As always, Jesse starts his design process with sketching, developing his design vision organically until the design communicates the feeling he originally had when he first thought of it. From this point, Jesse and his team bring the home to life in 3D rendered form to provide an accurate depiction of the final design intent, materials, and environment. The final exterior materials selected for this unique lakehouse include rustic limestone to juxtapose the sleekly modern proportions and aluminum features throughout the exterior of the home. Sleek is the word we would associate with this design as its “L” shaped footprint creates a low and wide feel that works against the 24-foot height of the structure. The result is that the home almost feels built into the hill, creating the effect that as it was carefully placed among the surrounding natural features

The proportions of this home allow for the building to span the impressive width of the lot. Across much of this span, Jesse incorporated floor-to-ceiling windows at both the front and rear of the home in order to harness both the north-facing ambient morning light and the direct south-facing afternoon light. These windows also beautifully frame the views of the lake from almost every room in the house. In some cases, Jesse is forced to put the natural light requirements before aesthetic features, as seen in the image to the left, when he created light wells in the front soffit overhangs that reduce their shading impact on the interior spaces. These light wells also allow Jesse to specify full sun plant species in the gardens he placed in front of these windows.

The exterior landscape design and amenity layouts were also master-planned through the initial site planning process. They were developed with an entertainer’s dream in mind, as the exterior pool deck was set at the same height as the interior floor joists to create a seamless feel when these two spaces meet at the accordion door openings. The impact of this simple feature is also experienced when sitting in the great room looking out of the three-sided peninsula window wall with direct views of the pool. This concept creates a sense of connection despite the spaces being partitioned by a sheet of glass.