A unique tilted cabin near Washington's Puget Sound. Architect: Liddle & Jones

It looks a bit like a missile on its launching pad, but the cabin's purpose is really the reverse: To keep the owners in close touch with their earthly and attractive surroundings on Washington's Puget Sound.

The uncommon design serves to solve two fairly common waterside problems: Close neighbors, and glare off water and sand.

The architects avoided side windows that might look out on an adjoining house, not built when the photos were made but soon to come.

Tilting the house avoided sun glare, with the aid of long, low eaves that function as eyebrows. This device helps exploit the water view in the absence of side windows. The interior has three open levels, each with a view of beach and water. The levels separate living spaces without need for inside walls.

Sheathing beneath the shingles is diagonal, structurally designed to permit the 12-foot cantilever of the sleeping area over the carport. The cantilever reaches out from a concrete block basement that houses utilities, furnace.