HURTEAU-MILLER RESIDENCE

The Hurteau-Miller Residence is built for three but designed for many. The family of two doctors and their young son needed a home that was suitably intimate and functional for their day-to-day life yet comfortably accommodating for hosting their large extended family. The goal was to satisfy both sets of numbers without producing something overly grand or compound-like.

Wishing to maximize the breathtaking views, we created a porous ground floor with all primary living and communal spaces including living room, kitchen, eating area and sauna open either literally or volumetrically to the lakeshore.

When it came to sleeping quarters, we intentionally located the master bedroom suite on the ground floor, in the interest of aging-in-place in future years.

The upper volume, a heavier wooden box clad of Western Red cedar, is cradled by the seemingly delicate armature below and houses spaces that are introverted, namely the son’s bedroom and guest sleeping areas.

This dropping of the second-floor volume into the ground-floor level is meant to create spatial interest and intimacy throughout the large, communal areas of the interior while minimizing the house’s overall size from the exterior.

The final product demonstrates that a modern lakeside home can be intimate and cozy without feeling cramped, still manage to comfortably accommodate guests, and make a design statement without being showy.