Roanoke | Ray C. Freeman III

Exterior View

The exterior is designed to present itself as a complete building, pairs of units, and individual units, all at different scales. Individual gardens separate the units from the street, and each unit a path through the garden leads to an individual entry stoop providing access to the unit entrance.

Unit Entry

Upon entry to the unit, one proceeds past the study or library to the stair, or continues on to the rear bedroom and garden.

Rear Gardens

At the rear of each unit is a private garden, accessed through the back bedroom on the first floor.

Library / Study

At the first floor level is a library or study that looks out onto the street.

Library / Study

Another study in a different unit. With nine different owners selecting materials and colors, each of these is unique.

Main Living Floor

One floor up from the entry, the main floor includes Living, Dining, and Kitchen, with the stair in the center.

Main Living Floor

Although there are no walls on the main floor, there is a definition of spaces provided by the central stair that passes through on it's way to the third floor. Each room has a unique relationship to this stair.

Living Room

At the front of each unit, overlooking the street below, is the living room, with both a bay window and a small balcony.

Living Room

Another treatment of the living room in a different unit. This room has the greatest volume, and is given additional stature by being up a few steps up from the Dining Room.

Kitchen / Dining

On the same floor as the Living Room, but down a few steps, are the Dining Room and Kitchen, which overlooks the back garden.

Stairway

A view of the central stair, which organizes the plan and provides access to floors at five different levels.

Stairway

From the Master Bedroom, the open stair provides a view of the Living Room below, as well as access to the Roof Deck above.

Roof Deck

At the top of the stair, one emerges onto an individual private deck for each unit, providing spectacular views of Lake Union.

The houseboats, Lake Union, Gasworks Park, and beyond are all part of the view from the top deck of each unit.

View of Lake Union

Arriving at the top of the stair, the houseboats, Lake Union, Gasworks Park, and beyond, are all part of the view from each individual roof deck.

Exterior View

Unit Entry

Upon entry to the unit, one proceeds past the study or library to the stair, or continues on to the rear bedroom and garden.

Rear Gardens

At the rear of each unit is a private garden, accessed through the back bedroom on the first floor.

Library / Study

At the first floor level is a library or study that looks out onto the street.

Library / Study

Another study in a different unit. With nine different owners selecting materials and colors, each of these is unique.

Main Living Floor

One floor up from the entry, the main floor includes Living, Dining, and Kitchen, with the stair in the center.

Main Living Floor

Living Room

At the front of each unit, overlooking the street below, is the living room, with both a bay window and a small balcony.

Roanoke Reef Rowhouses

While the Rowhouse enjoys widespread popularity as a housing type in many other parts of the country, it was relatively unknown in Seattle when this project was designed.

In many ways, the success of the rowhouse can be attributed to its flexibility. The individual unit's parallel bearing walls with floors suspended between allows for interior remodeling without significant structural change.

The design of the Roanoke Reef Rowhouses took this time-honored method of construction

one step further. Standard structural designs require interior shear walls, perpendicular to the bearing walls, for stability. In the project, a system of steel frames were built around the internal stairways, which supply the required shear strength without any interior partitions.

This system is most apparent on the main living floor, where the Living Room, Kitchen, and Dining Room are uninterrupted by walls, and the stair is allowed to float through. The stair is a part of these rooms, rather than simply a connecting device; indeed the stair becomes the generator

of the plan, as rooms are created by expanding the landings as the stair makes its way from the entry level to the roof terrace.

Furthering this dialogue between the structure itself and the human occupancy that occurs over time, the building as a whole is supported by a concrete base, individual units identified by paired brick facades, and potentially individualizing elements such as the bay window and cornice, of wood, so that they may be allowed to change over time, perhaps even at the whim of the individual homeowner.