• Landry Smith Architect
  • Projects
  • About

Oregon City House

Oregon City, Oregon 2017
Oregon City House. Kitchen view #1
1/12

The existing house was built in the late 1970’s in the Northwest Style. Located in Oregon City, it overlooks the Historic McLaughlin Neighborhood, the Willamette River, and downtown Portland. The inherited situation was a collection of small, compartmentalized rooms with limited connection to the immediate site and surrounding views.

Through a series of subtractions, the plan was defragmented and four new primary spaces for the house were established— an entry, a living area, a dining area, and a kitchen. Absorbed into these four spaces were the entry porch and the deck- which were understood from the onset as existing rooms. New exterior openings (many of which are full height sliding windows) reinforce this reading and establish a surprisingly fluid relationship between the interior and exterior despite limited alterations to the perimeter. In concert, long view corridors and a richly layered organization were achieved by selectively removing interior walls and columns.

Oregon City House. Kitchen view #2
Oregon City House. Existing and proposed plan diagrams
Oregon City House. Isometric diagram of the proposed condition
Oregon City House. Entry and stair

The additive components in the project read as distinct interventions. They include a new brick fireplace and hearth, an operable bookcase, an open stair, and a stainless steel kitchen block. These additions serve as bold and open-ended players on the (now more open) main floor and play important roles (both visually and pragmatically) in the newly defined zones of the house.

Oregon City House. Living room looking towards the deck and kitchen
Oregon City House. Main level floor plan
Oregon City House. Living room and hearth

The formal strategies we explored sought to address the existing compartmentalization without a wholesale erasure of the idiosyncrasies of the given condition. We discovered that by accepting much of the original structure, these new programmatic zones could exist in a looser, more independent fashion from the spatial volumes. This approach offered a diversity of character (in terms of room dimensions and ceiling heights) and provided larger areas that would allow for a maximum number of possibilities and uses. While much of the new work does the obvious task of improving light and views, connections with the surrounding landscape, and so on, the project was especially interested in the potentials of defragmenting the house in a way that moved beyond simply cleaning-up.

Oregon City House. View from the kitchen looking towards the entry

Location: Oregon City, Oregon
Project: 2016–17
Client: private
Design team: Landry Smith, Daniel Kendra
Structural engineer: Munzing Structural Engineering
Program: house renovation
Area: 1,500 sq ft

  • < Prev
  • Back to top
  • Next >

Wooden Closet

Portland, Oregon 2017
Wooden Closet. Open door
1/3

Coffee Shop

Portland, Oregon 2017
Coffee Shop. Bar and bench at the entrance
1/8

Josef Albers Exhibition

Hayden Gallery, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 2016
Gould Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 2018
Josef Albers Exhibition. Detail view at the University of Washington
1/17

Irvington House

Portland, Oregon 2016
Irvington House. Model detail
1/5

Alberta House

Portland, Oregon 2015
Alberta House. Front facade
1/13

Preston Bus Station

Preston, Lancashire 2015
competition
Preston Bus Station. Lower courts of the new addition
Preston Bus Station. Section through the new addition
2/10

Jardins de Métis

Grand-Métis, Quebec, Canada 2014
competition
Jardins de Métis. Isometric rendering
1/3

West Linn House

West Linn, Oregon 2015
West Linn House. Front facade, doors closed
1/14

Red Bookcase

2014
Red Bookcase. Oblique view
1/3

Long Table

2014
Long Table. Detail
1/3

The Envoy

Portland, Oregon 2014
The Envoy. Hallway
1/7

Housing Block

Portland, Oregon 2009
Housing Block. South elevation
Housing Block. Section through the apartments looking north
Housing Block. Section through the courtyard looking north
3/7

Mies Remix

2013
Mies Remix. Model, oblique view
1/5

Vertical Zoo

Buenos Aires, Argentina 2010
competition
Vertical Zoo. Final competition model
1/9

Lincoln Beach House

Depoe Bay, Oregon 2009
Lincoln Beach House. View approaching the house
1/4

M House

West Linn, Oregon 2008
M House. Aerial view
1/9

Divine House

Springfield, Oregon 2021
Divine House. Gable end at night
1/31

MvdR Universal

2022
1/24Convention Hall, Chicago, Illinois, 1953–54. Reverse axis axonometric, steel structure and concrete piers. Digital print, 42 x 42" (106.7 x 106.7 cm), © Landry Smith Architect

Novak House

Point Roberts, Washington 2021
Novak House. Front elevation
1/7

East Amazon Studio

Eugene, Oregon 2018
East Amazon Studio. Interior detail
1/4

Shelton House

Eugene, Oregon 2019
Shelton House. View from the side yard
1/9