IT’S GREAT BY THE LAKE

Can the ideal lake house improve on Mother Nature? That was the challenge facing Whitten Architects of Portland, Maine, when they were hired by a Massachusetts family to transform an aging property on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee into a modern four-season retreat.

Russ Tyson, a principal with Whitten Architects, said the process began with the architects and the homeowners—an active couple with two teenage children—evaluating property listings and visiting lakefront parcels. In 2014, the couple settled on a pair of neighboring lots in Wolfeboro that offered southerly views of the state’s largest lake, and added a third contiguous lot in 2017.

“We really started with a love of the lake and the way it brought our family together with all of the activities we enjoy together on the water,” says the homeowner. “We didn’t have a specific wish list, but as we lived in the original dwellings we bought—which were not torn down until 2018 or so—we began to envision how we could make the property really a lovely all-season getaway for our family.

“We now think that our place on the lake will be ultimately our primary residence in retirement, so our vision has definitely evolved over time,” he says.

“Evolution,” says Tyson, was an integral part of the collaboration that included the architects, the owners, as well as the builder (Les Beckwith of Beckwith Builders), structural engineer (Albert Putnam Associates), interior designer (Kelly Healy of Belhaakon) and landscape architect (Todd Richardson of Richardson & Associates). Tyson emphasized the importance of the “process of design” and the behind-the-scenes give and take of ideas that led to the final product.

“We resist the idea of approaching each project with a pre-determined notion or list of goals for what we want the result to be,” says Tyson. “Instead, we let the design process, and its goals, evolve out of a knowledge of our client and their specific property.

Site-specific design and careful consideration of the surroundings resulted in a home that truly connects with the natural world and brings the outside in.

“This led to our objective of creating a home that carefully married itself to this specific property, provided a multitude of differing spaces and experiences and engaged all aspects of the outdoors,” he says. “While the lake and the waterfront are an incredible feature of this site, we wanted the home to be about more than just that.”

The homeowner, who lives in South Boston, says he and his wife worked “really closely” with the team at Whitten Architects from the very beginning of their search for a second home. “We really appreciated the opportunity to get to know the land and site intimately before starting the design process,” he says.

“Once we started the design phase, it was really an amazing process where they encouraged us to describe specific thoughts of how we envisioned moving through the house, and also to share design inspirations,” he says. “We in particular loved the spare and elegant aesthetic of traditional Asian architecture, so there was a lot of detailed conversation about how we could blend in that look and feel.”

The result is a combined four-acre property, with about 550 feet of frontage on the lake, that features two homes totaling roughly 6,800 square feet of living space, with 5,000 in the four-bedroom main house and another 1,800 in the two-bedroom guesthouse, plus a boathouse, spa and swimming deck. It was, says Tyson, a true team effort.

“While each collaborator did have a specific role, the success of this project is the result of a collaboration,” Tyson says. “I led our initial interaction with the owners. This included visiting and evaluating several Lake Winnipesaukee real estate listings prior to them purchasing this property with our input.

“I then led our team’s initial conceptual design efforts for the overall master planning and design of the project,” he says. “We met and workshopped with the owners on an iterative design process that eventually led us to the realized retreat.”

Once the owners settled on the location, two existing structures had to be removed from the property—a circa 1960s ranch that had exceeded its life span and was in violation of state shoreland zoning requirements on the guesthouse/boathouse lot, and a poorly situated, poorly configured circa 1990s structure on the main house lot. The existing homes, say the architects, weren’t in tune with their surroundings, and failed to connect to the views, the available sunlight and the outdoor spaces. Whitten’s site-specific design focused on defining a tangible, sensory and cohesive bond between the lots, drawing a throughline from the outside in.

The property includes a four-bedroom main house, two-bedroom guesthouse, a boathouse, a spa and a swimming deck.

“I’m proud of how the finished project feels like it belongs on the site and that is has been there for a long time,” says Tom Lane, Whitten’s project architect on the lake retreat. “This speaks to our site-specific design approach and integration with the landscape architect.”

“I appreciate the holistic aspect of the project as a family of buildings in the landscape,” says Lane. “A detail I think is dynamic and works for the home is the main house stair and guardrail. The combination of wood with steel and glass, reflects our clients’ life experience as urbanites seeking a connection with natural landscape.”

The landscape architect, Todd Richardson of Richardson & Associates, echoed similar sentiments, saying the lake project “was a very strong collaboration with all who were involved, from the owner through to the design team and contractors. There was a shared vision for the project, which was collectively authored by all of the team members.” That team approach, he says, “allowed for the relationship between the indoors and outside to be physically and visually integrated with intention.”

“The landscape needed to bridge the residences, garage and the boathouse,” says Richardson. “At the heart of this was finding the appropriate balance between the contemporary aesthetic of the buildings while honoring and respecting the natural qualities of the site.

“The challenge in meeting this goal was providing for outdoor spaces while successfully conserving key elements of the site,” he says. “The introduction of native plants in strategic locations made this sense of integration possible.”

One overriding concern, given the property’s proximity to the lake, was reducing the environmental impact of the project. Since the boathouse was an integral component of the overall design—the homeowners are avid boaters and water skiers—the project required significant focus on permitting and coordination with local regulatory authorities. The design team worked closely with Folsom Design Group in Wolfeboro and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to make the main house and the boathouse “significantly less non-conforming” in an effort to be a better neighbor, improve the environmental impact of the properties and decrease the site’s overall disturbance on Lake Winnipesaukee.

“Managing storm water and runoff into the lake was an important aspect of the project,” says Tyson. “The previous house actually had a catch basin that directed any runoff from the incoming road and asphalt parking apron directly into the lake. The reconfigured site better manages runoff so that the landscape and indigenous plantings now serve as a catch and filter for runoff before it converges with the lake.”

Grading of the property to properly manage runoff in an environmentally responsible way was one of numerous opportunities to employ “green architecture,” says Richardson.

“As with any lakefront property, resource protection regulations came to bear on what was possible,” says Richardson. “In addition to these influences, the main house and guesthouse were on two separate lots having their own individual side setback requirements.

“To weave both of these constraints into a seamless composition that looked and functioned in a unified way was challenging,” he says. “The in-between spaces really mattered, allowing for the linking and binding the two properties to be realized.”

Landscape architect Todd Richardson says the landscape needed to connect the various buildings while finding the “appropriate balance between the contemporary aesthetic of the buildings while honoring and respecting the qualities of the site.”

Inside the main house, the homeowners “dreamed of a place where they could regularly entertain visiting friends and family from around the world, offering a home away from home that was warm and welcoming,” according to Whitten Architects. At the same time, they didn’t want the home to feel cavernous when only the four family members were present. The homeowner says the design team members were “really responsive to our desire to have the kitchen be in the center of the intersection of a bunch of different spaces in the living floor—sitting room, living room, dining room.”

Each room flows into the next, and the design team made sure that each space, while connected to the whole, has its own feel and character.

The solution was to design a series of interconnected and open spaces—a dining room, lakeside terrace, family room, west-facing courtyard, living room and a recreation room—that organically pinwheel around the kitchen on the main level. The design team made sure that each of these spaces, while connected to the whole, felt entirely different in character from scale, amenities and furnishings to materials, quality of light, connection to the outdoors and views.

“From the kitchen, you can monitor the driveway and the arrival of visitors—you have a view of the guesthouse and its path to the main house,” says Tyson. “You have an immediate connection to both adjacent living spaces, with one including a cozy stone fire place. You have an immediate connection to the dining room with a view of the waterfront and the swim dock beyond. You have a view of the outdoor waterfront terrace and the hot tub, you’ve a view of both entry doors—one for guests arriving by foot and one by car. And you have an audible connection to both the game room downstairs and the more private sleeping spaces upstairs.”

Interior designer Kelly Healy created continuity from room to room with a minimal material pallet and cohesive millwork and cabinetry details. This, she says, “creates a natural and subtle harmony as one moves through the home.”

Interior designer Kelly Healy says her goals “were to understand the client’s vision and how they planned to live in the home.”

“With that knowledge and insight, I created a cohesive interior concept, designed and created construction documents for the interior millwork and cabinetry, developed a materials pallet with fixtures and finishes and worked with the whole team to ensure all was executed as intended,” says Healy. “I helped the homeowners to procure quite a bit of the interior furnishings, but they wanted to source themselves and bring pieces in that spoke to them along their travels. I fully support this approach, and I think I was successful in helping to create a backdrop for the homeowners to layer on top of.”

The continuity created with the minimal material pallet and cohesive millwork and cabinetry details was a particular point of pride.

Whitten Architects worked to enhance natural sunlight and views throughout the entire home. They intentionally kept the buildings as thin as possible and employed generous use of glass, giving each room more light, a view and improved ventilation.

“All of the millwork is the same material—white oak—treated in three different ways and repeated throughout the home,” she says.

“This, to me, creates a natural and subtle harmony as one moves through the home.

“It was really important to me that the grain and texture showed through the stain/treatment used in each instance, both visually and tactually,” says Healy. “I also wanted the cabinetry to stand up to hard use and patina beautifully, which really can’t happen with a veneer. The millwork shop, Modern Heritage, and I had to do some major brainstorming and lots of samples to figure out a way to use hardwood in a way that would remain stable over time.”

Finally, Whitten Architects said the single biggest design opportunity revolved around enhancing the natural sunlight and the views outside. With two narrow lots that ran south, from the view of the lake, the design team looked for additional views from the home, and found new ways to bring in additional light. By intentionally keeping the buildings as thin as possible and employing generous use of glass (including floor-to-ceiling windows on the main floor), the designers and builder gave each room more light, a view and improved ventilation.

The owners have dubbed their home “Treehouse Time,” which is an apt description.

“We did a lot of planning to make sure the house was sited logically relative to prevailing winds and winter and summer light, to make the house energy efficient,” says the homeowner. “We love the way that the entire house brings the lake in and makes you feel at one with the beautiful surroundings.”

The family has dubbed their Lake Winnipesaukee retreat “Treehouse Time.” For Richardson, the retreat is the epitome of cooperation.

“The most rewarding part of this project is the synergy found between the architecture, landscape, and context,” says Richardson. “The sum seems to be greater than the parts.”

A Massachusetts family finds the perfect retreat