From the Ground Up
An old lakeside cottage gives way to a new,
'not-so-big' house

This site was originally home to a small, one-story lakefront cottage. When they originally contacted Studio Z, the homeowners planned to remodel this cottage by adding a second floor and gutting the first floor. Studio Z advised the owners to consider tearing the cottage down, for several reasons. First, the 9” thick, uninsulated exterior concrete block walls took up valuable interior space, and adding insulation would take away several more inches.

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Second, the existing cottage was built on a concrete slab. Studio Z pointed out that a crawl space would make the living spaces warmer. Finally, tearing down the cottage would not cost much relative to the total cost of the house and would allow them to build the home of their dreams without the constraints of existing structural elements. So the cottage was torn down.

Even though the new house would have the exact same footprint as the existing cottage, the township required the homeowners to obtain a zoning variance because the existing cottage was “non-conforming” as it was built too close to the property lines. The variance was granted.

The owners love to entertain, and wanted a house that would accommodate large groups of people. They also wanted to capitalize on the view of the lake. Studio Z designed an open floor plan with lake views from the great room, and a large kitchen open to the great room. This presented a challenge, as the owners did not want any beams projecting into the space. Studio Z designed a structure that used floor trusses to span from one exterior wall to the other, allowing a large open space. The floor trusses also allowed the mechanical ductwork to be run through the space between the first and second floors (usually ductwork is run through a dropped ceiling, or worse, through the exterior walls). Other rooms on the first floor include an eating nook for casual dining, a bathroom, and a mechanical room.

Upstairs, the home has three bedrooms. The master suite includes a large bathroom with double vanity and walk-in shower, a laundry room, a large closet, and an exercise room.

Although the home is relatively small (2200 square feet), the homeowners commented that the house was designed like a ship, where everything had a place and the spaces were all used very efficiently. This is certainly an appropriate metaphor, given the home’s beautiful lakefront site!

Last modified on Tue, Nov 2, 2004
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