This house is situated on an overlooked site close to downtown Portland. Of course the reason it was overlooked was because it was nearly impossible to build on. The house sits uphill from the street and we wanted to enter the house as soon as possible. To accomplish this, the entry is off a small courtyard at the same level as the garage. Once inside, you enter the main house when you reach the top of the stairs. The house is basically a retaining wall to hold up the hillside, and steps up the hill minimize the footings. It takes advantage of the southern exposure and gets lots of light.