Just Getting to the Front Door of This Family’s Midcoast Maine Retreat Is an Adventure

"I always aim to think about the site first, followed by how built space fits into that," Joanna Shaw says. A principal at Winkelman Architecture, she took that approach with her clients’ 35-plus-acre site, thoroughly exploring its gently sloped shores along Midcoast Maine with landscape architect Kenneth Studtmann of Richardson & Associates. "We carried gear in L.L. Bean tote bags—a camping stove, tools, drafting supplies—plus a folding table and chairs and stored it all in an old, shingled fishing hut on the property," says Shaw. "There was so much to experience."