Bringing Work Home: A white-water kayaker builds out his vision in the Columbia Gorge
The child of a back-to-the-land mother, Tao Berman grew up in the mountains of northern Washington, in a decrepit barn with no running water, no electricity and no heat. In the summers his family slept outside under tarps strung between trees.
As a result, Mr. Berman said he’d always wanted to build his own house. “When you grow up not having something, you know what you want,” he said.
Now 33, Mr. Berman has made enough money as a professional white-water kayaker to build that house. Perched on a bluff a thousand feet above the Columbia River Gorge, the 3,500-square-foot contemporary is a contrast to the more traditional houses that surround it. It has a view of the changing river waters he loves in an area that’s known as a mecca for outdoor sports.
The design reflects Mr. Berman’s awareness of nature, learned both from his childhood and his years of kayaking. Made of weathered, rusty Corten steel and glass, it is shaped like a Y, with one end of the rectangular shape veering eastward to create a barrier against the area’s strong summer winds as well as a shelter for a first-floor patio from the rains.