1989-1990 Western Home Awards - includes 20 winners in this year's biennial program

Sunset, Oct, 1989

A single central room combines living area and kitchen. A bedroom and bath sit at each end.

Sheltered by a wide overhang, bedrooms and living area look out through sliding doors that face the water. Tiered decking extends the house on two sides, serving as a kind of pedestal for the linear building.

AWARD OF MERIT / Kotas/Pantaleoni Architects, San Francisco, for Patricia and Thomas Landers In San Francisco, limitation breeds invention. And builders have often risen to the challenge of compressing individuality and visual surprise into a tight ground plan. One such architectural exemplar from the 1870s-a unified-looking series of tiny, distinctive, Italianate houses on an alley called Cottage Row-inspired the plan for this densely developed 25- by 137-foot lot.

The owners asked the architects to create a multi-unit design that would be compatible with flanking buildings, including an 1880s Victorian they also owned.

They got everything they wanted in a single, intricately fashioned scheme. Five two-story "cottages" line up along a pedestrian path running the length of the lot. Path and townhouses are one story above the street, on a platform created by the garage. Each unit has its own distinctive front door facing the alley.

From the streetfront, the units step back and up. Like polite patrons in a theater, each allows the one behind it a view toward the street.

Units range from 550 to 1,100 square feet. The middle three contain a spatial surprise: the second-floor living-dining area is two stories high.

To the delight of the owners, many visitors assume tbe townhouses are vintage construction-recently remodeled or simply well kept over the decades.

CITATION / Rob Wellington Quigley, San Diego, for Bridget and Martin Locke How do you create a sense of place and destination amid 10 rolling acres? This design relies on a courtyard compound defined by stucco walls, a freestanding garage, and a guest house-as well as the

solid shape of the house itself.

The main house presents a nearly windowless north facade to the courtyard-a passive-energy consideration.

Inside the 2,000-square-foot house, terra cotta tiles stretch to the sun-inviting south face, where an automatic garage-type door rises to let the main living area flow onto the terrace. To one side, a colonnade of concrete piers and posts (supporting the second story) visually separates the open kitchen. To the other side are a study, bedroom, and bath.

It's a half-flight up to a master bath and dressing area. Narrowing stairs continue to the vaulted tower bedroom.

Stucco the color of concrete emphasizes the building's mass. Galvanized metal, used for the vaulted roof, deck trellis, downspouts, and an interior stair, reiterates the structural honesty Around the house, trellises for wisteria echo the vineyard's metal-and-wire supports.

AWARD OF MERIT / The Miller/Hull Partnership, Seattle, for Virginia and John Bolen Perched on a rocky cliff amid native firs and madronas, this two-story cabin has a quiet but powerful presence in the landscape. Its compact size-16 feet wide, 40 feet long tucks neatly into the setting, while the bold, clean lines and simple materials make a strong statement that suits the rugged surroundings.