Long House HS in Harbor Springs, Michigan by Dudzik Studios

Article source: Dudzik Studios

Harbor Springs Bluff House’s raison d’etre is its sweeping view of Little Traverse Bay. Nothing impedes the intimacy one experiences with nature; the house is a theater with the bluff and the bay providing the performance. As you arrive down the axial driveway, the trees on the site frame the center section of the house, which is covered in ipe and steel grat-ing. If we are to think of the dynamic and shifting view across the bay as theater, then this wooden wall is a curtain comprised of a series of offset panels with alternating horizontal and vertical siding overlaid with steel grating. As the woman of the house is a weaver/mathematician; this woven façade references her passion. You will also see her influence through the Fibonacci sequence, which became a primary vetting framework for the design.

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

• Architects: Dudzik Studios
• Project: Long House HS
• Location: Springs, Michigan

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

To experientially maximize the view, the home’s primary circulation occurs along its back façade, creating a 100-foot long meditation walk. Given that the house is located on a steep bluff, one enters on the second floor allowing the home’s primarily circulation axis to have a levitation sensation—as if one is floating above the ground plane moving just under the canopy of the forest. The house is divided into three sections whose diagrammatic purity is articulated by double glazed connectors. From left to right, these represent private, public, and service spaces. Between the private and public spaces is a large glass connector with a double roof,allowing southern light to penetrate and highlight the entrance. This dual roof system also creates a sense of compression and release, which further defines the different zones of the house.

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

The interiors of the home exemplify the purity and rigor of the design scheme. Interior elements couple together in perfect align to create harmonious spatial transitions. To frame views and allow the inhabitants to feel embedded in nature, the home’s is visually neutral. The materiality echoes the natural ethos of the house, which can be seen in how the slab of marble in the kitchen mimics the shadows of branches on the building and how the burbled walnut doors in the dining room depict reflections of the lake on the windows. Interior lighting was carefully crafted to enhance materiality and articulate volumes.

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Image Courtesy © Dudzik Studios

Tags: Harbor Springs, Michigan

Categories: House, Residential

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