New Northwest

An illustrated survey of recently designed houses in and around Seattle reveals how local architects are reshaping Northwest Modernism to create homes that are deeply attuned to modern challenges and the diverse natural beauty of the region.

Throughout Washington state, a new generation of architect-designed homes is emerging, one that is unmistakably of and for the Pacific Northwest. This richly illustrated book, curated and authored by Seattle-based design journalist Lauren Gallow, highlights three dozen extraordinary homes in a range of scales, from artfully compact city dwellings and floating homes to immersive island retreats and mountain cabins. Each project reflects a clear, site-responsive approach, demonstrating how Seattle’s designers are building with landscape, climate, and material integrity in mind to shape spaces that feel both contemporary and meaningfully connected to their surroundings.

Whether through the expressive use of wood, the inspired combination of old and new, or the integration of indoor and outdoor spaces, many of these designers build on the longstanding foundations of Northwest Modernism even as they reinterpret those principles for a new era. Exploring the design possibilities of smaller footprints, flexible forms, and sustainable strategies, these architects offer practical responses to housing pressures and the realities of a changing environment. Together, they illustrate a region committed to building responsibly without compromising beauty or craft.

With more than 300 photos alongside design firm profiles based on extensive interviews, New Northwest is an absorbing tour of contemporary residences in Washington state that offers insight into how each architect, whether an established or emerging practitioner, interprets the site, materials, and the lived experience of home. The result is a portrait of homes in a region whose landscape has long shaped its built identity, and which continues to evolve by the creative thinking of architects today.

Featured design firms:

• Artisans Group Architecture + Planning
• atelierjones
• Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
• CAST architecture
• chadbourne + doss architects
• DeForest Architects
• Drew Shawver Architecture and Design
• Ecco Architecture and Design
• Eerkes Architects
• GO’C
• Graham Baba Architects
• Heliotrope Architects
• Hoedemaker Pfeiffer
• Hoshide Wanzer Architects + Interiors
• Johnston Architects
• Lauren Crocco Architecture & Design
• Linework Architecture
• McClellan | Tellone
• Mutuus Studio
• mwworks
• The Miller Hull Partnership
• Okano Picard Studio
• PBW Architects
• rho Architects
• Signal Architecture + Research
• SkB Architects
• Stephenson Design Collective
• Studio DIAA
• Studio Nocturne
• Studio Zerbey Architecture + Interiors
• Suyama Peterson Deguchi
• Syndicate Smith
• Tokul
• Trace Design
• Ueda Design Studio
• Wittman Estes