Sawtooth

An eight-unit apartment complex employs a sawtooth roof form to give each room precisely one view window and one high clerestory for ambient light, ensuring privacy and natural illumination within a unified, sculptural dark bronze exterior.

Privacy, view, and natural light were the 3 requirements that drove the design of this 8-unit apartment complex located on the eastern slope of Lake Oswego. The solution was to create rooms with precisely one view window, one ambient light window, and no other openings. In this way, each room maintains privacy, focuses its attention on the framed river/ mountain view, and is generously day-lit by a high clerestory window. A sawtooth roof form was used to achieve this configuration. Each 1 bedroom unit is organized with living space above and sleeping below. The uphill 4 units are elevated by one-floor level allowing them views over the downhill units. The building’s walls and roofs are painted a monochromatic dark bronze giving them a sculptural quality.