Claybourne Commons

This project created a cost-effective row house that is both compact and spacious in feeling. Each dwelling has a simple, iconic form and is distinguished from its neighbor through detail and color.

Claybourne Commons consists of twenty-row houses (four rows of five) that occupy a half-city block in southeast Portland. Each dwelling has a simple, iconic form and is distinguished from its neighbor through detail and color. The challenge of this project was to create a cost-effective row house that is both compact and spacious in feeling. Several simple yet effective strategies were used to achieve this.

To gain the maximum sense of spaciousness, the second-floor living area occupies the entire building footprint with tall windows placed symmetrically on either end of the room. The kitchen, conceived as a freestanding wooden box, is placed off-center and visually floats within the room. The stairs are discretely tucked behind this wooden box. Each dwelling has its sense of autonomy.

Between the units, a continuous roof and wall gives the impression that each dwelling is self-contained, lightly touching but independent from its neighbor. The dwellings alternate in color from charcoal to white providing singularity to each unit.