This house is another one of our design-build projects, but this time we were the architect and contractor, but it was performed for a client.
This site was classified by the City of Mercer Island as unbuildable because it was in a slide area, an unstable hillside that had moved during some heavy rains. the client had picked up the lot for taxes and we set about solving the various issues. The biggest hurdle was to convince the City that we had an engineered solution.
This solution was a Geotechnical approach to stabilize the slope and provide founding for the house. This involved what we call Auger Cast piling, some of which went 70 feet down into the slope. These pilings provided a "key" to hold the slope from sliding further, and also accommodated the weight of the house becoming the foundation for the structure.
The entire house and driveway are resting on steel casings that extend up above the slope of the earth attaching to the frame of the structure.
The result is a very contemporary house, 3 stories in height, with fantastic views looking east to Bellevue.