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Among the wildflowers A peaceful getaway at ease with the land BY S A NDR A S T RIEBY
Wickline Architects (PBW).
ustin residents Ellie and Bob were looking for an escape from Texas’s hot-asHades summers when a visit to old friends brought them to the Methow Valley. One of those friends is architect Margo Peterson-Aspholm, a principal at Prentiss Balance
“They came out to visit us, and … as one does, they fell in love with the Methow,” she said. The valley was a good fit for the couple, who’d grown up in small towns and wanted a peaceful getaway where they and their two children could spend summer and winter holidays close to nature. They started looking for land and found their place on a wooded site north of Winthrop.
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Methow Home 2024
Ellie and Bob loved the land and, in particular, the wildflowers carpeting the ground beneath the trees, and wanted to “build in a way that would keep the integrity of that land as much as possible,” Ellie said. They also loved Peterson-Aspholm’s aesthetic, and asked her to design their house. As a designer, Peterson-Aspholm focuses on proper siting and design that fits the valley’s natural and cultural environment, reflecting
both rustic and funky flavors that have influenced designers like Doug Potter and Sun Mountain architect Roland Terry. In addition, she said, PBW is “particularly interested now in centering sustainability and resilience in our work. … That’s partly just because it’s the right thing to do and it’s partly because it will save our clients money and headaches and increase the durability and the … cost efficiency of our projects.”
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