Lakeshore House

Lakeshore House

The Lakeshore House investigates the seminal architectural typology of the Primitive Hut. Following the spirit of Laugier’s allegorical model, the Lakeshore House utilizes the form of the most basic representation of “house.” The extruded, gabled box is the ubiquitous signifier of a child’s drawing. The form eschews ornamentation in favor of simplicity, focusing instead on essentialities and restraint, a minimalist solution to one of Man’s most basic needs: to shelter.

The house itself is situated on a “throw away” sliver of land in the sought after, in-town Lake Claire neighborhood. In addition to the typical single-family setbacks, the parcel is further delineated by two stream buffers, a sanitary sewer easement, and the presence of the 100-year flood plain. These restrictions reduce the quarter-acre site to barely 1500 SF of buildable area. The close proximity of neighboring residences combined with challenging topography created additional concerns regarding privacy, sight lines, and vehicular access to any new structure.

The project’s clients, an established couple and their teenage child, developed a dense program brief. After the synthesis of multiple schemes, the final plans for the Lakeshore House called for a three-story volume connected vertically by an open riser stair, with a screened pavilion located to the rear. Sheltered parking was designed near the street, with access to the house provided via a steel pedestrian bridge across an existing stream. The majority of apertures are located at the rear, maximizing privacy and granting views of the wooded hillside to the west.