There was a time when downtown Seattle was awash with faded jeans, flannelette shirts and Nevermind CDs. The mid-80s saw the city explode onto the map through the advent of grunge. So popular was the movement that it spread like a virus across the planet via groups like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and of course Nirvana.

Which is why we kind of think Dave Dykstra Architects would make a good name for a grunge band. And we like to imagine DDA plastered all over a drum kit, while Dave himself stamps and wails about teen angst.

Of course Dave Dykstra might vehemently disagree.

Indeed being an architect, Dave Dykstra probably doesn’t even own a flannelette shirt (seeing as most architects wear black turtle necks and serious spectacles).

But what he may – or may not – lack in grunge credibility, he sure as hell makes up for when it comes to creating beautiful homes.

Like this swanky abode on the shores of Seattle’s Portage Bay. The client, (who had previously got Dykstra to make him a houseboat) decided to become a landlubber, and bought a waterfront block on the bay. He asked Dykstra to create an estate on the long narrow lot which included a steep embankment near the shoreline.

Dykstra’s brief included a main house, separate garage/studio, and swimming pool. The proposed home took on a wedge shape, narrow at the entry and widening both out and up as the home reaches out to the water, pulling in the water views with continuous glass walls which wrap the home on two sides. This shape also allowed for the infinity edge pool and integrated reflecting pool to be placed along the side of the home at the main level merging indoor and outdoor spaces.”

But the real feature of the home just has to be the Link wood lamp by the uncontainable Irishman, Ray Power. Suspended over the dining room table, the Link provides that much needed touch of post-Nirvana grunge…or perhaps not.

Stephen Lacey for LZF Lamps