New Northwest - by Lauren Gallow (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Throughout Washington state, a new generation of architect-designed homes is emerging, one that is unmistakably of and for the Pacific Northwest. This richly illustrated book, curated and authored by Seattle-based design journalist Lauren Gallow, highlights three dozen extraordinary homes in a range of scales, from artfully compact city dwellings and floating homes to immersive island retreats and mountain cabins. Each project reflects a clear, site-responsive approach, demonstrating how Seattle's designers are building with landscape, climate, and material integrity in mind to shape spaces that feel both contemporary and meaningfully connected to their surroundings.

Whether through the expressive use of wood, the inspired combination of old and new, or the integration of indoor and outdoor spaces, many of these designers build on the longstanding foundations of Northwest Modernism even as they reinterpret those principles for a new era. Exploring the design possibilities of smaller footprints, flexible forms, and sustainable strategies, these architects offer practical responses to housing pressures and the realities of a changing environment. Together, they illustrate a region committed to building responsibly without compromising beauty or craft.

With more than 300 photos alongside design firm profiles based on extensive interviews, New Northwest is an absorbing tour of contemporary residences in Washington state that offers insight into how each architect, whether an established or emerging practitioner, interprets the site, materials, and the lived experience of home. The result is a portrait of homes in a region whose landscape has long shaped its built identity, and which continues to evolve by the creative thinking of architects today.

Review Quotes

"Expanding on the legacies of modernist architects who integrated natural settings and built forms resonant of Scandinavian and Japanese sensitivities, New Northwest features the robust, continuing dynamism of dwelling in Washington State."
--Ken Tadashi Oshima, Professor of Architecture, University of Washington

"As rich and layered as the houses it highlights, New Northwest should be considered the authoritative text on contemporary architecture in the region."
--Ben Dreith, U.S. Editor, Dezeen