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"The owners of this lively new home have lived in a succession of large houses, from a London townhouse to a Boston colonial. But after moving to Seattle six years ago, Monica and Sam Guckenheimer started to question the need for all that space\u2014especially when so much of their time was spent outdoors. In an effort to downsize, the pair purchased a parcel of land in suburban Kirkland and asked an architect to develop plans for it. In no time at all, the design swelled to 5,400 square feet. &amp;quot;Architects always want to give you everything you dream of,&amp;quot; Monica muses. &amp;quot;I really wanted someone to say no.&amp;quot; The Guckenheimers found that someone in architect Heather Johnston, who had just launched PLACE Houses, a company devoted to producing contemporary prefabs. The couple abandoned their plans for a custom design and bought a 2,800-square-foot PLACE house instead. In a few short meetings they chose their model, materials and colors, then sat back while PLACE did the rest. &amp;quot;This was an economical way to go,&amp;quot; says Monica, &amp;quot;and everything was done for us.&amp;quot;  Unlike modular homes, which are built in a factory and dropped into place, the PLACE house was erected on-site using SIPs (structural insulated panels). SIPs are sandwiches of oriented strand board and foam that go up more quickly than stick-built walls and are better insulated. Interior components were built in a factory, minimizing waste and site disturbance. Johnston and her business partner, builder Seth Holub, maximized space by keeping bedrooms modest and making the remaining rooms serve double duty. The communal great room contains the living, kitchen and dining areas; frosted sliding-glass doors delineate a studio for Monica, a stay-at-home mom, quilter and artist. With a swimming pool out back, a playfield in front and three active children\u2014Zo\u00EB, 13, Gracie, 12, and Eli, 11 (as well as Bella, a Staffordshire bull terrier, and Nellie, a Lab mix)\u2014the Guckenheimers wanted to break down the barriers between interior and exterior. Concrete floors dissolve into the surrounding patio, while a garage door in the living area rises with the summer sun and doesn&amp;#039;t descend until dusk. &amp;quot;You just sweep the sand outside and you don&amp;#039;t have to worry about anything,&amp;quot; says Monica. Even the custom-designed rolling dining table oscillates between interior and exterior. &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t want to have a picnic table outdoors and a dining table inside,&amp;quot; Monica explains. Green is a recurring motif, both in a visual sense (witness the Kermit-colored siding and kiwi-hued couch) and an environmental one. Rooftop solar panels provide hot water and help heat the pool and radiant floors; windows at the top of the stair tower ventilate the house through convection. Floors upstairs are covered in comfortable, renewable cork; low-VOC paints and formaldehyde-free cabinetry limit harmful off-gassing. An old fir tree that had been felled to maximize solar gain was subsequently milled and dried so that it could be used for windowsills, stair treads and the top of the dining table.  Interior designer Sally Oien finetuned the house&amp;#039;s lighting plan and helped reconcile the architecture&amp;#039;s industrial aesthetic with the Guckenheimers&amp;#039; collection of Asian furniture and artifacts (some of which are mementos of Monica&amp;#039;s childhood in Japan). &amp;quot;What they were bringing to this house had a lot of history,&amp;quot; Oien says. &amp;quot;At the same time, they were going to live in every inch of it, so they wanted it to be comfortable and fun.&amp;quot; In the living room, Ingo Maurer&amp;#039;s playful Birdie chandelier flutters above Ligne Roset&amp;#039;s slinky Togo sofa, while four different fabrics animate the dining room chairs. (Monica couldn&amp;#039;t settle on just one as her favorite, so she used them all.) The second-floor bedrooms are organized around a communal computer station and lounging area where the kids can sprawl on floor pillows while watching TV or playing video games. (Wireless headphones help preserve family sanity.) The informal approach extends to the master suite, where draperies hang from a ceiling track instead of fussy curtain rods, and the shower has no walls\u2014just a teak floor with a drain. The adjoining soaking tub enjoys views of the Cascade Mountains. &amp;quot;I cannot tell you how amazing the sunrises are,&amp;quot; marvels Sam. Although they&amp;#039;ve been lucky enough to live in some fabulous houses, the Guckenheimers say this is the first one they can imagine growing old in. &amp;quot;We needed a house that served a family with kids, but one that we also wouldn&amp;#039;t want to leave after the kids were gone,&amp;quot; Sam says. &amp;quot;This house works that way. It&amp;#039;s right for them, right for us and right for the long term.&amp;quot; What the Pros Know Although Seattle gets its fair share of rain, water shortages are not uncommon. To conserve this natural resource, the Guckenheimers limited their family of five to two bathrooms and a powder room, utilizing lowflow fixtures and dual-flush toilets. Polluted groundwater poses a threat to the region&amp;#039;s waterways, so the Guckenheimers took pains to contain it. The driveway was covered in pervious concrete, a material resembling Rice Krispie treats: it is solid enough to drive on but has gaps that water can pass through into the ground below. The bottom of the driveway was covered in grass pavers\u2014cellular blocks filled with grass\u2014to prevent runoff (and help soften the building&amp;#039;s edges). The home&amp;#039;s butterfly roof directs rainwater into a barrel so it can be used to irrigate the property. Sunken rain gardens collect runoff and leech it through layers of sand and gravel, purifying it as it seeps into the soil. These methods proved so effective at controlling groundwater that the Guckenheimers didn&amp;#039;t have to connect their house to a storm sewer. Click here to see the resources.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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