This elegant home was completely renovated from top down including an original garage conversion into a cozy ADU. The homeowners worked with our design team to open the space while prioritizing access to the beautiful vineyard views surrounding the property. The before and after shots really show the transformation where the design kept the original bones of the home but with a face lift.
This was a true design+build project completed in the Oregon Wine Country.
This luxury design+build project in Westgate shows O’Brien’s ability to develop in HOA restricted communities. With a team design collaboration we were able to create a realistic view of what this home will look like upon construction completion. All while meeting the rigorous design restrictions put in place by the Westgate HOA committee.
We have a responsibility to evolve how we build to better serve our future. Yates Point is a 7-story cross laminant timber structure that utilizes new wood technologies to create an example of what it could mean to create more density in a way that still feels comfortable.
Yates Point is more than a building. It symbolizes the need to create a future that is regenerative. Its symbolizes what it means to use renewable material that is also more resilient to forest fires or a symbol for what is possible when you step outside the box and tailor a project to a specific community.
We wanted a building that captured the beauty and uniqueness of Bend. A community that loves to be outdoors, bike, hike, and walk everywhere. We asked, how do you create a denser footprint that obtains and celebrates the original story that was there before?
Yates Point is a pivotal project as it creates a place that is sustainable and wholly engrained within the context of the site and the native ecosystem of the local region. The project will be built around existing Ponderosa pine trees, built into the existing hill side, and where the wood of the building is celebrated as an abstraction of the forest.
The building will include minimal ecological impact and will merge seamlessly with the natural Bend environment. Mass timber is proposed for the above-grade building construction and is considered a primary driver of the project design, for its low embodied carbon impacts, its ability to be locally sourced and harvested, and its potential to simplify construction methods.
Additionally, passive solar shading is employed along the primary south and west facing building elevations, informing the design of the exterior and reducing energy loads for mechanical systems. Other sustainable aspects include prefabricated insulated wood wall panels, PV panels at roof, and the potential for solar water heating.
On what appeared to be an unbuildable lot, we worked with our client to create a house that fits into the hillside while opening views down the coastline. A northwest contemporary home where each floor maximizes the view while embedding into the slope of the natural terrain, creating a comfortable retreat house. Our client had a dream that we helped make possible.
A project that honors the history of John Day, Oregon, but also a project that shines light on the future. We are currently designing 8 modular cabins that will become a top destination in the Pacific Northwest. The cabins will appear like beacons in the light and will offer a symbolic presence when you drive into John Day. The cabins will provide a new energy to the redeveloping town.
The cabins will be sustainably made from timber and will have insulated floors, walls, and roofs to create high-performance buildings that are also comfortable from the local elements. Each cabin will offer a skylight to stargaze, access to a bird habitat-focused and native plant courtyard, and a sense of privacy in an urban setting. The buildings will sit on eco-friendly helical piers which provide the benefit of minimal-to-no site damage. Screw-pile systems do not require soil cutting, which helps keep the project site clean and intact.
The cabins will have boardwalk access which emulates the Oregon Painted Hills, one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon and another tie to the local region of John Day/South Eastern Oregon.
This award winning project aims to honor the history of John Day while helping to creating new economic engines for the future. Nestled in the mountains of eastern Oregon, the community was originally propelled by the ranching, mining, and timber industries, but has endured three decades of steady population decline. Additionally, the disruption to the natural resource economy in the 1990s left the City struggling economically.
We are currently partnering with the City of John Day and Walker Macy on an award-winning community development and design plan called the Innovation Gateway Project to help improve the community.
Our contribution is a new 50-room hotel and event center which will allow for long term guests to enjoy the amenities John Day has to offer.
Leaders like Nick Green, City Manager of the City of John Day and Zachary Mannheimer, founder and CEO of Alquist 3D are pushing the boundaries of the industry and making an incredible impact. The community is experimenting with greenhouse and using wastewater to grow produce and improve livability. We are so proud to be able to play a part in the transformation. Learn more about how the future of home building in Oregon is about to change this year with the first ever Oregon 3D printed home!
site plan
The existing building was built as the Metropolitan Community Church. Its distinctive Arts and Crafts steeple and bracketed gables making this building a landmark in that area.