Residential ArchitectureHouse of the Month

Lake Minnetonka Retreat Home

By Sarah Amelar

Lake Minnetonka Retreat Home
Snow Kreilich Architects
Minnetonka, Minnesota
A combined living, dining, and kitchen area has views to the lake, as does the master suite perched on the floor above it.
Photo © Paul Crosby

Lake Minnetonka Retreat Home
Snow Kreilich Architects
Minnetonka, Minnesota
The house is made of two L-shaped volumes, one lying on its 'back' and the other tipped on its 'foot'.
Photo © Paul Crosby

Lake Minnetonka Retreat Home
Snow Kreilich Architects
Minnetonka, Minnesota
The sculptural stair that connects the two wings of the house is custom-fabricated from folded blackened-steel plate.
Photo © Paul Crosby

Lake Minnetonka Retreat Home
Snow Kreilich Architects
Minnetonka, Minnesota
Photo © Paul Crosby

Architects & Firms

Snow Kreilich Architects

Minnesota

Though inspiration sometimes emerges slowly, it can also flash unexpectedly, like a bolt of lightning'as it did the first time architects Julie Snow and Matthew Kreilich caught a glimpse of their clients' site along Minnesota's Lake Minnetonka.

Partners at Snow Kreilich Architects, they'd just made their way up the driveway, across the 2.6-acre parcel's forested terrain to a clearing. 'As we pulled up,' recalls Kreilich, 'the existing low, rambling cottage blocked our views of the lake, except its front door was open, and suddenly we saw the water clear through the back windows.' It was a dazzling moment. 'Julie and I looked at one another,' he continues, 'and we knew, whatever we built there had to capture that experience.'

The cottage wasn't salvageable. But that sense of portal and framing became essential in designing its replacement: a weekend getaway for a family of four based in Minneapolis, about a 25-minute drive away.

Minimizing the house's footprint, the architects designed a 7,200-square-foot primarily wood-frame building made of two L-shaped volumes. By propping one volume perpendicularly across the other, the architects created a broad gateway to the lake. The main living areas (with a master suite above them in an extruded second floor), occupy the more grounded L, clad in black-stained cedar and set on an east'west axis. The spanning, north'south component with its contrasting natural-cedar siding, contains the children's rooms. A skylit sculptural stair connects the two volumes where they intersect.

Just inside an upper-floor window in the bridging volume, the owners hung a painting proclaiming 'The Final Frontier' in bold letters. Highly visible through the window as you approach the house, it reads like a title for the framed panorama. 'That was an unplanned gesture,' says Kreilich, 'but I think it playfully sums up the clients' feelings about this lakeside retreat.'

Gross square footage: 8,667sq ft (7,187 without Garage and Mechanical)

Completion Date: September 2013

Architect:
Snow Kreilich Architects
527 Marquette Avenue
2400 Rand Tower
Minneapolis, MN 55402
612-359-9430

People

Architect:
Snow Kreilich Architects
527 Marquette Avenue
2400 Rand Tower
Minneapolis, MN 55402
612-359-9430

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Principal-in-charge:
Julie Snow, FAIA

Project lead designer:
Matthew Kreilich, AIA, LEED AP

Project architect:
Mary Springer, AIA, LEED AP

Project team:
Tamara Wibowo, Carl Gauley, Pauv Thouk, Mike Heller, Cameron Bence, Don Vu

Interior designer:
Martha Dayton Design

Engineers:
Structural engineer:
Meyer Borgman Johnson

Mechanical engineer:
Standard Heating & Air Conditioning

Electrical engineer:
Pride Electric, Inc.

Consultant(s):
Landscape:
colberg|tews

Lighting:
Schuler Shook

Audio Visual Design:
John Deering Theater Design

Other:
Stone:
Summit Stone Interiors

Cabinetwork & Millwork:
Fritz Cabinetry & Furniture, Inc.

Flooring systems/materials:
Belrose & Co. Inc.

Lighting Control System:
Innovative Control Systems

Window systems:
Fleetwood Windows and Doors; Large Custom Skylight, Empire House; Small Skylights, WL Hall

General contractor:
Streeter & Associates, Inc.

Project manager:
Steven Streeter

Construction manager:
Mark Olson & Fred Hazelton

Photographer(s):
Paul Crosby Architectural Photography
1485 Arden Place
St. Paul, MN 55112
651.633.9004
paul@pcrosby.com

Products

Structural system
Wood

Exterior cladding
Wood:
Clear Cedar Rainscreen

Moisture barrier:
Benjamin Obdyke Homeslicker Rainscreen

Roofing
Elastomeric:
EPDM

Windows
Metal frame:
Fleetwood

Glazing
Glass:
Gardian Sunguard

Skylights:
Empirehouse Custom (entry), Sunglo (master)

Doors
Metal doors:
Fleetwood

Hardware
Locksets:
FSB

Closers:
Glynn-Johnson

Pulls:
Accurate (black oak doors), Linnea (frameless glass doors)

Other special hardware:
Tectus Hinges

Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
Custom Matte Catalyzed, Black Stained Quarter-sawn oak (master, guest)

Paints and stains:
Sansin (black stained cedar)

Solid surfacing:
Ceasar Stone

Special surfacing:
Valders Grey Limestone

Floor and wall tile:
Valders Grey Limestone (lower level flooring inside/outside), Royal Mosa (master, guest), subway ceramics (girls' bath)

Resilient flooring:
EcoNights for Sport

Furnishings
Chairs:
Knoll

Tables:
Custom

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting:
Jesco, Wac, Phillips

Downlights:
Lucifer

Exterior:
Hunza

Dimming System or other lighting controls:
Lutron

Plumbing
Toilets:
Toto

Lavs:
Duravit (girls', powder room), Lacava (guest), Custom (master)

Lav Fittings:
Hansgrohe, Vola (powder room)

Sinks:
Blanco

Sink Fittings:
KWC

Tub:
MTI

Tub Fittings:
Hansgrohe

Accessories:
Dornbracht

Energy
Geothermal Heating

Add any additional building components or special equipment that made a significant contribution to this project:
Fireplace:
Bodart & Gonay solid fuel range

Garage door:
Schweiss

KEYWORDS: Minnesota