photos courtesy of Michael Huber Architects

Just a short distance off Interstate I-94 in the Western Wisconsin town of Baldwin lives the product of a long distance relationship.Several years back John and Debra Beard purchased an ideal piece of property on Pine Lake with the hopes of turning it into a family retreat and ultimately a retirement home for the couple. The small town setting a rural landscape appealed to the Beards who both live and work on the East Coast, presenting a variety of challenges to the design and building process.

The Beards hired Architect Michael Huber to design and manager their rural lake retreat for them, from his office in Hudson, Wisconsin. Although the Beards made several trips back to Western Wisconsin to meet with Huber for key meetings, the distance separating the two parties meant that many of the meetings and client presentations would have to be done via email and over the phone.

The goal of the project was to create a central gathering place for the family while at the same time connecting each area of the home to the exterior surroundings. This meant that spaces such as family, living, dining loft, deck and patio would all be central and dominate in proportion. This allowed the structure to capture natural light and capitalize and control ideal views for all to enjoy. At the same time private spaces such as bedrooms were placed on the peripheral areas yet positioned to maintain a connection to the lake and surround environment in a more intimate manner.

The structure became a merger of modern refined lines and forms complemented by natural materials and textures. A sleek metal box frames the home’s main envelope while a barrel roof softens the industrial nature of the material and ties the structure to the rolling hills of the surround farmland—best seen from the roof-top deck. The building is broken into two main bodies connected together via a glass walkway entry “link”, that again connects the interior spaces to the exterior almost seamlessly. Complementing the strength of the structure and playing to its setting a large wall of stone encapsulates views of the interior stairwell, which is visible through a wall of windows nested in the stone.

It was important for the Beards, Huber and builder (Symmetry Homes) that sustainable and efficient design and building practices were used. This included on-site rainwater management and ponding, eco-friendly finishes, dual flush toilets, high efficiency windows, radiant heating systems and a variety of other features. The final result, is a stunning, environmentally responsible retreat, located on an ideal setting in rural Western Wisconsin.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.