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The cabin features rough sawn cedar channel siding and a shed roof, reminiscent of many of the rural area’s farm buildings. Large sliding doors on three sides of the main living area open to patios. A loft above the kitchen provides extra sleeping area and work space. A small detached carport and storage area are situated near the main cabin.

A competitive cross-country skier, Kent Murdoch purchased 6.5 acres in the Methow Valley in 1999 with plans to eventually build a winter cabin there. Washington’s North Cascades boast sunny, clear winter days and ample snow on an extensive network of groomed trails—perfect for training for races, such as the World Masters Championships, where Kent won silver and bronze medals in McCall, Idaho, this past winter.

The Southern Oregon native had moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, and soon after, he discovered the Methow. “It was a pretty obvious destination for us Nordic skiers,” Kent says.

When the Microsoft employee got serious about building on his Mazama property in 2003, he turned to a fellow ski racer, architect Tom Lenchek, principal of Balance Associates, which has offices in Seattle and now Winthrop. “I knew that he had designed multiple places in that area,” Kent says. “So it was kind of an easy decision, because he knew the issues of building in that area—he knew the contractors; he knew the weather.”

He asked Lenchek to design a relatively modest cabin for him and his family within a budget. “I wanted a place we could go [to] comfortably—a couple of bathrooms, a bedroom and a loft—but then a big enough central space that we could have people over,” Kent recalls. “I wanted it to be comfortable, whether it’s just the kids and me watching a movie or us having a dinner party.”
Lenchek says one of the project’s most challenging aspects was choosing where to place the house on the property, which includes an open meadow along a road and is crossed by the Methow Valley Trail, an avenue for cross-country skiers in winter and mountain bikers in summer.

“We spent a lot of time on siting the house,” Lenchek says. It would have been easy to drop the house into the field, but both homeowner and architect knew they wanted to integrate the building with the landscape. “We kind of nestled it into this little grove of trees and thinned them pretty selectively,” Lenchek explains.

The result is a 1,600-square-foot cabin with a two-story living area, open kitchen and second-floor loft with screened porch. The living area has sliding doors that open the room to patios—and wilderness views—on three sides. Lenchek says they wanted to maximize the views with walls of glass, but also to preserve some privacy from the road. The house has “pretty spectacular views in every [other] direction,” Lenchek says.

The cabin’s sloped roof rises to the north, letting in winter sunshine but sheltering the home from summer’s harsher rays—all while offering up views of nearby peaks. “Simple forms [and a] simple roof are pretty critical for being able to manage all that snow,” Lenchek explains. (An average winter here sees about 4 feet of snow.)

The architect’s favorite things include the second-floor screened sleeping porch—“I know they use it a lot; it’s just a nice space to be in,” he says—and the living room: “Its great views, its connection to the outside and the lift-and-glide doors in the summer make that essentially an outdoor space with a roof over it.”

Kent says he and his teenage daughters make it over to the cabin 10–12 times a year. “It was built as a ski cabin, but going over there to check on things, I realized it was pretty nice year-round,” Kent says. “Now we go over as much in the summer as any time.”

Design Details

Architects
Tom Lenchek and Tim Posey, Balance Associates, 80 Vine St., Ste. 201, (206) 322-773 

Builder
Rhinehart Construction, 39 Deer Way Loop, Winthrop, (509) 996-3396