process was also critical for the successful execution of the home’s concrete slab-on-grade foundation, concrete pillars, and SIPs roof. Estes worked closely with the electricians, framers, concrete team, and roof panel manufacturer to ensure proper pre-planning of all pillar placements and electrical drops so that kitchen island pendants and tracks lined up perfectly with the yet to be built island, and center-of-room floor outlets were cemented in the right place long before walls existed, and support columns lined up perfectly waiting to receive 50′ beam spans and pre-engineered roof panels. It’s the meticulous planning of a custom home that ensures the home comes to life as intended.
