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The Pleasures of a One-Bedroom, One-Bathroom Cabin
“It’s probably the best place I’ve ever lived,” said the owner of a little house in the mountainous Methow Valley of Washington.
If you’re a certain kind of architecture buff, it doesn’t get much better than having the award-winning architect Tom Kundig — known for his inventive, industrial-looking structures — build your house. So when Chris Rogers commissioned Mr. Kundig to design his home in 2009, it was a dream come true.
Known as the Hammer House, the 2,200-square-foot weathering-steel structure that Mr. Kundig created for him rose from a sloping site like a tower, offering long views through walls of glass. The interior was a minimalist composition of meticulously crafted steel and concrete.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Rogers loved it.
Five years later, though, he began feeling restless. Mr. Rogers, now 61 and a real estate broker, has a background in land conservation and helped create the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. He also developed a condominium project with Mr. Kundig.
But increasingly, he found himself drawn to nature. He owned a small second home — a 500-square-foot off-the-grid cabin that he built for himself in the nearby San Juan Islands — and when he was there, his house in the city began to feel like an inconvenience. In 2014, he sold it and moved into a condo, with the idea of adopting a hotel-like lifestyle while he was in the city. But that still didn’t feel quite right.
