Tetherow Overlook House / Hacker

Architecture & Interior Design: Hacker
Area: 7,600 ft²
Year: 2024
Photography: Jeremy Bittermann
Hacker Design Team: Corey Martin, Nicholas Hodges, Emily Knudsen, Nicolas Pectol, Nicolas Smith, Sohee Ryan
Contractor: KN Visions
Structural: Madden & Baughman Engineering
Landscape: Szabo Landscape Architecture
Project Manager: Nicholas Hodges
Lighting: O-
City: Bend, Oregon
Country: USA

Tetherow Overlook House, designed by Hacker in Bend, Oregon, is a 7,600-square-foot residence that integrates with the high desert landscape through a sculptural form and a layered spatial composition. The design features cascading platforms that follow the natural topography, with faceted mass walls inspired by volcanic rock formations defining movement and framing views. Three distinct wood-clad volumes house different functions, creating a sequence of enclosed and open spaces that establish microclimates throughout the home. A restrained material palette, continuous indoor-outdoor transitions, and a structural dialogue with the site reinforce the residence’s connection to its environment while offering varying degrees of shelter from the desert’s harsh conditions.

Tetherow Overlook House is designed to engage with Central Oregon’s high desert landscape through a refined spatial arrangement and a carefully curated material palette. The architecture establishes a dialogue with its surroundings, seamlessly integrating indoor and outdoor environments while framing both near and distant views. The design accommodates the owners’ lifestyle, which revolves around entertainment, family gatherings, and creative pursuits, while also complementing their collection of conceptual modern art.

Situated on a bluff, the 7,600-square-foot residence is embedded into the terrain, unfolding through a series of cascading platforms that gradually reveal themselves along the gentle, pumice-covered hillside. Faceted mass walls, inspired by the fractured forms of nearby volcanic rock, anchor key spaces, shape circulation, define spatial boundaries, and direct views. The home is composed of three distinct wood-clad volumes, each assigned a specific function: a garage and studio, a bedroom wing, and a dining area. Movement through the residence alternates between enclosed spaces within these volumes and open areas that emerge between them.

The entrance is positioned at the highest point of the site, forming a semi-enclosed courtyard alongside the garage, parking platform, and elevated bedroom volume. Interior materials extend outward, reinforcing continuity between inside and outside as floors, ceilings, and wall planes visually transition beyond the building’s envelope. Upon reaching the entry platform, framed views of the eastern landscape unfold. The entrance, located beneath the overhanging bedroom volume, features a large patinated steel pivot door that opens to an intermediate level between the main living areas. These spaces are defined by their simplicity, emphasizing material richness and precise detailing while offering framed perspectives of the surrounding desert and sky. The arrangement of the volumes generates distinct microclimates, fostering an ever-changing connection to the high desert environment throughout the year.

The primary living areas are distributed across multiple interconnected levels. The main floor consists of a media lounge, a living room, and a kitchen, each occupying its own tier. A few steps above the kitchen, the dining area is housed within a cantilevered volume. The upper level includes a primary suite, an open workspace, a gallery overlooking the living room, and two guest bedrooms. A finely crafted wood screen defines the staircase leading to this level, providing spatial layering and a sense of separation while maintaining openness. A secondary staircase, located between the living room and kitchen, descends to a lower level that contains an entertainment area and a spa, both of which are integrated into the hillside.

The exterior cladding is inspired by the texture of weathered tree snags, with coarse wood slats covering the rectangular volumes, maintaining a consistent material expression across both walls and openings. The faceted, chamfered, and carved monolithic masses reference the geological forms of nearby basalt and obsidian, evoking their eroded yet resilient character. The design modulates exposure to the intense desert sun and wind, offering varying degrees of shelter while allowing the natural environment to shape the experience of the home throughout the seasons.