How A Multigenerational Retreat Took Shape In Bend, Oregon

“We’re really good listeners,” says Rick Berry. It’s a handy skill for a residential designer like Berry and his colleague, architect Ryan Yoshida, to have in general, but especially if they have four clients rather than the usual one or two—and even more so when two happen to be siblings, and one of those siblings and his partner live an ocean away in Japan.

Berry and Yoshida had worked with the group before, designing a four-unit Portland home to accommodate the siblings and their parents. This time around, the family asked the architects for another multigenerational dwelling—a getaway in Bend on a lot abutting Forest Service land looking toward multiple Cascade peaks. “They wanted a simple plan, for it to feel as comfortable for one or two people as for eight or 10, and for all of the main rooms to have views,” Yoshida says of their brief.

Beyond listening to their clients’ needs, Berry and Yoshida were also attentive to the sloped site. “The initial concept was to have the home float around and lightly touch the landscape, so half the building is cantilevered over the hillside,” says Berry, adding that landscape architect Eric Bode was instrumental in planning how the residence would sit on the property. The structure itself is composed of a pair of stacked volumes, with the upper shifted slightly over the lower in a move, notes Berry, reminiscent of the way tectonic plates shift. On the upper level, the architecture team placed a pair of primary bedrooms and a media room. The lower level is home to a suite for the parents, as well as the kitchen, dining area and living room, the last anchored by a board-formed concrete fireplace. “The spaces aren’t large,” Yoshida notes. “They are intimate and functional.” To further root the dwelling into the surrounding landscape of pine trees and lava rocks, Berry and Yoshida chose cedar cladding both inside and out as well as basalt for the site walls. Of course, given the minimal materials palette and spare design, the margin of error was small, making general contractor Joe Waggoner and his team key in realizing the vision.

As capturing the views was paramount, there are windows on all sides, including a massive 40-foot sliding door running the length of the main public spaces. Despite this abundance of glazing, the home still feels protected and private. A generous overhang shades the slider, shielding the house from the bright high desert sun in the summer and the snow in the winter, and a cedar screen artfully conceals a deck at one end of the dwelling. Designer Kathy Vuong, who frequently collaborates with the architecture team, took on the interiors, imbuing them with warmth and serenity. “The palette was natural,” says Vuong, noting the range of creams, pale grays and taupes used throughout. She intermixed the occasional darker gray or black hue to serve as grounding elements and chose soft materials like plaster, linen, cashmere and wool for their subtle texture.

Vuong kept spaces uncluttered, opting for furniture with silhouettes that read as warmly minimalist and midcentury, including a variety of rocking chairs. “The pieces are like the family—thoughtful, comfortable, efficient and light. They’re a reflection of the calmness they bring into the home,” she says. In keeping with the desire for understatement, most of the lighting is concealed in the ceiling, but to “add a little vitality,” notes Vuong, she chose a few bolder decorative fixtures. Over the dining table, for example, hangs a grouping of pendants she likens to the moon and stars. This collection of round fixtures of varying sizes sway in the breeze when the doors are open, bringing a subtle touch of movement.

Not only is the overall feel of the home simple and effortless, but the process was, too. “They were great decision makers,” says Yoshida, and Vuong agrees. “They were the easiest people to work with,” she shares. “And the way they treated each other was beautiful. It’s a testament to how their parents raised them, and the magic they created.”