A Santiam Canyon new build by Kraft Custom Construction honors a family home’s past while embracing its next chapter.
Custom Home Builder: Kraft Custom Construction
Architect: em architecture
Photographer: David Papazian
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.”
Inside, craftsmanship is evident in seamless material transitions. A floating steel staircase with timber treads and metal balustrades feels sculptural yet grounded. Interior warmth is carried through quarter sawn white oak hardwood flooring, exposed beams at the roofline, and heart hickory custom cabinetry throughout. As creatives themselves, the homeowners took the lead on interior design, embracing an eclectic mix of color and artistry. More than 35 paint colors appear throughout the interior and exterior, and the homeowners even created custom stained-glass pieces for the primary suite door, upper kitchen cabinets, and bar area. The home’s relationship to its past is perhaps most poignantly felt outdoors where artifacts salvaged from the fire, such as a piano frame and pieces of the original brick chimney and fireplace, were transformed into sculptural elements in the backyard.
Given the site’s history, resilience is as integral to the design as beauty. Fire safety was considered in many aspects of the build, from a metal roof and Hardie Plank siding to high-efficiency windows and insulation. Beneath the home, a discreet path off the driveway leads to a concealed mechanical room housing HVAC equipment, electrical panels, a generator transfer switch, and a multi-gallon water storage tank that supports fire sprinklers—a practical but powerful response to the realities of building in a fire-prone landscape.
Completed in June 2025, Passages II now stands as a testament to innovative design, meticulous craftsmanship, and the hopeful belief that from devastation, something meaningful—and beautiful—can emerge.
“This is a warm, comforting place that truly reflects the homeowners, their lifestyle, and their artistic style,” Kraft Saldivar says. “The home will be passed down for generations. And it will last for generations, rooted in their family’s land.”
