FOREVER HOUSE

Anchorage, Alaska

Categories: Single Family, Anchorage, New House, Garage/Shop, Master Suite, Residential Master Plan, Rural, Hillside

Total area, buildings: 3,165 sq. ft. [new]

Total area, site: 41,082 sq. ft.

General Contractor: Wintersun Construction

The owners, a younger couple with two small children wanted a house they could live in for the rest of their lives and pass on to younger generations of the family. They relocated from their former home, a historic house on E. 11th Avenue, a block formerly known as Pilot's Row. The new site's topography and shape presented challenges – it widens out at the [lower] west end [and a small creek runs across the property there]; while at the east street frontage there is minimal lot width and a knoll at the high point very near the street. The solution was to partially engage the knoll with a relatively compact house footprint, to minimize re-grading and allow the driveway to curve around the knoll. The house is not visible from the street. There is excellent daylight access, and while there is not a territorial view there are vignette views of Flattop Mountain, Denali and Cook Inlet from various vantage points. Like at the Beluga Lake House, split half levels were used to cope with the sloping site and promote a balance of togetherness and privacy. The lowermost level is a taxidermy shop for the owner's hobby business. The house has complex roof forms popular in the '90s and early 2000s, the difference being that there is usable space beneath them, rather than tall inaccessible attic space.