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The Tsunami House on Comano Island

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Design Northwest Architects have designed a waterfront house built to allow water to flow right through it during storms.

The house is right at sea level on Comano Island in Washington state, so it’s very vulnerable to flooding.

The architects made the lower level, also called the “flood room” in concrete.

The ground floor can be left open on all sides during times of danger of tsunami or flooding.

But it also serves as extra living space, weather permitting.

And even includes two murphy beds that fold out of the wall for guests.

In normal life it functions as the vestibule entry space: the family would evacuate in storms.

The house has a marine feeling.

Every room has a sense of watery presence.

The material palette for the entire house is concrete, metal, wood and both clear and translucent glass.

The house is compact.

The main floor is an open living plan with with a sleeping loft for children.

The parents sleep in a cosy cubbyhole-type bedroom directly off the main floor, that shares living room views straight out to sea.

The street-facing windows are in translucent glass, for privacy, while all the ocean-facing windows are clear glass.

This is a compact and straightforward family house built to survive the worst.