woofter bolch architecture
residential portfolio
woofter bolch architecture
Firm Profile Founded in 2012, Woofter Bolch Architecture (w+b) is a collaborative design practice equally committed to providing excellent design and outstanding client service. We aspire to create enduring, sustainable and inspiring work and thrive on collaborating with homeowners to achieve solutions that are responsive to each project’s specific site, vision, program, and budget. We find beauty in simplicity and believe architecture should thoughtfully engage its place and use and create meaningful connections inside and out. In our work we seek to celebrate and intensify what is special about a project’s site and situation and to create a careful balance between the familiar and the unexpected, continuity and contrast, built and natural.
Black Butte House
Black Butte Ranch, Oregon This project, designed in collaboration with Carolyn Woofter Interior Design, expanded and completely transformed one of the early and most remarkable residences at Black Butte Ranch in Central Oregon. The original house, built in the early 1970s and designed by noted Oregon Architect Benny Benedetto, occupies a spectacular sloping site directly adjacent to the Ranch’s central meadow and provides expansive views of the Cascade Mountains Intended to both honor and enhance the architecture of the original house, the project completely renovated the home’s three floors and added approximately 1,200 square feet to the original 5,370 square-foot residence.
The exterior design continues the classic northwest modern language of one of the existing house with a palette of wood and stone that further anchors the home to its surroundings and provides gracious exterior connections and transitions on all sides.
Finely detailed construction by local craftspeople and the use of natural materials, textures and patterns throughout the project celebrate Black Butte Ranch, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The house also features an impressive collection of art throughout the interior and site, including work from significant Oregon artists commissioned specifically for the project.
Wilshire House Portland, Oregon
This project, designed in collaboration with Yoonhee Choi, expanded and completely transformed a small 1940s cottage to create a sustainable courtyard house inspired by traditional Korean Hanok design. The scheme maintained the majority of the existing single-story structure and added a long, narrow, south-facing addition and porch embracing a new garden space.
Also known as the House of the Seven Skylights, the project included the addition of a series of new vaulted spaces including bedrooms, an artist’s studio, and a secret play room accessed by pulldown ladder.
NP House
Portland, Oregon This renovation in NE Portland transformed a quadrant of a 1928 bungalow to create a new open kitchen and stair filled with daylight and connected to the outdoors. The project reconfigured the space by removing the existing basement stair from the corner of the kitchen and replacing it with a new skylit central stair linking all three levels of the home. This opened up the perimeter of the house to the yard and created a light-filled kitchen that is both elegant and efficient. A new deck extends the space of the kitchen through glass sliding doors to overlook a backyard patio and garden.
A wood screen wall opens the side of the stair to the kitchen, taking advantage of an existing skylight above to bring daylight down into the heart of the house.
Concordia ADU Portland, Oregon
This project converted a detached garage in the back yard of a single family residence into a light-filled accessory dwelling unit (ADU). An efficient and open floor plan, vaulted ceiling, abundant windows and skylights, and bright interior materials make this 230 SF space feel larger than it is. Envisioned as a place for friends and relatives to stay while visiting Portland, this space also serves as a short term rental to generate additional income for the owners.
Artists’ House Portland, Oregon
Designed in collaboration with Yoonhee Choi, this renovation and addition project adds approximately 600 sf to a 100-year-old residence in SE Portland. Home to two established artists, the project completely transforms the interior to maximize daylight, views, and opportunities to display art. A new three-story addition was added in the back, creating a new studio space, kitchen, and vaulted library/bedroom. Two new covered porches provide direct access to the back yard from both the basement and main living levels. Both the exterior design and the new interior spaces continue the historic language and elegant proportions of the existing house.
Butler House Salem, Oregon
This project involves the renovation and expansion of an existing split level residence to create a comfortable and exciting new home for a family of four. The design completely transforms the house internally and externally, creating an open plan of expansive living spaces linked to the outdoors through a series of alcoves, window seats, and covered porches.
Highlands House Portland, Oregon
This project expanded and enhanced a 1960s ranch house in SW Portland to better engage with its wonderful site and incredible views. The project included carefully integrating a new 2nd floor family room to the existing one-story home and updating the exterior to maximize indoor-outdoor connections with a simple and clean modern aesthetic that reflects previous interior renovations.
Our concept works with the existing home’s form and materials and continues the existing roof slope up to integrate the new 2nd floor volume, maintaining the simple, quiet streetfront presence and stretching the new addition on the backyard side toward the view. A new skylit central stair links the two floors and brings daylight into the center of the house.
ArHo House
Portland, Oregon This project in NE Portland completely transformed a 1940s cottage to create a new living environment for a couple and their young children. By removing interior walls and relocating a corner basement stair into a new south-facing addition, it created a sunlit open living/dining/kitchen space linked by a new stair and wood screen wall to a basement family room.
Alameda ADU Portland, Oregon
Completed in 2015, this project added approximately 900 sf to a classic 1920s Craftsman-style house in NE Portland, including a 500-square-foot attached ADU on the main living floor. Knitting together old and new, the project created an efficient, open living space for the new ADU while preserving privacy and exterior space for the existing dwelling.
Firm Leadership
Miles Woofter, AIA, LEED AP Founding Principal Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Miles has practiced architecture for over 25 years, developing expertise in the design, documentation and delivery of sustainable building projects located primarily in the Pacific Northwest. With a background that includes hands-on residential design-build, his experience encompasses the full range of architectural service, from initial programming and conceptual design work to large-scale, complex projects for both public and private clients. With a degree in Environmental Design from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and a Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon, Miles’ education and years of practice have been guided by sustainable design and building principles. These principals center on the integration of natural systems with the built environment and the fundamental goal of doing more with less. Miles is a registered Architect in the state of Oregon and a consistent volunteer in the Portland community.
Jonathan Bolch, RA, LEED AP Principal
Willis DeWitt, RA, LEED AP Associate Principal
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Jonathan has over 20 years of professional experience practicing and teaching architecture in a diverse array of places including New York, Boston, Seoul, and Portland. His residential design experience includes projects of all budgets and sizes, both in the Pacific Northwest and in New England.
Another southerner that helps balance the geography of an office founded by a Canadian, Willis is originally from Columbia, South Carolina and graduated with honors from North Carolina State University. With a passion for working with project teams to develop thoughtful, clear and simple design solutions to complex problems, Willis has over 12 years of professional experience. His expertise ranges from developing design concepts to overseeing construction administration and includes all phases of services on multiple projects.
Jonathan received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from Yale University, where he was awarded the William Wirt Winchester Traveling Fellowship, considered the school’s most prestigious honor. Jonathan is a registered architect in Oregon and Washington. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Portland State University.
A registered architect in Oregon, Willis has been instrumental in the success of Woofter Architecture’s residential work. His experience includes leading the documentation and detailing of the Black Butte House to leading the design and delivery of the Concordia ADU.
Selected Residential Experience
Bend, OR
•Shevlin Commons House
Maupin, OR
•Desert House
Portland, OR •Alameda ADU •ArHo House •Artists’ House •Concordia ADU •Highlands House •Mt Tabor House •NP House •Skinny House •Wilshire House Sisters, OR
•Black Butte Ranch House •Tumalo House
Salem, OR
•Butler House
Olympia, WA
•Courtyard House
woofter bolch architecture 107 SE Washington Street, Suite 228 Portland, OR 97214 503 724 0111 www.woofterbolch.com