The Elemental Architecture of Richard Wyman Smith
By Christine Hensleigh
Photos by Roger Wade
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Dock
Flathead Lake, Montana
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To some Flathead Lake locals, many of whom are used to a bounty of grand designs along the lake, Joan and Richard Schleicher have the most beautiful home in the area. Tucked into the hillside, it nestles a shoreline where the daily drama ranges from glistening sunshine to rosy-hued mountains and dark tempests.
For the Schleichers, who had lived in a cabin on the property for 10 years before building their dream house, their Flathead Lake land was the basic building block for a beautiful structure. They knew the names of all the trees on the property, plus a family of rabbits that lived among the roots of a juniper tree, and they wanted to make the most of what attracted them to the land in the first place.
They knew they’d found their architect when they met Richard Smith. Most of the architects they interviewed spent mere moments on the property, but Richard Smith took his time getting a feel for all aspects of the land. He even noticed the rabbits.
It also helped knowing that Smith designed the Flathead Lake’s famous “Osprey House.” Inspired by an osprey in flight (with the floor layout resembling outstretched wings), the Osprey House’s 87 windows include 18 rounded windows reminiscent of feathers.
That ability to synthesize nature’s features into architectural design attracted the Schleicher’s to Smith, but what cinched the deal was Smith’s originality. Of the multitude of designs that make up 43 years of Richard Smith’s portfolio, each one is completely different. After years of designing some of the finest homes in Montana, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, no home resembled previous homes. Smith was a true original.
And after hiring Bigfork Builders, the only general contractors whom they knew could handle the artistry of Smith’s architecture, the construction of their home began.
Architects have a vision of a home and an idea of aesthetics that is similar to an artist’s vision of a painting. Yet artists have the luxury of a vision all to themselves, and architects must create a vision that real people can live in.
From his studio in Whitefish, Smith characterizes this relationship between client and creativity, art and architecture by referring to each home he designs as “a little temple.” “This is their space where they will spend their time. There is a
rt to it, but the end result has to satisfy the client’s site and needs.”
While originality may be the mark of an artist, if you ask Richard Smith about the secret to his creativity, he tells you simply, “It comes from the client. Most have a unique thing they want to communicate. And they have the site. Those two things have to merge. You have to look for how that will happen.”
If you ask the Schleichers the source of Smith’s artistry, they tell you it’s his ability to synthesize their needs to hisvision. For the Schleichers, that meant a low-key approach when it came to their home. After years of living on that land, they wanted a structure that seemed native to the site, one that didn’t overpower it.
Using the slope of their land, Smith accommodated the Schleicher’s love of their land by literally tucking the home into the mountainside and opening its back two stories onto the lake. The effect allows for landscape to permeate every room of the 5,000 square foot home, while the home never dominates the site.
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Flathead Lake, Montana
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And while many homes share stunning lake views, Smith’s awareness of how to use nature’s beauty means that each room captures a different relationship to these views. Instead of straight lines on a view, square rooms are poised like a diamond, allowing two angles on the same view. Smith calls that relationship to the surrounding views and landscape, “little intimate exchanges with the environment.” This blend of interior and exterior beauty goes beyond the visual to practical details. For instance, fresh air circulates constantly throughout the house.
While many large homes lose the personality of the owners to the vision of the architect, the Schleicher home never loses the warmth and spirit of Joan and Richard Schleicher. Rooms are spacious but cozy. A collection of art echoes their love for the west and the outdoors.
Nothing captures the originality of the Schleicher’s site and the inspiration of Smith’s design so much as the outcrop of bedrock that juts stalwartly into the first floor, exposing the earth. When the rock was first discovered during foundation work, the excavator’s first instinct was to blast it. Smith’s plan was to leave it be—blasting would be expensive, and the rock was as much a part of the land as the lake. In a sense, he listened to that magnificent chunk of bedrock and the design was changed to incorporate the rock. The effect is unexpected and electrifying—the air in the room and around the rock is different from the rest of the house. Fragrant and invigorating, the large rock adds substance to the atmosphere. A local artist’s hand-painted petroglyphs complete the effect.
This rock on the ground floor of a home was a risk, but the Schleichers have always enjoyed a bit of adventure. It’s what brought them from their home in Lake Tahoe to Flathead Lake over 18 years ago. And it was that same sense of adventure that led the Schleichers to their recently acquired land on Hawaii, land where Richard Smith has designed their second dream home.For Smith, architecture is about more than just structure. Embedded in every building is an artistic vision tied to the elements of the landscape or passion of the owner. What he conveys in his designs is “an idea beyond words.” Part practical (shelter), part aesthetic and part the personality of the client, Smith jokes that he should add music to his presentations in an effort to capture that intangible feeling that brings architecture to life. “Each design does seem to have a bit of life. You look for it and then go with it.”
Which is why Smith’s skill as a listener, not only to the environment but also to the client, comes in handy. To observe and listen seem so simple as a source of creativity. Yet after years of designing everything from ranches, schools, restaurants, office buildings and homes, it’s a talent Smith has come to believe in as a tried-and-true source of inspiration.
“For me, it’s a surprising and reassuring thing that if I hang out with people and the site long enough, the most surprising things happen and ideas do come together. I often wonder, how does this happen? There’s a bit of magic to it.”
Magic has appeared in Smith’s life since he was a child. As a young boy growing up on the Flathead Reservation (Smith is an Ojibwe Indian), his architectural intuitions started young. At eight years old, he saved floor plans of residential buildings and concocted big ideas for each plan—one would be built for his mother, his grandmother, another for his auntie. While his Ojibwe heritage gives him a unique culture to inform his designs, he resists the label of Native American architect. To him, the awareness and appreciation of the earth is something “entirely human.”
Love of buildings and an innate sense of landscape inhabited his youthful dreams. He would dream of flying over the Flathead River and landing like a bird on tall buildings, then looking down into their skylights as if to discover their secrets. In true architectural recall, he would remembereach flight—the contours of the mountain ranges, rivers and even the power line that he would have to raise his legs over as he ascended and descended from his dreams.
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Inside House Fireplace
Flathead Lake, Montana
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Despite what seemed like an architectural calling, he almost became a marine instead. His father, who had been a marine, convinced him to go to school first, and seven years later, Smith received his architecture degree from Montana State University. After a three-year apprenticeship in New York, he returned to western Montana, where since 1976 he has conjured that magic from his modest studio in Whitefish.
A Whitefish woman, who’s been in a study group with Richard for three years says, “He is one of the most devoted family men I have ever met, very open, tolerant, forgiving—a deeply kind, non-judgmental person who is very down to earth, positive, full of the joy of life.” That joyousness is clearly reflected in the homes he designs. (Richard Smith’s Web site is www.rwsmitharchitect.com.)
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