Walnut House is one of the best works of Portland’s company Giulietti/Schouten.

The house is situated a few miles outside of McMinnville on 2.5 acre sloping site in a walnut grove. In order to create maintenance-free house materials was chose as low maintenance as possible. Some of these materials are: galvanized metal siding, aluminium windows, exposed concrete wall and veneer wood panels for siding. Simple passive and sustainable features of the house include rainwater harvesting, roof-mounted solar hot water heating, in-floor radiant heating, cork floors, natural day-lighting and Icynene sprayed-on insulation.

The two-bedroom, three-bath home with a 527 square foot attached garage is inspired by the Bay Area hillside ranch homes. The overall house design could be called as wonderfully glassy and spacious. It separated for two wings: the north one for the private Master Bedroom suite and home office; the south one for the living, dining and kitchen areas. [Giulietti/Schouten Architects ]