Grand Beach Residence

Taking advantage of views from the southern tip of Lake Michigan, this 3,500 s.f. vacation residence fulfills the client’s desire for a modernist “tree house” retreat. The main volume of the home is a 36-foot cube bermed into the hillside and anchored by angular horizontal planes formed by the exterior terrace. Within this simplistic geometry, rotated rectilinear masses are arranged on each floor with artful precision to house internally focused functions. The sleeping level, seemingly anchored only by a cylindrical stair structure, rotates out of the main volume. Appearing to float, it concurrently defines formal functions of the first floor and more private areas of the loft. Playful juxtaposition of these volumes, and their interplay with the soaring residual spaces created, lands dramatic abstraction to the concept.