THE DRAWING BOARD – June 2013

The owners of this lakeside property plan to build a new year-round residence for their family of three. The lot is part of a small subdivision, and the neighbors to each side have addressed the issue of building on their heavily wooded, steeply sloped sites by clearing large areas of trees and constructing massive stone platforms to place their houses upon. Looking to avoid that solution entirely, the homeowners hired Winkelman Architecture to design a well-crafted home that feels connected to the woods and water—one that works into the slope of the site rather than reforming it. Massive boulders dot the property, left by receding glaciers thousands of years ago and now covered with moss and ferns. Instead of blasting them into pieces and hauling them away, the house will nest among them and look onto them.

The architects’ solution is to put the main entry of the house on the second floor, just at grade on the uphill side, and the primary living spaces on the lower level, pushed forward toward the lake so that they sit low on the ground, flow to the outside with a single step, and enjoy lake views under a canopy of trees. A tall, glazed stairwell links the two levels together and floods daylight into the rear spaces that are nested into the hillside. To further blend the house into the topography, all of the lower roofs will be planted and extend back into the hillside, so that the house appears to be emerging from the landscape rather than piled on top of it. A small, third-floor perch on top of the stairwell provides an extra bedroom and a small porch for two or three people—a place in the treetops to sit back and enjoy the sunset over the lake.Location: Southern Maine

Location: Belgrade
Architect: Winkelman Architecture – Will Winkelman & Eric Sokol
Landscape Architect: Richardson Associates Landscape Architects
Construction start: Fall 2013
Construction complete: Summer 2014

Winkelman Architecture:
winkarch.com, 207-699-2998