​​​A world of surprises awaits visitors who cross the threshold of this west Bend residence. Its modern design finds harmony with fine art, architectural nuances and uncommon finishing details in metal, wood and plaster.

While living in the Bay Area, the homeowners, Janie and Steve (last names withheld at their request) looked for several years to find a lot in Bend and finally found it in 2020. While standing on the property, Janie said, “We’re going to do this,” intending to build their forever home there. They assembled a team of seasoned Bend professionals: Brandon Olin of Olin Architecture LLC, PJ Hurst of PJ Hurst DESIGN LLC and Jeff Ferrell of Jeff Ferrell Construction LLC. “The architect and designer create a vision of what the homeowners want, and it’s my job to make that happen,” Ferrell said.

The owners and team members met for a year before breaking ground, often by Zoom, to develop architectural and interior design concepts. Hurst created construction documents for interior elements. “It was as if another architect was on board,” Olin said. “PJ’s drawings were thorough and brought a lot of ideas for design, materials and finishes. For example, in the living room, she designed the hearth, mantle and plaster finish around it.”

Carved into a rocky slope, the structure is split into two levels–a front-door entry and garage off the street and the upper section with the main living quarters. “The constraints of the site presented a scheme of what the house wanted to do,” Olin said.

Unlike a foyer or expansive great room to guide guests into the home, visitors traverse a long hallway with an elegant mudroom tucked into one side for stashing shoes and coats. The other side sets a design tone with a wall of vertical “fluted” white oak that extends to the second story, a hall table, alabaster lights and a concealed door to the garage. At the end of the corridor is a sculptural stairway that beckons people upward.

At the top, a kaleidoscope of Cascade Mountain views, sleek surfaces, wood ceilings, big windows, glass doors and original artwork spins around the great room. A multicolored, large-scale painting by German artist Jutta Haeckel hangs above the stairwell created by pushing paint from the back of a burlap canvas to the front for texture and visual effects. The art defies convention.

An open-air courtyard acts as an intriguing centerpiece for the home. Olin said he had a rare opportunity to align an indoor-outdoor connection from front to back. With access on two sides of the courtyard, the homeowners can walk in a straight line from the back patio through the family room, courtyard, great room and out to the front patio.

The initial idea was to cover the courtyard with glass panels to keep water and snow out, but ultimately it was too expensive. Instead, beams cantilever over the middle, converging at the ridge. A significant overhang provides shade on hot summer days. The courtyard is “an interesting concept and really cool,” Ferrell said, adding that he’d never built one in the middle of a house before. In winter, heating elements beneath the courtyard melt snow to prevent any accumulation of water.

Many of the walls of the 3,500-square-foot dwelling are painted white or neutral colors to allow the homeowners space for their art collection, while other rooms break into vibrant colors and textures without apology. A powder room is hand-plastered in a coral-hued suede-like texture by plaster artist Juanita Perdomo. A striking blue pendant from the Czech Republic hangs in the corner in contrast with the warm walls. “It’s like jewelry,” said homeowner Janie.

Toward the back is what Janie and Steve call “the blue room.” It features a large-scale, metallic-paint, bee-motif painting by German artist Stefan Kürten, making a connection with the natural landscape outside the glass doors.

The couple oriented the primary bedroom toward the mountains, and adorned it with artwork, including an abstract by Central Oregon artist Kenneth Marunowski. Vibrant reds, oranges and pinks reminiscent of a high desert sunset dominate the room. Bed coverings and the back wall in a soft beige infuse warmth into the space with a gentle kiss.

A wall in the guest bedroom is painted half-way up in olive green, matching the bed linens. An abstract black-and-white painting with curvy shapes breaks up the vertical lines of the two-tone wall.

In the great room, a red tapestry on the wall between the living room and bedrooms “adds warmth and texture,” Hurst said. “We took a sculptural approach to the house, bringing vintage pieces to modernity.”

They inverted conventional materials for floors and ceilings. The great room features a warm, reeded-wood ceiling crafted by wood artist Matthew Sellens, while the floor is made of huge, four-by-four-foot porcelain tile, mimicking cement. The kitchen island is topped with black quartz, matching the black steel stove hood surround and cabinets by Doug Wagner of MODERNFAB. “His specialty is making a hard element feel warm and refined,” Olin said.

A painting of an English bulldog by German artist Cornelius Völker adorns the wall in the dining room, in honor of Janie and Steve’s pug Wally. A white pendant light hangs over the live-edge walnut table “like a cloud,” according to Hurst. “We had to be very careful that the light didn’t take away from the view [of the mountains out the front window].”

An unexpected surprise is an elevator virtually invisible at the center of the home–without any outward signs. Adjacent to the courtyard, the shaft has a door from the garage and an exit on the hallway above. “Janie and Steve plan to live in the home for a long time, and they wanted it to be accessible,” Olin said. They use it to carry groceries and Wally upstairs from the garage.

The build-out took 20 months and was completed in June 2023–just in time for Janie and Steve to hold their wedding in the courtyard.

“When we wake up and get our coffee, and look out and see this magnificent view, we pinch ourselves,” Janie said. “The house is perfect.”

Architecture: Brandon Olin, Olin Architecture | Design: PJ Hurst of PJ Hurst DESIGN LLC | Construction: Jeff Ferrell, Jeff Ferrell Construction | Tile: Baptista Design | Cabinets: Finer Custom Cabinetry & MODERNFAB | Siding: Ellis Building Group

Mike Szabo was leaning against a wall near the bathroom at Tetherow Resort’s Event Pavilion in 2013, debating his next move. Having relocated to Bend from San Diego just five months before, he had decided to step back from his professional life as a landscape architect.

With a pregnant wife and young child, he briefly considered taking a job as a server in a restaurant until he realized that “this whole server thing wasn’t going to work—we needed to make more money to support the family.” He decided to go back to the profession he was trained in.

Before the move, Szabo had designed DIRECTV’s corporate campus in Los Angeles as well as a big pedestrian mall for the University of California San Diego. Yet, even with 12 years of experience, he was unable to find work as a landscape architect in Central Oregon. “I was cold calling architects and developers. No one seemed to want to give me a shot,” he recalled. “It was disheartening. We’d burned through all of our life savings.” With no design projects, he called a temp agency, who sent him on jobs pulling weeds and assembling office furniture. 

A Tetherow Resort Introduction

Nearly out of hope, he continued to attend professional networking events, including one that fateful day at Tetherow Resort where Bend architect Darren Thomas was receiving an award. After the presentation, Szabo sought Thomas out, but was disappointed when he couldn’t find him. About to head home, he saw Thomas walking out of the bathroom. “I introduced myself, and he said, ‘Oh, you are on my to-do list to call, and I actually have a couple of projects I want to talk with you about. Come to my office tomorrow.’”

“That was it. He gave me one residence in Tetherow and a new retail and office building in NorthWest Crossing where Washington [Kitchen and Cocktails] is located. He also introduced me to Tetherow’s owners, Erin and Chris van der Velde, who asked me to do some projects for them, including a new sports center and swimming pool for the resort,” he said.

SZABO Landscape Architecture Launches

In 2014, SZABO Landscape Architecture opened as a design firm primarily focused on work in Central Oregon, though the team takes on a diverse range of projects. “We do everything beyond the building footprint—from hardscapes, site lighting, planting design, irrigation design, grading and drainage design, to site amenities like pools, spas, decks, firepits and outdoor kitchens,” explained Szabo, emphasizing that the firm is a landscape architectural design firm, not a contractor.

Just two years after its inception, the firm had more work than Szabo could handle, prompting him to seek support from former colleague Brian Nierman. Nierman soon moved his family from Denver to Bend to join SZABO. The firm currently occupies an upstairs studio space in downtown Bend and has four additional team members with backgrounds in landscape architecture or design, along with marketing assistance from Elizabeth Hanley Szabo. 

In new home construction, Szabo emphasizes the importance of including the firm as part of the design process from the outset. “Our whole goal is to make the site and architecture complementary and harmonious,” he said. “We rarely take projects where everything is already designed and completed, and we’re just putting the lipstick on,” he explained. “We want to be involved early to consider the site, what the architecture calls for, and how the clients will be using the space. The design is always better when we’re there in the beginning.”

Spring Landscape Renovations in Central Oregon

For spring landscape renovations, it’s best to start the design phase in the fall, Szabo advises. If a homeowner starts in the spring, Szabo says it would be “a big hope to get it installed in the fall, which has more to do with how busy landscape contractors are in this town and less to do with how long our design process takes.” 

One change Szabo has noticed in recent years is that people are paying much more attention to their outdoor spaces. “The designs are becoming bigger and more elaborate, with clients saving more of their budget for outdoor spaces,” he said. “To be worth it in Central Oregon, homeowners need to factor in heat and shade to manage our hot summers and cool shoulder seasons.”

After a decade of building a successful landscape architecture firm, Szabo said, ”We’re in the sweet spot of where we want to be. We love Bend and don’t have to drive hours away to projects tucked into faraway neighborhoods or cities,” he said, referring to his practice in California. “The fact that we get to live in this town and create in this town, driving past our projects, taking our families to parks we designed, eating in restaurants and sitting on patios we’ve worked on and getting to be part of shaping what this city looks like is incredibly satisfying,” Szabo continued. “We’ll probably never leave. We love that we see our work come to fruition on a daily basis.”

To see more of SZABO’s work, visit szabo-la.com. See the full Winter 2024 digital issue, including this feature, HERE. Read more from Bend Home + Design Magazine.

Recommended article featuring more of SZABO’s landscaping work:

Norman Built: Making it Just Right For a Family of Builders

When two custom home builders come together–one to create a home and the other to live in it–symbiosis happens. Tami and Bill Taylor of Anchorage, Alaska, were thinking of having a home built in Central Oregon and stopped by Norman Building & Design’s Bend headquarters to see their son Patrick, an architectural designer, who was working for the company at the time. The Norman business model of providing all services under one roof–from architectural concept to construction, interior design and furnishings–appealed to the couple as an efficient way to move through the process with a respected local company.

The idea to build a home started with a golf game. Patrick was standing near a tee box when he noticed an empty lot nearby and thought to himself, “I’m going to build my mom a house there.” His parents had made several unsuccessful offers on resale properties in the city. As a residential real estate agent in Anchorage, Tami knew how to craft an offer with good terms, but other buyers offered more. Meanwhile, Patrick mentioned the lot to his dad, a builder himself, who took the idea to the next step. During Christmas dinner in 2020, Bill told Tami, “I bought a lot for you.”

Patrick said that in 40 years of building custom houses, his parents never built a dream home for themselves. “We were so excited to have Patrick design our home and have Norman build it,” Tami recalled. “With the talent they have in-house, I was wowed by every Norman home Patrick took me through. I wanted our Bend house to be welcoming and serene, with a touch of awe.”

Jim Norman, founder of Norman Building & Design, started out in 1977 and over the years built a reputation in the luxury home market for classic Northwest lodge styles. The Taylor house would represent Norman’s entry into the contemporary housing market.

Creating a Prairie-Style Home with Mid-Century Modern Touches

For the past 31 years, the Taylor family had lived in a Craftsman-style home with what Tami calls “heavy interiors.” A second family home in Kona, Hawaii, nudged the Taylors closer to a modern, lighter aesthetic. The Bend home would carry the modern theme further by incorporating elements from Prairie-style architecture–a distinctly American design from the early 20th century founded by Frank Lloyd Wright–and mid-century modern elements. The fusion of both designs creates a dwelling that blends with its surroundings, has open and airy spaces, large windows, horizontal lines and simple, unfussy finishes. 

Patrick designed the house, and Norman’s senior interior designer, Selah Ewert, worked closely with Tami, who has 37 years of experience in the design world as owner of an interior design company in Alaska along with her real estate career. “I have the exterior architecture brain, and Mom has the interior design brain,” Patrick said. 

 “It was a high honor to be trusted with another builder’s project,” said Brittany Grogan, another interior designer with Norman. “We all tried to keep a modern and minimalistic, design-forward look with clean lines. It reflects more of what [Norman] is doing, with a brighter take on a traditional Northwest home.”

The New Home Details

Completed in late 2022, the 2,500-square-foot residence includes three bedrooms, three baths and a three-car garage. The floor plan interconnects the kitchen, dining and living spaces, and facilitates a seamless flow into outdoor spaces, such as the southwest-facing covered courtyard. “All the public areas are staggered to look down the fairway onto the lake,” Patrick said. The design purposely blocks the view of nearby homes by opening up to the golf course.

A shed roof created a 12-foot ceiling over the kitchen, bringing in the morning light from the east and sloping downward over the west-facing dining room, giving it a more intimate feeling that welcomes the last splash of the day’s rays. Patrick notes that the shed roof is metal, the first of its kind allowed by the architecture review committee in the home’s golf community.

The fireplace in the living room, built of black stone and hemlock panels, is reminiscent of lava rock and ponderosa pine hearths from Central Oregon’s past, and takes the chill off a wintery night. Ewert designed both the front door and fireplace, with Norman’s in-house woodworking and cabinetry professionals making and installing them.

The Norman design team selected round, oversized wooden pendant lights handmade in Bend, to hang over the kitchen island. Delicate vertical pendants were chosen for the foyer and the dining room table, to contrast with the round pendants.

Norman’s project managers oversaw the construction of the home with Bill’s practiced eye in the background. Since the couple was living in Alaska at the time, Bill touched base with David Norman, project manager, several times during the build-out. “Designing a home a thousand miles away could be difficult, but Norman’s team handled it exceptionally well,” Bill said.

“A home tells your story. It’s uniquely you and communicates something about the people who live there,” interior designer Grogan said. The Taylors brought their vast experience and personal preferences to the task, and Norman Building & Design supplied its full-service expertise.

“Team Norman exceeded my expectations,” Tami said. “I felt I was home the minute I opened the door. It’s exactly what I envisioned.”

Builder: Norman Building & Design (NBD) | Architectural Design: Patrick Taylor (NBD) | Interior Design: Selah Ewert (NBD) | Project Management: David Norman (NBD) | Interior Furniture: Haven Home Interiors |Landscape: Schillings Garden Market |Outdoor Furniture: Patio World

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