May 6, 2026

Case Study: False Bay by Heliotrope Architects

The creation of the False Bay residence is a classic San Juan Islands story. As a close retreat to Seattle, the islands draw city folks looking for a second home in which to decompress, despite the difficulties of building here. Chosen for its rugged scenery and proximity to the clients’ friends, the 1½-acre site was one of the few remaining parcels on this part of San Juan Island, the largest in the archipelago. The owners, a couple born and raised in Seattle, enlisted Heliotrope Architects to help them imagine the space for them and their two teenage children. Its distinctive form reacts to the rocky, open land—a condition that reminded Joe Herrin, AIA, of a famous enclave farther down the West Coast.

“The first time I visited, the site reminded me of Sea Ranch in Sonoma County, California,” he says. “I’ve always loved the 1970s Sea Ranch buildings with shingle cladding and windswept shed forms, and hidden courtyards to get out of the wind. This felt like a property that needed to handle similar kinds of weather situations.” Indeed, it is directly exposed to weather traveling down the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the Pacific Ocean. “Rain can blow at 80 miles per hour,” Joe says. “We visualized a fire hose being pointed at the house for an hour; that’s how we had to detail.”

Rock formations influenced the building’s bowtie shape, as did the need to screen two neighboring houses, one of them a glassy structure that looked down on the clients’ property. Joe and his team deftly positioned the east-west-oriented house between a large outcropping on the north and a smaller one to the south. With homes to the east and west, views are focused south to the water and north to the rock, remaining opaque toward the neighbors on either side. Visitors enter from the landward side on the north, where an open kitchen and dining area is tucked under a low-pitched roof. The gap between the front of the house and the rock creates an outdoor terrace protected from the wind, while a slim, dark structure for stacking firewood screens the terrace from the entryway. To the right of the entry is the garage and, behind it, a prow-shaped living room.

“We bent the house around the south rock in a way that allows for a focused view of the shoreline,” Joe says. “The angle controls the view, so you’re not seeing houses on either side.” Above the living room, the roofline tips up to contain a loft bunkroom and reading nook, which has views northward over the top of the larger rock formation. On the other end of the house, the primary suite faces south, and guest quarters on the north form a wedge that helps to block the chilly offshore winds on the living-room terrace.

In section, the steeply pitched shed roof responds to the wind, sweeping it up and over the house. “The program helped us determine the formal response,” Joe says. “We needed two stories and it gets tall, so we broke up the roof form as a traditional gable on one side and we let the roof rise up for a loft for the kids. It’s a very small second floor, about 250 square feet.”

“We wanted to keep the form simple, because it’s probably the most exposed home we’ve ever done,” he adds. “On the approach from the west side, all you see is the corner, like a little lantern, then you drive around the rock. The second floor is tall enough to look over the top of the rock and across neighboring properties to the northwest along the coast.”

Choreographed Views

Despite its exposure to weather, the site itself was fairly easy to build on, Joe says. However, building on an island is never simple. Heliotrope has been designing homes here for years, using local carpenters and builders. But because worker housing is scarce and expensive now, this is the first house in which the firm worked with an off-island builder— Bellevue, Washington-based David Elwell, whose crew had another house underway nearby. “We used a mix of island contractors and contractors from the mainland all through the project,” David says. While two of his full-time employees live on the islands, the others often spent the night in on-site RVs.

It took several weeks of jackhammering through bedrock before the cast-in-place foundation could be installed. And the original plan for a slab on grade structure was changed to a crawl space because gravel fill was so expensive. “We sent our in-house framing crew up there to assemble the house and to execute the special details that were very important to Joe, such as the way the interior ceiling comes together in a knife edge over the kitchen, and making sure the staircase was legal in terms of fall hazards, yet integrated,” David says. The house is clad in western red cedar, with a darker-stained bump-out in the guest bath, where slats screen a window from the neighbor.

Inside, the rooms focus on different aspects of the land. The kitchen has a panoramic view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, while the living room sees more land and waves crashing on the beach. There, a raised platform in the prow offers 180-degree views of the water. Sliding doors on both sides of the kitchen and dining area strengthen the indoor-outdoor relationship, and cedar panels further blur those lines. “We elevated the finishes sparingly,” Joe says. A cedar-clad alcove and tub create a spa-like experience in the primary bath. When not in use, the tub is covered with a cedar lid that hangs on the wall.

A muted material and color palette echoes the natural surroundings. Floors are prefinished white oak, and the white oak kitchen cabinets have a custom veneer with knots that lend character. Dark accents tie the interiors together—black granite countertops, a custom steel log holder, and black brick tile wall behind the wood stove, which allows its earthy green color to pop. At night, light from the loft filters down the stairs to the vaulted kitchen and dining room, creating a glow.

With features such as an insulated crawl space, conditioned attic, rigid insulation, and 24 solar panels, the house generated twice as much energy as it used in the first year, though it’s not a full-time residence. “We are signatories of the 2030 Challenge, but have to question it for second homes,” Joe says. “You’re not there in the heating season, so should you use all those resources to make it Net Zero? We’re doing two houses on islands where there are no services and they will never be full-time residences, so what’s the right thing to do?”

While the architects consider that question, the clients have been settling in and figuring out how they’ll use the house in the future, potentially full-time as they age. Designed with multiple generations in mind, this nature-inspired retreat can welcome their parents now and any grandchildren to come.

Black brick tiles offset the lime green wood stove between the kitchen and living room, where a prow offers views of the craggy landscape.

Black accents continue in the kitchen and dining area, which flows out to a natural terrace between the house and a rock outcrop.

Above the living room, the wood-lined loft contains bunks and a prow-shaped lounging area.

Built into a cedar alcove, the primary suite tub has a lid that hangs on the wall when not in use, lending a spa-like vibe.