design decisions
Putting the pieces together
Burlington, Vermont, architect Michael Minadeo says his
philosophy is “to offer simple, elegant design solutions . . .
that combine quiet, warm modernism with traditional
materials and sensitivity to the landscape.” In keeping with
that premise, he made three key decisions that he feels
contributed to the success of this award-winning project.
build up “The lot is small, and the zoning is strict. We
couldn’t build out, so we kept the footprint compact and went
up. From the road, as you walk down the cobble path [ 1], the
scale of the building is intimate and human, with a covered
porch [ 2] and low-slung roofs. Because the lot slopes, the
home has a more dramatic and open presence when seen
from the lake, with all of the glass oriented toward the views.”
complement the landscape “The house fits comfortably
on the site. The 80-foot pine trees dwarfed the original ranch-style cottage. The new home, with its
warm exterior skin of natural materials
and strong vertical presence, blends in.
It feels like it was meant to be there.”
connect the blocks Seen from the
road, the home consists of three
distinct yet gracefully connected
“building blocks.” The main living
space [ ] measures 24 by 24 feet,
stacked in three stories. A vertical stair
tower [ ]connects the floors. And a
graceful L-shaped section [ ],
wrapped around two sides of the
house and sheltered under a hipped
roof, contains the kitchen, bathroom,
and mudroom.
Builder
Integrity Construction Inc.,
Winooski, Vermont
Landscape Design
Champlain Shores Landscaping and
Stonework, Monkton, Vermont
The middle floor is the heart and soul of the house, with
10-foot ceilings and a wall of windows facing the lake. Within
the open floor plan, the spaces are defined by broad Douglas-fir posts and beams. The floor, engineered to accommodate
radiant heat, is wide-plank pine salvaged from a Kentucky
bourbon warehouse. A peninsula with a cherry-wood countertop separates the kitchen from the living/dining area.
Anna had always wanted a home with a stair tower, so
Minadeo designed one that was wide-open and filled with
recessed lighted niches for her Asian art. Large windows at
the top of the tower fill the space with natural light, and halfway up, a transom window looks down into the kitchen. Seen
from the road, the stair tower is the vertical building block
that connects the three-story structure with a one-story section
that wraps around two sides of the house. This L-shaped space
contains the front porch and what Minadeo describes as the
service areas, including the entry, mudroom, half bath, small
television room behind the fireplace, and kitchen, with its
handy computer work space, deep counters, and big pantry.
Exterior materials suit the rustic landscape. The facade is
clad with mahogany clapboards and cedar shingles. There is
a standing-seam metal roof with exposed rafter tails, and five
sturdy tree trunks serve as posts on the deep porch that faces
the road. The naturalized landscape design uses Vermont
granite, fieldstone, and the ubiquitous red rocks that define
the rugged Champlain shoreline.
Obviously, great views of the lake were a key consideration. “We spent a lot of time tweaking the window alignment
from the inside and outside,” says Anna. “I’m really pleased
with how well that worked. Besides the big west-facing
panoramas, you get unexpected peekaboo views, from the
stairwell in particular, while obscuring the view of the neighboring homes, which are very close by.”
The Palmer family moved into their new lakeside house
last August. “This home has all of the elements we were looking for,” says Anna. “On a practical note, the
open living space lets me see and hear my
young kids from a distance. Our art is central,
and the house has a modern feel, while Steve’s
love for natural materials and rusticity makes it
more comfortable. You’re living in it, rather than looking at it.
This house tells our story.”
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