An architect designs a house that embraces the nearby meadow
written by Melissa Dalton | photography by Lara Swimmer
From the street, Patti Chamberlain’s Eugene house looks rather straightforward. It’s a squared-off one level, with two windows and a gray steel facade. But duck into the breezeway beside the garage, and unlatch the gate, and you’ll find a meadow inside. “It’s a courtyard house,” said architect Ben Waechter. “The idea was to create the feeling of a meadow in the courtyard. Patti did not want a curated garden.”
Courtyard houses have been around for centuries, as early as 6500 B.C. in what is now present-day Syria, and as recently as this Eugene neighborhood, thanks to Waechter, founder of the Portland-based firm Waechter Architecture. Rather than have the house sit between a front and back lawn, courtyard houses typically consist of a plan where the main rooms of the house are arranged around an inner yard, open to the sky, with doors and windows facing into the center for access and views. “The courtyard is something to orient towards,” said Waechter. “It’s a way to be outside, yet still private and protected.”
That was exactly what Chamberlain wanted, given the location of her home. It’s directly adjacent to a community park, nicknamed the “Meadow.” Years ago, the neighbors joined together and bought the land from developers so as to preserve some green space for communal use. “The meadow is a magical place in the neighborhood,” said Chamberlain, who lived two blocks away from it for years, frequently taking her dogs and grandchildren there. In 2020, the empty double lot next door went up for sale. “I love real estate, so I look at it all the time,” said Chamberlain. “I wanted to stay in the neighborhood, but this was such a great opportunity. I just couldn’t pass it up.”
When she reached out to Waechter for the home design, he immediately appreciated the setting and thought a courtyard house could give her a private version of the meadow experience. “I grew up in Eugene, and the character of the meadow is very familiar,” said Waechter. “It’s the natural landscape of a lot of that part of the Willamette Valley, with oak trees and grasses. It’s untamed.”
Waechter worked with landscape architect Catherine Davis to place the meadow at the center of the home, planted with the same native grasses and ferns as the bigger park. The courtyard also doubles as a rain garden for stormwater management, collecting run-off from the roof, which is sloped inward for that very purpose. “Once you’re in the center, it’s more intimate,” said Waechter. “The scale is brought down because the roof slopes.” There are no gutters, which facilitates the water management process for the rain garden, and makes for easy maintenance for Chamberlain.
The exterior steel, which has been bonderized, will patina over time to further blend the house into its environment. Plus, wrapping the roof, deep eaves and walls in the same material gives the impression that the house has a folded appearance. “We wanted the house to be a sculptural experience,” said Waechter.
As for the 2,000-square-foot interior, the architect developed a plan for the rooms to open and close to the courtyard, in an alternating rhythm. To that end, rooms with a more utilitarian function, like the laundry, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen and garage, all have smaller windows and solid walls, so the focus is placed on their interior, and privacy is ensured. “Unlike many people, I didn’t want the kitchen to be the center of the house,” said Chamberlain. “I’m more of the Frank Lloyd Wright-type: the kitchen’s a workspace.”
In these areas, she appreciates how the custom cabinetry fits everything she needs, and then some. “I have the most luxurious, large linen closet, to the point where when I played hide-and-seek with my grandkids, one of them hid by laying on one of the shelves,” said Chamberlain. The pared-back material palette—white walls, white tile and white oak—also puts the focus where she wanted it: outside.
That’s also facilitated by the open, light-filled spaces that contrast with the “contained” rooms. When you enter them, it is as though you are emerging into nature. There’s a deep loggia, or outdoor lounge, with a covered roof, that borrows views into the adjacent public meadow and has enough space for a ping-pong setup. The breezeway at the front offers views into the courtyard when moving from the garage to the house. Meanwhile, two family rooms are each lined with glass window walls.
The glass acts as a frame to capture the four-season show in the courtyard, whether that’s the irises in bloom, birds swooping down for a drink from the rock that doubles as a bird bath or icicles forming along the dripline. “When it rains, you get a curtain of water running off the roof,” said Chamberlain. “People complain about living in Oregon with all of the rain, but this turns it into a priority. It’s a beautiful show.”
