On the coast of Lake Michigan in Illinois, this contemporary, waterfront home is an artful composition of geometric form, glass, and stone designed to intentionally dissolve traditional boundaries to its shoreline landscape. There is a curated depth to its experience, from entry sequence to lakefront facades providing unobstructed, albeit layered, views outward to the lake. Colors take on a thematic…
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Scarcliffe Cottage
Built on granite-clad, terraced foundations on the northern edge of Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada, this modern cottage is a dynamic, volumetric response to its site as it quietly settles into its natural landscape. From the water’s edge, it gives a linear impression as its deep rooflines provide horizontality to the series of forms as they cascade down the steeply…
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The Euclid model
The Great Lakes ecoregion has stood witness to the passage of time as marsh, dune, and forest habitats expanded and contracted, economic engines of industry rose and fell, and the growth of city populations surged and declined in cyclic fashion. While stalwart, its composition of freshwater sand dunes, sandstone cliffs, pebble beaches, limestone bedrock, and wetland basins have felt that…
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Building Someday
Built high into the steep, dune bluffs in Leelanau County, this contemporary lakefront home transcends traditional vernacular as it stands witness to the drama of a dynamic Lake Michigan theater. Magnetic and mercurial, the lake is one of expressive hue, shifting sands, and powerful currents set amid ancient forests, towering headlands, and islands of tilted limestone layers buried beneath glacial…
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Lakefront Prairie oasis
On the western shores of Lake Michigan, a composition of brick and stucco, leaded glass windows and overhanging eaves, emerges from its sloped landscape in an artful celebration of geometric abstraction. Surrounded by planted sumac and prairie grasses on a blufflike dune ecosystem, the home is respectful of the iconic Prairie Style where principles are adapted for its site, purpose,…
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Design for Sale: Leeward Shores Drive
Set on a ridge overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay, this four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-plus-bathroom modern residence on 1.22 acres offers a sleek silhouette and series of clean forms set amid timbers and freshwater. Its exterior composition of concrete, steel, composite siding, and glass openings complement an interior materiality and spatial ambiance inspired by the four elements of earth, water, wind, and air…
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Great Lakes By Design: Architectonics
CONTENTS DESIGN CORNER 17 Atlas | the sleek and simple lighting solution designed by Most Modern 18 Kissen, Vuelo | the sculptural cushioned chair and aviation-inspired lounge furniture designed by Johnson Chou Inc. of Toronto 19 Olive Hill | the most recent ceramic tile design inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright added to Motawi Tileworks’ collection DESIGN SPOTLIGHT 27 Rainbow Center | the UH Rainbow Ahuja Center for…
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The Georgian coastal
Built high into the white sand, wind-blown bluff on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan, this coastal Neo-Georgian retreat is an inspired dialect of classic vernacular language often found in Georgian—and its American iterative, Colonial Revival—and Atlantic, Nantucket style. Defined by its proportion, symmetry, and restrained classical ornamentation, this residence reinterprets the traditional with East Coast inspired shingle siding, large…
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Choreographed by design
From within the renovated walls of a landmark-designated site in the Traverse City State Hospital Historic District, a husband-and-wife-led team of kitchen designers, project managers, interior designers, and craftspeople are continuing a mission established long before relocating their design studio to the former Steward Residence on South Division in Traverse City, Michigan. Initially founded in 2003 as a cabinet supplier…
