ARCHITECT WORKS, PLLC

This small house defines an equal amount of indoor and outdoor living space. The client requested views of the lake to the east and privacy from neighboring houses. The bedroom and the living room were pulled from a simple compact volume that houses the bath and kitchen support spaces allowing for the separation of the sleeping area from the more active spaces. This provides maximum privacy within a minimal volume. Energy and resource efficient windows, doors, equipment, fixtures, and appliances reinforce the (literally) small footprint of the house. Other sustainable strategies include careful siting and orientation to take advantage of natural ventilation and daylight, nestling the house under the existing trees to help shade the building, and providing many outdoor shaded spaces as part of the program. Materials were selected for ease of maintenance and durability for this weekend house. New material use was kept to a minimum by using the structural slab as the finish floor, installing recycled glass slabs for kitchen and bath countertops and tub surrounds, and refurbishing the gas range and chopping block that have been in the client’s family for generations.

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Photography by Charles Smith