ASPIREDESIGNAND H O M E . C O M 35 TEXT BY THOMAS CONNORS PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN SCOTT INTERIOR DESIGN DAN AND SANDRA WILSON ARCHITECTURE WILSON-HAUS When redoing a home, it’s not unusual to retain a bit of the old place – a classic chessboard floor, the nook that onc e housed a rotary phone. Not so when it came to this 1325-square-foot penthouse in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. When architect Dan Wilson and his wife, Sandra, chair of the interior design department at Bellevue College, took possession of the two-level unit, everything – from the blindingly blue flooring to the walls of glass block – had to go. Their project, recalls Dan, was “an exercise in addition by subtraction.” That exercise was not just a matter of jettisoning dated and over-the-top décor. “This was also an opportunity to simplify and reduce the number of things we displaced from one home to another,” shares Dan, who had previously lived with Sandra in a much smaller one-bedroom in the city’s Belltown district. “We applied the philosophy that space is a luxury, not necessarily having an abundance of things. It is our expression of ‘enoughness.’” Dan, principal of Wilson-Haus, took the lead on the project, generating a concept, producing the drawings, coordinating construction and selecting finishes, fixtures and furnishings. Sandra, who holds a degree in architecture from Cornell University, assumed the client role, providing, notes Dan, “a critical sounding board, emotional collaborator and design-educated partner who challenged ideas.” Initially, Sandra was thinking in more traditional terms for the layout, but as the couple explored design possibilities, they landed on an entirely different approach. “Outside of work, Sandra and SITTING PRETTY IN THE EMERALD CITY S E A T T L E , W A S H I N G T O N I N T H E B E D R O O M S U I T E , A N E A M E S A L U M I N U M G R O U P M A N A G E M E N T C H A I R I N W H I T E L E A T H E R I S P A I R E D W I T H A N I K E A D E S K .