Family Gatherings in Argentina Inspire a Pavilion and Guesthouse

Before: Here’s the couple’s daughter exploring the lot right after they bought it.

As their ideas evolved, the couple assembled a team of designers and builders. The project was a collaboration between DeForest Architects; Flombaum’s interior designer cousin, Mariana Flombaum; SCJ Studio Landscape Architecture; and Dyna Builders.

“This project was so much more to Per and Cecilia than simply creating a grilling area — it’s a way of life, a way to hang out and a way to entertain,” architect John DeForest says. “They are very joyful, enthusiastic people and we wanted the project to reflect and encompass that.”

The couple’s house is on the left. There’s an easement for vehicle access to the new lot through the drugstore parking lot, located under the “Quincho Site” label on this bird’s-eye view. There’s a gate between the drugstore parking lot and the property. Local codes required a place to park and charge a car, but the couple use their gravel driveway only as a path.

“It was important that the tower have its own different kind of cladding with texture in this composition,” DeForest says. “The corrugated steel breaks the building up into pieces and gives it a smaller sense of scale. It also adds some mystery to the tower.”

The corner windows on the first floor are in the bedroom.

Shop for outdoor lighting

The roof of the pavilion appears to float thanks to the clerestory windows and well-proportioned overhang. Cedar on the ceiling continues from the interior to the exterior overhang.

The patio also extends seamlessly from indoors to out. Inside, the floor surface is polished concrete, and outside, the patio has the same concrete with an acid wash that prevents slippage when it’s wet. The concrete color is Pewter by Davis Colors.

Placed one step above the lawn, the patio also appears to float. This placement of the building and patio left room for a large grassy area for kids and the family dog, Sparkle, to play.

Windows and large sliding glass doors: Sierra Pacific Windows

Browse outdoor lounge furniture in the Houzz Shop

The working area of the full kitchen is along the back dark-tiled wall. Also, there’s a door just beyond the range on the left that leads to the entry, bedroom, bathroom and loft ladder. This door can be closed to keep those areas separate from the party pavilion section of the building.

“In Argentina, everyone in my family knows my uncle has the barbecue every Saturday, and all you need to do is tell him by Friday that you are coming. I decided we would do the same thing,” Flombaum says. “I send an email out to our adopted family, our friends, every Thursday and invite them to join us on Saturday. We love entertaining and we’ve connected a lot of people who didn’t know each other. We invite friends from different groups and their kids.”

DeForest adapted the structure to make it work for large groups in Seattle in all sorts of weather. “In Argentina, a quincho is very open to the outdoors because it can be used that way for a lot of the year,” he says. “But because we are in the Pacific Northwest, we wanted to create a space where they could bring the party indoors when they had to.” A large dining area accommodates plenty of friends and family, and a kitchen island provides additional seating.

“I am obsessed with asado and cooking seven different cuts of meat,” Mikkelsen says. Every Saturday, he starts the fire at about 9 a.m., with guests expected at about 1 p.m.

“First, everyone sits down together for picada, which are antipasto dishes,” Flombaum says. Within an hour of that, Mikkelsen starts serving his many cuts of meat. Flombaum says the sit-down part of the gathering lasts at least two to three hours. “I also tell people the only things they can bring are a dessert or wine — we’ve got the rest,” she says.

“Sometimes the gathering lasts so long that we pull out our pizza oven and serve another meal later,” Mikkelsen says. The portable pizza oven sits atop a rolling table.

Pendant lights: Tim, Bomma

“Building a structure from the ground up was the big deal,” Flombaum says. “Once we’d decided to do that, adding a bedroom and making it into a guesthouse was not such a big deal.”

One might think that a bedroom facing a drugstore would be the least private space of a house. But the back of the commercial building simply serves as a solid wall of privacy. Because the bedroom is on the opposite side of the pavilion from the quincho, it also has privacy away from the gathering area.

Art: “I Think I’ll Play Today” by Allison Rohland

The couple added a sofa bed and a TV so the loft can serve as a playroom for the kids and as a secondary sleeping space for guests. They also put a desk up here so it can be an office. “I didn’t know when we added the desk that it would become my favorite office space,” Mikkelsen says. “But now I work out here every day.”

Art: “Rose and Craie” by Shaun Heslop

Because of ordinances, the plunge pool needed to be above ground. “We detailed it with a wood-paneled wall to make it feel intentional, not like a pool just plopped on top of the yard,” DeForest says. This swim spa is by Endless Pools and has jets that allow for exercise. “It’s like a treadmill for swimming laps,” the architect says. It can also be heated for a relaxing soak.