A shiny and ethereal lakeside retreat with picturesque views of Lake Winnipesaukee

This luminous up to date household retreat was designed by Whitten Architects, nestled alongside Lake Winnipesaukee, within the foothills of the White Mountains, New Hampshire. Lake Winnipesaukee is New Hampshire’s largest lake, masking over 70 sq. miles and dotted with greater than 350 islands. The identify “Winnipesaukee” comes from the Abenaki individuals and means “lovely water in a excessive place.”
The owners are a younger and lively household of 4 primarily based in Boston. They had been seeking a lakefront summer season residence that would function a seasonal retreat from the town. The place they landed was a wooded web site with superb southerly views of Lake Winnipesaukee, located completely for New England, affording the chance to reach from the North after which transfer in the direction of the South as you stroll by means of the house in the direction of each the first view and the solar.
DESIGN DETAILS: ARCHITECT Whitten Architects BUILDER Beckwith Builders INTERIOR DESIGNER Belhaakon LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Richardson & Associates STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING Albert Putnam Associates PERMITTING Folsom Design Group of Wolfeboro
At first of this mission, there have been current buildings that needed to be eliminated on each heaps — a circa 60’s ranch that had long-since reached its lifespan (and was in violation of state shoreland zoning necessities) on the visitor home/boat home lot and a poorly sited and configured circa 90’s home on the primary home lot.
Neither of those current houses was in tune with their environment, lacking the chance to hook up with the views, the solar, and the out of doors areas. The architect’s site-specific design targeted on defining a tangible, sensory, and cohesive bond between the 2 heaps, drawing a throughline from the surface, in.
The owners dreamed of a spot the place they might frequently entertain visiting family and friends from around the globe, providing a house away from residence that was heat and welcoming. On the similar time, they didn’t need the house to really feel cavernous when it was solely the 4 of them.
The architect’s resolution was to design a sequence of interconnected and open areas — a eating room, lakeside terrace, household room, west-facing courtyard, front room, and a recreation room — that organically pinwheel across the kitchen on the primary stage.
They made positive that every of those areas, whereas related to the entire, felt completely completely different in character from scale, facilities, and furnishings to supplies, high quality of sunshine, connection to the outside, and views.
The boathouse was integral to the general design because the owners are avid boaters and water skiers. This side of the mission required important effort relative to allowing and design coordination with native regulatory authorities. Moreover, the mission staff labored carefully collectively to make each properties (the primary home and the boat home) considerably much less non-conforming all in an effort to be a greater neighbor, enhance the environmental affect of the properties, and reduce the location’s total disturbance on Lake Winnipesaukee.
The architect’s greatest design alternative revolved round daylight and views exterior. With two slender heaps that ran South, from the view of the lake, towards North of their longer dimension, they regarded for added views from the house, and to search out new methods to usher in the sunshine. They deliberately saved the constructing as skinny as doable, giving every room gentle, a view, and air flow on at the very least two partitions wherever doable.
With cozy residence entertaining in thoughts, we designed the kitchen with a commanding view of each the remainder of the home and the location. Whereas standing on the kitchen sink you’ll be able to see guests arriving through automobile, or by boat, and from the trail connecting the primary home to the visitor home, with a full view of the eating room, household rooms, and fireside. The rec room with video games galore is audibly related to the kitchen through an open-air stair to the decrease stage whereas personal household bedrooms are quietly tucked away on the higher stage.
Additional linking the construction to its natural environment — the waterfront with a wooden dock stretching into the water and towards the lake, mountains, and visual ski trails — our design featured an abundance of pure supplies that function a welcome distinction to city life.
Pure stone partitions and reclaimed granite pavers had been used to affix the construction with the panorama, a standing-seam metallic roof guarantees long-lasting sturdiness, and high-performance home windows advocate for gentle, air flow, connection to the outside, and power effectivity.
A mix of rustic and trendy particulars, the household now affectionately refers to their cozy Lake Winnipesaukee retreat as “Treehouse Time.”
What We Love: This Lake Winnipesaukee retreat offers a household with a heat and alluring getaway residence for an escape to the good outside. Giant home windows not solely assist to flood the interiors with pure gentle but additionally body idyllic water views. We’re loving the fabulous indoor-outdoor connection and the entire leisure choices this dwelling gives — each indoors and out.
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Be aware: Check out a few different fabulous residence excursions that we now have showcased right here on One Kindesign within the state of New Hampshire: Charming New England hideaway boasts heat and alluring particulars and A lakeside camp-like residence offers a woodland escape in New Hampshire.
PHOTOGRAPHER Trent Bell Pictures