• Upper level: 1,000 sq. ft.
  • Lower level: 2,000 sq. ft.
  • Waterfront: 80 sq. ft.
  • Property: 13,463 sq. ft.
  • Lake Chelan, Mason, Wa

The Jobe Residence

Built into the hillside and stepping down to Lake Chelan this two-part house parallels the sites natural contours, affording unobstructed southwest views over the water. The property is accessed on the hilltop where the guesthouse and carport are located. The main house is down hill adjacent to the lake. From the hilltop to the main house one descends through a passageway, or crosses beneath a Japanese inspired wooden entry gate and continues down steps under a covered walk past the terraced garden rockery, made of indigenous stones from the hillside. Grey concrete tile roofing blends with the rocky site and was selected for durability. Natural, local, unadorned materials such as wood, stone, stucco and concrete are a dominant part of the structure. The thirty-eight foot long ceiling beams are salvaged from an old sawmill and celebrate the beauty of times past with cracks, crevices, and various marks of history. The exterior wall finish is smooth “Fresco Stucco”, a subtle color mix of the sky, lake, and rocks. It is a matt finish with layered variegated shades resembling a watercolor or an Italian fresco. The covered walkways, the exterior soffits, interior ceilings, and the deep overhang sheltering the veranda outside the great room, are all designed using rhythmically layered wood that transitions from interior to exterior. The interior great room has large windows opening up to the veranda and lake beyond, again enhancing connections to nature and the outdoors with light, views, and materials transitioning from outside to inside. The overhangs protect from the hot summer sun, and capture cooling breezes coming from the water. Other interior features include massive basalt and granite Rumford fireplace, cast-in-place concrete counters, stainless steel kitchen appliances, as-well-as wood and polished concrete floors with radiant heat throughout. This project was designed and built with loving care by an integrative team consisting of the owner, architect, artist, and contractor.

  • Owner: Richard and Idalla Jobe
  • Architect: Kristina Hestenes Stimson
  • Artist: Eric Hanson
  • Contractor: Bill Fenton
  • Structural Engineer: Carla J. Keel
  • Energy Consultant: Ecotope
To the top!

The Lindberg Addition

The house sits on the west side of a 44,044 square foot estate that gently slopes down to the east boundary, which is paralleled by a narrow forest along the edge of a cliff. Paths meander downhill from the house through cultivated gardens and to the forested cliff edge where the owner introduced more winding trails, removed invasive plants and established indigenous species. One moves through the property, pausing to notice air quality, the birds, fruit trees, flowers, dappled shadows, variegated shades of green, and in the summer, sunshine and warmth.

The owner wanted an addition maximizing easterly views into his garden. The new addition includes an enlarged kitchen, a dining room for thanksgiving dinners, and upstairs, with plenty of sunlight and views to the garden below, a master bedroom, bath, and walk-in closet. On the main floor and opening directly off the dining room, a trellis-bordered terrace was added. It transitions house to garden, and breaks up massing by integrating the building into the landscape. The freestanding trellises provide a latticed canopy similar to the surrounding garden trees, and not only define the perimeter of the terrace, but also integrate the house and garden while evoking an understated elegance. During warm summer months the elevated concrete terrace increases outdoor living and dining spaces, providing a place to relax, socialize, drink glasses of lemonade, and enjoy life outside.

  • Owner: Gary Lindberg
  • Architect: Kristina Hestenes Stimson
  • Contractor: Rolland Smith
  • Structural Engineer: Richard Ballinger
  • Energy Consultant: Ecotope, Mark Frankel
To the top!
  • Existing house:
  • Basement: 780 sq. ft.
  • Main Floor: 838.5 sq. ft.
  •  
  • New addition:
  • Basement: 206 sq. ft.
  • Main floor: 256 sq. ft.
  • Second Floor: 540.5 sq. ft.
  • Seattle, Wa

The Historic Icehouse Complex

South Downtown Area (So.DA)
Phoenix, Az

Icehouse History:

The Icehouse was known historically as the Constable Ice and Fuel Company. In 1910 it was used for cold storage and the production and sale of ice. By 1930 the property held eight structures that were involved in a fire. Today a total of 22,237 sf. exists and is in use:

  • 1915 - small row storage rooms, known for artist studio space 2,0165 sf. - exposed red brick walls and wood trusses
  • 1920 - neoclassical building, known as “The Cathedral Room Court Yard” 2,404 sf. poured in place reinforced concrete
  • 1922 - three-story building, known for “The White Column Room “ on the main floor, and upstairs two floors of “Cold Storage Chambers” 12792 sf. of poured-n-place concrete with interior walls insulated by three to five inches of cork and plaster
  • 1960 - warehouse, known as “The Silver Room” 4,060 sf. silver concrete masonry block walls, and a roof of wood bowstring trusses, and a silver ceiling of exposed fire-rated bat insulation

About The Icehouse:


The Historic Icehouse Complex provides art and entertainment activities; and is best known for many years of philanthropy: backing local, national, and international exhibiting artists, supporting civic causes or non-profits, and hosting lectures, concerts, theatre, and dance performances. The Icehouse for-profit activities include space rental for weddings, private or corporate parties, a location for movie shoots, and music venues for dancing, parties, and open-air concerts.

The Icehouse is a grassroots project and a beloved community venue. Much of its’ construction has been done over time by various volunteers, and local artists using recycled building materials and exposed or recycled raw materials such as steel, wood, and concrete.

KHS architecture spent many years supporting the Icehouse. Measuring and documenting existing conditions for as-built construction drawings. Supplying various detailed drawings for the re-use of recycled building materials, such as custom wood doors and shutters for windows to complement the historic 1915 brick building. In the “White Column Room” KHS designed a steel woven wire cage around the existing loading elevator; and on the upper floors KHS surrounded the elevator shaft and cage with floor to ceiling fire proof glass walls recycled from a demolished local high-rise with the intent of exposing the elevator cage and hoist-cables, while protecting occupants and conforming to fire code. KHS produced schematic design studies for the entire complex, as well as urban design studies and a Master Plan for a neighborhood artist district. KHS provided permit drawings for a new roof over the neoclassical cathedral room. The new roof structure was designed with a custom ridge sky light over exposed hand bolted and laser cut steel trusses that supported an integrated bridge and gantry crane. KHS provided construction permit packages for additional restrooms, lighting, and air conditioning systems, as well as orchestrating the production of construction permit packages for a mechanical conditioning system and fire sprinkler system for the entire complex.

To the top!

What makes it Green?


“The greenest building is the one already built”
~ Carl Elefante, FAIA

Reusing existing or historic buildings has less climate change impact than demolishing and constructing new: When comparing the embodied energy of an existing building to a new similar building type, for example a new energy efficient office building to an existing office building, the new building doesn’t begin saving energy for forty years, and if the old building is demolished and removed off site, the new building will not save energy for sixty-five years, as paraphrased per Mike Jackson, FAIA.

Most new buildings don’t last beyond 40 years; they are not sustainable. Buildings are sustainable when they are built to last and maintained. As the authors of Whole Building Design Guide once said, “Sustainability begins with preservation”.