The Tour of Architects, March 20-21 will feature 17 architects and 24 projects.

The two tours on two days begin at Hub locations at 10 a.m. where guests can pick up tickets, maps, and hear speakers.

Projects, which include both residential and community spaces, are open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, visit www.tourofarchitects.com.

Three of the 17 architects on the tour are:

Marc LaRoche

Long before architect Marc LaRoche started on blueprints for the Blakely Harbor residence he was working on, he spent a great deal of time on the site – walking it, making sketches, watching where the sun hit at different times of the day and year, noticing how the land sloped, where the best views were.

“There are unique solutions for every site,” he said. “And each project is a reflection of place and personality.”

For this project, he knew the clients well – himself and his family.

Sense of place figures strongly into LaRoche’s design process. This project would become the third house in the neighborhood that he and wife, Trina, and sons Max and Ben would inhabit, but the first designed “from scratch.”

Designing for his own tastes was freeing in some ways, but “the real world intercedes” with site, legal and budgetary constraints.

“It’s freeing when you already love a place. You’re not concerned about resale so much.”

The lot had its challenges, however. A narrow strip of waterfront with a high bank at its back, the site needed some creative solutions that would maximize the jaw-dropping view.

“What I’m most proud of with this project is that once you’re in it, the architecture goes away. The structure becomes a frame for the view.”

In fact, in the home’s open-floor plan, essentially one room deep, every room faces the water.

A bank of floor-to-ceiling windows in the main living space not only frames the view, but with its south-facing orientation, makes the most of passive solar principles. The windows let in the low winter rays, while a deep overhang blocks the high summer sun.

LaRoche, who integrates the science and art of architecture deftly, tried to “strike the right balance” between sustainability and economy.

“Compared to our last house, we’re using less energy, and I wasn’t running a business out of it,” he said.

These days his commute consists of a handful of steps from their house to a detached office space, which also overlooks the harbor. He shares the space with Trina, an interior designer, with whom he often collaborates.

LaRoche Architects has two projects on Sunday’s Tour of Architects.

Dana Webber

Architect Dana Webber is pleased with her design of the Island Church project.

“I met the goals in the way I like to work. I take a wholistic approach. Not, so much what will it look like when it’s finished, but how will people experience the space?”

The church wanted people to feel comfortable, to want to come and not want to leave, she said.

She envisioned a “sequence of experience” from driving to the very visible pie-shaped lot between Sportsman’s Club Road and SR-305, to opening the door to the foyer, to being in the sanctuary, whether for church services or the community gatherings which the church envisioned for the space.

Island Church is featured on Saturday’s Tour of Architects.

Matthew Coates

For Matthew Coates, it’s all about sustainability, which on Bainbridge Island goes along way.

“As a ratio, per capita, I think more people on the island are interested in building sustainably and protecting the environment,” Coates said.

Certainly, it was a high priority for the Ed and Joanne Ellis whose south island home may very well be the first single-family residential home in the state (outside of Seattle) to recieve a LEED platinum rating.

The rating is pending landscape decisions, but Coates is confident the home has more than enough points to receive the platinum designation.

The many sustainable features include: geothermal ground heat; a photovoltaic (solar power) system that generates up to 40 percent of the home’s energy; solar hot water panels; triple-pane insultated windows; heat recovery in the ventilation system; a 3,000-gallon cistern for rainwater cachement; a vegetated roof and a rain garden. Even some of the trim work was made with wood milled from trees on the site.

A motorized skylight lets in light but allows closure to keep heat in at night. While the home faces east to capture the view, other passive solar strategies such as heat-stabilizing mass were built into the design.

The Ellis residence, designed by Coates, who also designed the Island Gateway project, will be featured on Sunday’s Tour of Architects.