Waterfront

Intended primarily as a social gathering place, the house has no dedicated bedrooms.

Narrow columns support the structure and dock, allowing sunlight to nourish eelgrasses along the shoreline.

The new building has slightly less square footage and is nested within the same area as the original foundation.

Prentiss + Balance + Wickline's Boathouse

The dramatic roof overhang creates a partially covered, wraparound patio.

Glass doors enclose the dining area so that it can be opened up to the terrace in warmer months, and the seascape is still a part of the interior in the cooler weather when the doors are closed.

The clients—a family of five with three children in college—wanted to create an “urban cabin” that embraces the tranquil forested site on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. The solution was to use vast expanses of glass to dissolve the boundaries between inside and out.

While much of the non-water-facing side of the main house includes few windows, the living room acts as a glowing beacon.

After moving up the entry stairs, a view of the combined living, dining and kitchen area, as well as the covered outdoor deck

"Its proximity to the water's edge would only allow us to build in certain spots, so we had to be strategic with how to preserve what was there so that we could grandfather in its location," Fong says.

"You look down to the water, and you know you’ve arrived somewhere and escaped the world behind you," says architect Ravi Handa.

Black cedar siding gives way to bright interiors in the idyllic Highland Bungalow.

“My intention was to create a simple and inexpensive way to build a home with a high design concept that could also be built relatively quickly,” says Karcher. “It made sense to create a system for the build concept, employing a panelized structural design with prefabricated pieces and parts for rapid assembly.” Design aspects, like Inception Shades, are customizable yet modular enough to expedite installation.

The home is nestled in a stand of cedar, pine, and Douglas fir trees. The family relocated a smaller cabin to make room for their new retreat, and they plan to convert the original structure into a game room for the kids.