Robinson’s Bay House | Deephaven, Minnesota

The new home was designed for an open site that was subdivided from a large estate property overlooking Robinson’s Bay of Lake Minnetonka. The property had a “view corridor easement” that created design challenges and prescribed the new house placement and height that would not impact the view of the Lake from the historic estate home to the east. The view corridor dictated the new home incorporate a low garage placed on the north side of the house to avoid any view disruption of the lake for the original estate house up the hill to the east.

The drive into the property weaves through an existing wooded area, preserving the significant trees, leading to a car court for the garage north of the house, nestled into the sloped site to respect the view corridor. The car court doubles as a larger outdoor room for entertaining guests off of the pergola and main entry. The new two-level house is designed for a family of three with outdoor courtyard and terrace spaces on the east and west sides of the house. This extension of the living space to the outdoors creates an indoor/outdoor spatial integration, optimizing outdoor activities and connections with the site. A low single-story link connects the garage to the house and includes the mudroom, laundry, powder room, and pantry spaces and establishes the intimate scale of the main entry.

The Main Level spaces of the house are captured by a low sloping “folded” roof plane expressed by natural Zinc facia and soffits, folding down to end walls of Zinc panels. This sloping roof plane defines the Public Realm of the Living, Dining, Kitchen and Family room spaces. The roof slope descends to shelter the Private Realm, which incorporates the Primary Suite, second bedroom suite and a flexible library/office/guest suite.

Two private outdoor rooms on the east side are carved out of the Zinc sloped plane and are nestled into the hill of the site. Large windows and natural Cedar siding is incorporated as a contrast to the natural grey of the Zinc. The Cedar siding and trim define these spaces and express the minimal structure that extends to the pergola at the terrace on the west side of the house. The west terrace is punctuated by a stone retaining wall. The natural materials of the house are distilled as Zinc, Cedar, Stone, and Glass, expressing an organic integration with the site.

The interior Wood beams and perimeter columns that support the sloping roof are stained to reflect the deep tones of the trees outside and add warmth as a compliment to concrete floors. Walnut cabinetry is incorporated in the kitchen and bathrooms, while charcoal natural stone wraps the fireplace, extending from the exterior. The Lower level incorporates exercise, office, guest suite and living spaces that extend out to another outdoor terrace space on grade.

All levels have direct outdoor access to expand the experience of the indoor/outdoor connections. The large windows create dramatic panoramic views and capture natural light throughout the day, while also establishing a bold identity by night.

Completion:  Summer 2022

Size:  4,200 sf

Design Team:
Tim Alt, NCARB, AIA, CID

Roger Cummelin

Nick Woods

Cameron Alt

Consultants:

Stroh Engineering

General Contractor:

MDS Remodeling

Photography:

Round Three Photography