SHADOW HOUSE

This project, a renovation of a 1945 lake house, honors the deep history embedded within its original frame. Over the decades, the house had undergone several renovations, resulting in a series of mismatched roofs added over time. The design strips these additions, returning the structure to its essential frame to create a clean slate for a new intervention.

The design allows the house to act as a shadow or a ghost of the previous structure, honoring the original silhouette while offering a new interpretation through a skin of charred wood siding—a material symbolizing endurance that is weathered and transformed, yet resilient. This form emerges from the south as two gabled volumes housing the private quarters, extending toward the lake to interlock. This geometry allows the intersecting portions to merge into one singular roof, unifying the structure into a single, monolithic form.

The grand shared space, comprising the kitchen, living, and dining areas, is oriented toward the lakefront to allow for tall windows overlooking the water. The southern private wing consists of two bedrooms and an upper-floor loft space that offers views of the shared volume below and the horizon over the lake. This combination of formal gestures results in a complex, sculpted form that serves as a modern monument to its own past.