Pacific Palace

aRchitects
BC&J Architects
AN OcEANsiDE OAsis With AN uNWAvEriNG AbilitY tO
strENGthEN rElAtiONshiPs
by Brian Libby
Peter Brachvogel and Stella Carosso founded
BC&J Architects in 1990 with a mission that embodies
the same principle that inspires their work.
By leveraging the social dynamic that exists between
people and their environments, the couple
creates engaging homes that foster interaction
between people, their families and others.
“We also wanted a way of living and working that
offers the freedom to work professionally and to
have a meaningful life,” says Brachvogel. “If you
don’t have that, you have less than what life can
give you.”
The firm’s philosophy spills over into its work
on light commercial and mixed-use community
developments up and down the Pacific Northwest
Coast.
“We want to engage a family in a house, and expand
that concept to engage people in an entire town,” says
Brachvogel, a Tacoma, WA native.
This interest began when he was a child and his father
bought a boat. “I became very interested in how boats
look and perform, what they can look like when they
are moving, when they are sitting still and that they
can embody family values,” says Brachvogel.
He abandoned plans to study medicine in favor of attending
the School of Architecture at the University of
Washington and completed his master’s degree at the
University of Michigan where he met Carosso.
“By the time that was over it was the mid-1980’s and
we were just coming off of a recession,” he says.
“Carter had interest rates up around 17 percent
Olympic View House
Olympic view house is a 2,700-squarefoot,
two-story wood-framed home on
a concrete foundation. it responds to
its environment with balanced massing
and architectural features that
protect it from the elements, including
a combination of natural and concrete
siding materials. classic, contemporary
styling creates a timeless, natural oasis
where the occupants can settle into
retirement. the home replaces a 1940’s
plywood house that was beyond restoration.
renewable materials, optimized
window orientation and a combination
of closed-cell and blown-in insulation
package infuse the home with comfort,
longevity and sustainable design.
and there were no jobs for architects, never mind
architects brand new out of school.”
He wound up in San Francisco working for a
company that designed hospitals. The couple later
moved to Bainbridge Island and made the commute
to Seattle, but soon a change was in order.
“We realized that if we wanted to create houses
that foster and engage families, then we needed
to practice what we preach,” he says.
142 luxury home quarterly SPrING 2012 luxuryhomequarterly.com
PhOtOs: MArtiN bYDAlEK PhOtOGrAPhY