a motel and rest stop at hanford reach

the road is a place of anonymity. cars pass, the drivers obscured to each other by the glare of the sun or blinded by oncoming headlights. these interactions are blurred into the collective memory of the road, no individual distinguished from the rest. everything is the same, much like the landscape that is unchanging mile after mile.

a simple program consisting of thirty motel rooms, a filling station, shop, and restaurant on a desert site in eastern washington, this project began with an extensive conceptual interpretation of the american highway.

expanding on the notions of anonymity and isolation on the open road, the module of the individual motel room consolidates parking, courtyard, room, and pool, and all activity is hidden from outside view, ensuring total privacy for guests. from the road, the concrete walls and wooden gates maintain a consistent tectonic language that hides activity from view while opening up to a private view of the landscape on the other end of the unit. the quarter-mile long building is a mysterious, walled blip to drivers zooming by.

university of washington, department of architecture. instructors: rick mohler and lisa chadbourne.