Autumn’s Eagle

Living in a home such as Autumn’s Eagle (AE’s) is a revelation during every moment.  In its quiet repose the structure maintains its own rhythm it is connected with the land and the people from within and extends outward.

There were many challenges associated to the creation of AE’s the most apparent is the steepness of the site.  For every detail in the home, although it may appear to be cosmetic all features are for functional reasons.  The home had to be elevated to capture the beautiful Northwest landscape.  As many of the other homes in East Medford’s higher end residential communities are also elevated, the lack of creativity put into these structures leave them appearing like large boxes that offer nothing to the landscape.

The garage floor is five feet below street level and the Front door is five feet above street level.  This allows for gentle accessibility in and out of the home.  The large Dead Man anchor weight under the base of the ramp is actually part of the structural integrity of the master bedroom side of the house.  The telephone poles and the arc of the front entry ramp mirror the curve of the road and the telephone pole in front of AE.  The distribution of the gravity load at the master bedroom and main entrance side of the house are distributed by fourteen glued laminated columns and three telephone poles.  The reason for the frequency of these columns is the small amount of load each actually has to accept.

The kitchen extends outward toward the view to encourage the exterior to meet the interior.  Structurally this was achieved through Steel Tension Rods.  The Tension Rods are often used in large commercial applications where forces justify the strength of steel.  The Tension Rod that is located in the stairwell assists in the stability of the kitchen floor.

In residential applications the Structural Engineers who design structural drawings for projects like AE have to meet a state required safety factor which is much higher than a typical perspective path build.  The Engineer is also required to make several site observations during the construction of the project to ensure that the builder is meeting the engineers exact specifications.

The are two reason for the nickname given to the property of “Autumn’s Eagle”.  The color palette of the home was intended to blend with a Fall Landscape.  The Eagle part of the name derived from the roof line at the master which appears as a wing and the hope appears to perch on the hillside.