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A Good Fit
A handsome Sunriver home features heavy timber framing and traditional joinery (published in The Oregonian Newspaper, Portland Oregon - August 12, 1999) By Elisabeth Dunham
Beneath a cloudless sky, a frozen mist had settled on the ponderosa pines, causing the trees to glisten in the bright sun. The view from the lot was impressive enough: Sunriver's Great Meadow to the south and the Deschutes River and national forest to the west. "A breeze came through and blew off the frost in the sunlight. It was like pixie dust," Frank Swinney recalls. "And I said, 'Joan, that's the omen. That's the message.' " After three months of looking at a dozen homes in the area, they'd found a lot. They set about creating a home that reflected the simple beauty of the high desert landscape and the simple way they liked to live. The lot "is an extension of the Deschutes Forest, and we wanted to replicate that natural setting," says Frank Swinney, an architect, who designed the house. "And we knew how we lived and used a home, so we started with that." In a place where many new high-end homes are of the McMansion persuasion, the Swinneys' home stands out as real architecture. Combining a heavy timber frame with traditional joinery and a spare Asian-inspired aesthetic, the 2,600-square-foot residence is both substantial and graceful. Inside, white walls are separated by massive Douglas fir timbers that reach skyward into the vaulted space of the great room. The spruce tongue-and-groove ceiling comes to a peak upon a network of graceful beams. The Swinneys liked the open floor plan of their Portland home, which Frank also designed, and used a similar layout in the new design. In both homes the kitchen opens onto the dining room and living room. The design reflects a lifestyle Joan Swinney describes as "informal elegance." "We both enjoy cooking. We enjoy entertaining," she says. Longtime friends from Portland, their son and his friends are regular guests. Two home offices allow them to feel intellectually separated even though they are only a few steps away. Spare, gallery like walls highlight their antiques, mostly German pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries inherited from Frank's ancestors, who were connected with the furniture-making colonies of Iowa. In deciding on a concept for the house, they sought simplicity and decided on Arts and Crafts style. That led them to consider a timber frame. A Bend architect recommended Earthwood Homes, a Sisters-based timber frame company known for its skilled craftsmanship and its mortise and tenon (hole and peg) joinery. "Earthwood Homes was true in their diligence about mortise and tenon and their understanding of the nuances of these timbers," Frank Swinney says. At the Swinneys' request, Earthwood Homes created a frame with cleaner lines than usual, leaving out knee braces — diagonal pieces of wood that provide structural rigidity — commonly found in timber frame homes. Instead, the company engineered the exterior wall system to withstand lateral forces, owner and manager Kris Calvin says. Before the timber frame went up, Redmond-based contractor Steve Beuttner's crew completed excavation, foundations, footings, floor joists and the plywood subfloor. Earthwood Homes then raised the timber frame, Calvin says, having previously laid the timbers and cut the joinery at the Sisters shop. Designing and building the frame and joinery in the shop takes three to four weeks. Raising the frame takes a couple of days. "The majority of the work occurs before the job arrives on site," Calvin says. More planning is involved than for a conventionally built house "because everything is visible. Mistakes are costly, and you do everything you can to minimize them."
The Swinneys had vacationed in Sunriver for about 25 years before they moved permanently. "We always loved the climate, the sunshine, the ambiance, the skiing, biking, kayaking and swimming," Frank Swinney says. "We fell in love with the place." The Swinneys also wanted to be close to Portland, home to their son Eric, who works at the Joinery, which built some of the furniture in the new home. Frank Swinney owned and operated Portland-based Swinney & Associates, a property management firm, for 12 years before retiring several years ago. Previously he'd worked in commercial design. "We wanted a house that would fulfill our needs as active retirees," Frank Swinney says. "My motivation was not to make an architectural statement, but it resulted in a significant statement because of the integrity of the design." They worked with natural materials that didn't significantly harm the environment. Dismantled warehouses from around the Northwest provided the timbers. And unlike many newer homes in Sunriver, there's no fake stone on the facade, no grandiose entrance, no three-car garage. Once they decided to build in Sunriver, they sold their Portland home, stored their belongings and rented an apartment so Joan Swinney could finish her job as vice principal of curriculum and instruction at St. Mary's Academy in Portland. A former adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark College's Graduate School of Professional Studies, she writing book that deals with language and ethnography. Today, they live in a house that seems alive with light and sound. "It's very interesting," Joan Swinney says. "the light and the shadows change every single day all through the day. So never does a wall appear quite the same as it did the day before." Calvin of Earthwood Homes warned them that the recycled timbers would make some noise as they shrank and settled, adjusting to the dry climate. "He said, 'Your house will talk to you,' " she says. And it does. "It pops occasionally. When we moved in, for two or three months, it popped a lot. Crack! It's endearing," Frank Swinney says. "The house is alive." |
On the cold October day that Joan and Frank Swinney first saw the place
they would build their home, nature seemed to be in cahoots with their
real estate agent.
Once the frame was up, his crew enclosed it with insulated panels of strand
board with a rigid foam core, which form the exterior walls. Beuttner
then began the finish work.