Meadow Lane Retreat, a custom home located in Lakeside, Michigan, optimizes the attributes of its surrounding landscape, which includes woodlands and a nearby lake.
“[The site] has this amazing lake view, but it also has this incredible woodland view. That was a unique opportunity [for us], having the ability to experience both simultaneously within the project,” Jon Heinert, principal for Wheeler Kearns Architects says. “Because it was such a big property and it has an adjacent lot to it that is unbuildable and entirely woodland, that made the lot itself feel much more expansive.”
The project, guided by the client’s desire for an escape from city life, features three separate structures: a main house, an entertainment and guest wing, and a detached garage. The three structures are arranged to maximize privacy, optimize natural light, capture views of nature, and create outdoor spaces for the homeowners. The two living structures are set perpendicular to the lake to increase the linear extent of glass exposure and corner views of the changing vista. The walls of the garage help form a protected garden courtyard at the entry.
“What we were attempting to do was [create forms such that] the house from the road appears quite modest in size. It appears like this beautiful wood and stone structure that is quite concealed and quiet in the landscape within and between the trees,” Heinert says. “Once you arrive at the parking court and courtyard space you all of a sudden realize the scale of this project. At that point, you are in this beautiful, controlled space.”
The architectural palette is defined by natural native materials used to create a timeless and enduring connecting with nature. At the ground level of the main house, a limestone wall wraps the exterior and extends through the home. The ground level of the entertainment wing is clad in dark slatted wood siding, mimicking the vertical woodland. The second-story black locust-clad boxes—designed to gray and weather over time—hover above a band of clerestory windows. Floor-to-ceiling glass openings and mitered glass corners allow sunlight to illuminate each room. Design elements such as triple-pane windows, geothermal heating and cooling, and provisions for future solar arrays help reduce the home’s carbon footprint.
The project honors its surrounding landscape by restoring a natural stormwater ravine that captures runoff from neighboring properties and directs it to the base of the lakefront bluff in a controlled manner.
Project Details
Award: Grand
Category: Custom Home: More Than 5,000 Square Feet
Architect: Wheeler Kearns Architects
Builder: Bulley & Andrews
Location: Lakeside, Michigan
Size: 8,927 square feet
