Modernist Concrete Home

An 8,000-square-foot conglomeration of concrete, rusted steel and glass geometric shapes sets the stage for modern home design with economical budgets and limited environmental impact.

A heavy steel green door opens to reveal a 75-foot-long bridge suspended 10 feet off the lawn below, creating an inner courtyard. Along one side a few feet away is a wing resembling a railroad car, with rusty steel and gray concrete siding.

The bridge ends in a door, which opens to another narrow steel bridge, almost a catwalk, overlooking the main room below. That room is mostly bare concrete walls, concrete floors and walls of steel columns and glass windows that look out over a back yard and Lake Washington beyond. Along the ceilings runs exposed pipe that pumps in geothermal heat.

An large concrete fireplace rises from the floor up to the 2 story 24-foot ceiling. Bright red and yellow paintings on wood and canvas break up the one vast concrete white wall.

Tom Kundig of Seattle architecture firm Olson Kundig is known for his steel, concrete and glass homes that expose the guts of their construction and present unique designs.

The concrete house took 1 year and cost a little over $200 per square foot to build, considerably less time and money than average.

Photos from WSJ online real estate news.