Boora Architects

Located in Neskowin, a tiny hamlet of beach houses on Oregon's rugged and picturesque Pacific coast, the Boora Beach House is a shared retreat for the members of our firm to use as they are assigned dates in an office lottery. Occasional client retreats, multi-day charrettes, and organizational planning meetings take place in the house as well, which offers views of the landmark monolith Proposal Rock.

Like the Boles/Kahle beach house a few hundred yards away, the design of the Boora Beach House inverts the layout of the standard American house by placing the living room, dining room, and kitchen on the house's highest level, where the views to the ocean and the availability of daylight are greatest. This elevated position of living space allows the design to use extensive glass without compromising the residents' privacy. Two decks extend this space further into the landscape–one toward the ocean, the other toward the forest.

Below the upper-floor great room, two equally-sized bedrooms overlooking the ocean occupy the second floor.  In the hallway, two day-bed niches sit below skylights to the deck above and serve as flex space for additional overnight guests.  Below this level, a ground floor apartment with a private bathroom can be accessed via the outdoor stairway scaling the steep hill on which the house sits.

A short walk through beach grass takes our colleagues and their guests from the comfort of the retreat house to the equally soothing sands of Newkowin's South Beach.