Snow-Kreilich Architects' shoreline retreat puts Lake Minnetonka in the frame
This new holiday house by Minneapolis-based Snow Kreilich Architects balances the quiet and the dramatic. Its stained-cedar skin takes its cue from the dense woods that surround it, ensuring a calm presence within the landscape, while its strong composition of two long, overlapping volumes stretches out dynamically to frame Lake Minnetonka.
The retreat was designed for a family and is located 20 miles from their permanent home in Minneapolis, within an area peppered by large residences. The new design masterfully combines theatricality and privacy, with Snow Kreilich's restrained approach lending elegance to the generous 8,667 sq ft space.
Take an interactive tour of Lake Minnetonka Retreat
Through the house's main entrance, a custom-made black steel stair stretches up towards a skylight, making the space 'infinitely tall', says practice founder Julie Snow. The house then extends within two legs: a low, dark cedar form that lies perpendicular to the lake, and a natural cedar one, hovering parallel to it. In the former sit the main living space and master suite. The latter contains the children's wing, with rooms for two teenage girls.
Moving through the house, views change from focused to wide and panoramic, inviting the visitor to discover both the interior space and the landscape outside. These carefully selected vistas frame the lake and trees and aim to tease the family out of the house and towards the external courtyard and surrounding nature.
This sensitivity towards its setting is one of the project's defining elements. The vertical cedar cladding directly references the woods, while its build helps ensure thermal efficiency. The wall construction exceeds energy code requirements by 30 per cent, while the saltwater pool is sustainably heated through geothermal strategies.
This design approach, rooted in context and deeply connected to the use of space in everyday life, is typical to the firm, led by Snow and Matt Kreilich, who both practice as well as teach. The architecture office has received much acclaim for its work, most recently with Snow winning the AIA Minnesota 2014 Gold Medal Award.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Don’t Move, Improve 2024: London’s bold, bright and boutique home renovations
Don’t Move, Improve 2024 reveals its shortlist, with 16 home designs competing for the top spot, to be announced in May
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Perfumer H has bottled the scent of dandelions blowing in the wind
Perfumer H has debuted a new fragrance for spring, called Dandelion. Lyn Harris tells Wallpaper* about the process of its creation
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
The best fashion moments at Milan Design Week 2024
Scarlett Conlon discovers the moments fashion met design at Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2024, as Loewe, Hermès, Bottega Veneta, Prada and more staged intriguing presentations and launches across the city
By Scarlett Conlon Published
-
Into the woods: a Hampshire home by Alma-nac is the perfect retreat
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Noiascape’s refined co-living digs for generation rent in London
By Harriet Thorpe Last updated
-
Hot stuff: a Chilean house draws on its volcanic landscape
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
A Hampstead home by Groves Natcheva brings art deco into the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
A San Francisco live/work space plays with opacity and transparency
By Sarah Amelar Last updated
-
Victorian minimalist: inside Gable House’s pared-back Scandi interior
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Studio Saxe’s twin villas in Costa Rica make for the perfect tropical retreat
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Disco fever: a dynamic duo reinvents a London townhouse
By Christopher Stocks Published