Have you ever looked at a row of beautiful beachfront houses and imagined a giant wave crashing in from the sea, wiping them all away" Waterfront architecture can seem awfully vulnerable, and it?s true that when beach houses aren?t engineered with weather protection in mind, they?re probably not going to last long. All it takes is one storm surge for the coast to be inundated with water, instantly flooding the impeccably decorated interiors of all those high-end properties. With climate change, the chances of this happening are only going to grow, so some architects are starting to design around the worst-case scenario.

The plot of land this particular beach house sits on, a narrow stretch of Camano Island, Washington, complicates things even further: it?s located at the base of an extremely steep slope that experiences occasional shallow mud slides. Threats from multiple sides might be enough for some to give up on such a property, but for the homeowner, it?s sentimental; it?s been in his family for three generations and he grew up spending summers at a modest cabin that now sits to the side of the main house. Architecture firm Design Northwest took on the challenge and produced a modern beauty that?s ready for almost anything.
The beach is so remote, there?s no drive-up, requiring the owners to park in a common lot and walk down a narrow path to reach their home. That made it too difficult for the architects to bring in concrete trucks and other heavy equipment. P...