Designed as a spa-like retreat, the Mercer Island Modern is an urban house melding of water, sky and flora, away f rom the busy city life. Garret Cord Werner, the founder and principal of Garret Cord Werner Architects & Interior Designers, takes us behind the project.

“I wanted the client to feel like her residence was a retreat: an oasis for her to escape and relax. I achieved this by using the calming effect of water as the focal point of the home. The main living area has a spine of water, positioned in the center of the home, providing a quiet presence of movement and light”, Garret explains. There are in fact 3 separate pools of water all serving different purposes, but the two bridges that are positioned over the barriers leave the visitor feeling that there is one continuous body of water flowing through the home. A signif icant challenge of the project was the slope of the land which minimized the buildable area to a very small footprint. “This design challenged the structural engineers with a cantilevered spa floating 45 feet in the air”, Garret says. Since all of the main living areas, including the master suite, are kept on the top level of the home. The two lower levels of the home hold the garage, media room, gym and secondary bedrooms. This results in the client is getting all of her main living on one level, making it also ideal as her retirement home.

Architecture by: Garret Cord Werner Architects & Interior Designers
Photography by: Benjamin Benschneider