Symphony musician and his father design a bright dream home on Mt. Washington

Sumner Erickson's eyes are glued to his sheet music only part of the time he practices tuba at home. When he plays from memory, he looks up and outside a 25- by 16-foot wall of glass to see one of the most stimulating cityscapes in the world - Downtown Pittsburgh viewed from Mt. Washington.

His home is a distinctive sight in its own right. Designed to Erickson's personal taste by his father, Roger, its bright yellow and red exterior stands out from across the Monongahela River. Inside, its novel layout provides unusually large and open spaces.

Building the house on Bigbee Street also helped Erickson and his dad to grow closer.

The Ericksons hail from Austin, Texas, but Sumner went to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia when he was 18. He was a first-term tuba student at the conservatory when he auditioned for an opening in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was hired by Andre Previn in 1981.

'Long-distance phone calls to Austin and occasional visits didn't make it,' says Sumner Erickson, 40. 'That way, our relationship would never build the way I wanted it to. Roger said, 'Let's do a project together.' We started planning the house in 1989.'

Roger Erickson, an architect who worked on the governor's mansion and state capitol in Austin, moved to Pittsburgh in 1991. Construction began in 1995, with Sumner Erickson contributing many ideas of his own.

'I wanted the kitchen and living area to be in the same place,' he says. 'When you have a party, sometimes everyone's crowded into the kitchen. Or the cook is isolated in the kitchen while everyone's having fun in the living room.'

Nevertheless, Erickson was surprised when his father came up with a loft design, overlooking the great room. It was an inspiration that pays important acoustic benefits.

The great room, where Erickson practices, is 25 foot square, with a 16-foot-high ceiling. The advantage of the loft design for the kitchen and dining area is that it provides a 55-foot-long common ceiling with the great room. The tuba's sound goes straight up and, as a very low-pitched instrument, its sound waves need a lot of space to spread properly.

'My dad created a little recital hall,' Erickson says, 'and I couldn't ask for a better gift as a musician than to have a space like this to practice in.'

The house is a balloon-frame design, with 35-foot two- by sixes creating the shell. In contrast with the platform-frame style, the balloon frame allows more freedom inside, highlighted in this design by a central staircase with 13 landings and bridges.

There are seven steps up to the first floor, which consists of a guest bedroom and bath, heating and other mechanical equipment, and a garage.

More steps reach the bedroom suite, which faces the rear of the building. Its floor space is as large as the great room's.

'I don't like the term 'master' bedroom,' Erickson says.

The next set of steps turns to the front of the house for the great room. Then another 10 steps open to the back for the kitchen and dining area.

Finally, 20 more steps reach the roof deck, an approximately 700-square-foot space. Erickson's colleague Bill Caballero says the roof is Erickson's back yard. Erickson says the view of fireworks on the Fourth of July is spectacular, along with the sight of a storm approaching the city from the northwest.

The path from concept to construction had its share of bumps. After Roger Erickson designed the house in wood, Sumner Erickson decided he wanted all inert materials, steel and poured concrete. When they could get no reasonable bid from a contractor, they went back to wood.

Since Sumner Erickson is a fan of Eastern philosophy, he hired a feng-shui expert to help create a harmonious environment. And while working with an Alexander technique expert in Boston, he became aware of the healthy house concept.

'Everything inside a healthy house is nontoxic or will out-gas quickly,' he says. Most new carpets release formaldehyde for as much as a year, for example.

Erickson's kitchen cabinets are made of formaldehyde-free particle board, and the linoleum floor 'is natural the way it was made, before they added chemicals,' he says.

But although the Ericksons tried to buy locally as much as possible, they had to import the linoleum - made from cork powder, linseed oil and natural backing - from Germany because it is not manufactured that way in the United States anymore, Erickson says.

The house uses passive solar heating facing south, but it also includes many older details. The bedrooms have transom windows above their doors for ventilation. A dumbwaiter, or small elevator, runs from the garage to the kitchen, with a stop possible in the bedroom suite.

Every room has a ceiling fan for efficient heat dispersal, but the house also has central air conditioning.

Roger Erickson says he agrees with Frank Lloyd Wright that form follows function. He and his son have created a home perfect for a musician who seeks a stimulating but peaceful environment.

Mark Kanny can be reached at (412) 320-7877 or mkanny@tribweb.com .