Photos by Farm Kid Studios
With a long family history of summer weekends on Red Cedar Lake in Wisconsin, a St. Paul couple decided to enjoy their retirement among the woods, water, and wildlife they loved. After purchasing a 12-acre site on the lake, they hired Minneapolis-based Lundin Architects LLC to create a modern multigenerational home and numerous outdoor spaces with minimal impact on the wild landscape.
“Our main focus was to maintain as much of the natural environment as possible,” the homeowner says. “We love the lower maintenance and nature-friendly environment. We are also advocates of no clear cutting, no lakeside grass, and minimal use of chemicals.” For architect Rick Lundin, president of Lundin Architects, the main landscape challenge was “what to control and what to leave natural,” he says.
Lundin walked the site with the clients before they settled on a high point for the house where the shoreline is most accessible. To create a sense of arrival and privacy, the design team created an entry court behind the house that’s defined by 6-foot-high Corten steel walls that taper with the grade. In the courtyard beside the house, Corten steel planters are animated by Karl Foerster grasses, and plantings of pachysandra, rudbeckia, and paper birch line pathways of black mulch and Dresser stone.
“We developed a strict idea, using the Corten, that what’s inside the walls is controlled, planted, and maintained, and what’s outside was left mostly natural,” explains Lundin, who collaborated with the homeowners and Lance Elliott of Elliott Design Build Inc. on the design. “We think the ‘planned’ landscape within the boundaries of the Corten and the natural landscape outside struck a perfect balance,” the homeowner says. But nature still finds its way in. “Both the Dresser stone and the dark mulch suppress weed growth and provide natural beauty—including turtles laying eggs!” the homeowner adds.
The house sits tightly on the site, with a wood-clad breezeway between the garage and house that opens to sheltered, framed views of the lake. A charred-wood, north-south box separates the home’s private and public spaces, while living areas lie to the west—taking advantage of a natural grade to flow out onto a large patio next to a screen porch and down to the lake. As the new trees mature, the screen porch—constructed with minimal framing and fasteners to create a transparent profile—will be shaded.
The home’s interior dining and kitchen areas open to the porch via swinging doors and a pass-through window that connects to a bar. The fireplace, with a blackened steel hearth, bench, and wood box, anchors one end of the porch, which opens onto the patio. Here, a thin edge of Corten demarcates the planned and the natural.
The minimalist patio of porcelain pavers is furnished with a Caldera Corten gas fire pit by Paloform, along with Mondo Seven planters, a fire bench, chaise lounges, chairs, and a rocker from Duluth-based Loll Designs. The Pratt dining table and Satellite side table are from Room & Board, and the dining chairs are Click by House from Rypen. With its unimpeded views of the lake, “The patio area is a highly used and convenient space that’s relaxing to visit, share a meal, read, and take in the beautiful lake view and wildlife sights,” the homeowner says. “Happily, bugs are not an issue. We credit that to the patio material and the natural landscape, which help to control pesky bugs.”
The family and their visitors can walk from the patio down a gentle slope to a fire pit on the beach or to a screened gazebo. “We use the shaded gazebo on warmer days to experience the lake breezes, and enjoy the sights and sounds of play time of family and friends using the lake,” says the homeowner, who furnished the gazebo with “nice pieces from our former St. Paul home for convenience and comfort. Currently, we are researching the possibility of purchasing a daybed for future gazebo daytime naps and ‘glamping’ by night.”
Lundin and the design crew also added walking trails that lead to other outdoor areas. A “toy shed” houses a foosball table, ATVs, snowmobiles, and an office with views of the woods and deer, while a boardwalk allows for better access to the point at the end of their 1,000-plus feet of frontage. “We have also created additional seating by docks and wood-burning fire pits,” the homeowner explains.
“Our focus was to create ‘rooms’ that are natural to the environment,” adds the homeowner, who mentions the “pine room,” which is described as “a bench situated under a large red pine that sits in front of a small ‘algae’ pond a blue heron enjoys for a bit most days.” The family enjoys it as well. In fact, life amid the herons, deer, and turtles, along with wood ducks and eagles, has never been so good.
