Some land is “unbuildable.” Robert Oshatz took that as a dare.
In the late 1980s, the Oregon-based organic architect looked at a steep, rock-riddled hillside in Lake Oswego and did not see a problem.
He saw a floor plan. The result is the Elk Rock Road Residence, known locally as the Funnel House, and it is exactly what it sounds like: a home that starts narrow at the bottom and widens as it climbs, spreading open like a hand reaching for the view.
It is, as Oshatz describes it, an upside-down house. The structure anchors itself into the hill on six levels, each one opening outward, each one offering its own pocket of outdoor space.
No two walls are parallel. The floor does not agree with the ceiling. The whole thing grows around the rock like something that has always been there.
Oshatz studied under Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. and the influence shows in every quietly radical decision: natural materials left in their natural colors, interior volumes that feel more sculpted than built, a seamless argument between inside and outside.
He wanted water views and could not afford a simpler site. Necessity handed him a masterpiece.
“Appearing to soar right out of the hillside, this house clings to a 30-degree slope rising above the Willamette River providing a spectacular view of the river, Mt. Hood and the rising sun.
The house is an experiment in feelings. Although providing a secure feeling of being anchored into the site, the structure achieves a feeling of floating in space, like a bird in flight.
The structure is funnel-like in shape: starting out with a small studio on the lowest level, moving to the children’s bedrooms on the middle level, and on the upper level where the view is the best, family community spaces and master bedroom suite.“
The locals called it the Funnel House. We would have called it proof that such a home could be built.
Images © Copyright Robert Oshatz. Used with permission.
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