Jim Cutler, principal at Bainbridge, Washington's Cutler Anderson Architects, gives Architectural Digest a tour of a now 12-year-old house in Newberg, Oregon, that he designed so it is one with the old pond that it straddles.
Cutler explains early in his tour of Newberg Residence that, upon visiting the original site his clients wished to build upon, he soon convinced them to locate the house on an old logging pond, in a clearing that would minimize any destruction to nature and the creatures who depend on it. Soon after the house was built, viewers learn, the owners tuned in to the rhythms of life around the pond—sensing when the sparrows come by, for instance, and when the bats come out. Befitting the house's integration into its site and the beautiful scenery, the 14-minute film is relaxing, yet also highly informative and revealing.