Set high on a hillside within the forested slopes of the Santiam Canyon, Passages II is a home shaped as much by personal history as by striking design. The 4,355-square-foot new build rises from a site forever changed by the 2020 wildfires that claimed the homeowners’ original residence.
“There was such a high level of connection and emotion to the land and the home that was lost,” says Emma Kraft Saldivar, president of Salem-based Kraft Custom Construction, which led the design-build effort. “The homeowners raised their family there, watched them grow and evolve into new generations of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The fire wasn’t going to stop their optimism and positive perspective on life.”
The homeowners had called their original home Passages, a nod to the family’s growth during their time there and a period of transition marked by retirement. After the fire, rebuilding was not simply about recreating what was lost but honoring that evolution. Naming their new home Passages II felt like a natural progression, symbolizing the importance of change and forward momentum while remaining grounded in the site’s history.
Designed in collaboration with em architecture of Portland, the new home is defined by an unconventional geometry, centering around the concept of three intersecting squares. The middle square anchors the main living and gathering spaces, while one wing extends toward private bedroom suites and the other toward creative spaces like a piano room and craft rooms. The layout establishes a clear separation between quiet and communal zones, while maintaining a sense of openness throughout—not just outward, but upward. Tall ceilings and custom Marvin wood windows, many with distinctive shapes and angles, pull daylight deep into the home and frame expansive canyon views.
“Natural light was essential to the vision,” Kraft Saldivar says.
Structurally, the home is a feat of precision. Cantilevered over the hillside more than 40 feet above ground on two sides, the design required steel piles driven by a bridge building company, along with a hybrid system of structural steel and wood framing. The rooflines are intentionally non-traditional, and no wall meets another at a standard angle—complexities that demanded close coordination between the design and construction teams.
“In every sense, taking the concept on paper and making it a reality was a challenge because it is not standard residential construction,” Kraft Saldivar says. “Everything had to be thought through, outside the box.”
Read the full article on the Oregon Home magazine.
Visit the Santiam Canyon New Construction portfolio page.
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