| Five. New Personalized Lake Home |
| This private home is
situated on an exclusive, beautiful lake in eastern Nebraska.
The homeowners came to Cramer Kreski
Designs seeking a new house as a respite from their work in the
city. Their goals were to create a house of rooms with different
moods and functions, but all share wonderful views of the expansive
lake.
The house would need to feel very
comfortable for both the two homeowners and their high school son
still at home and at the same time, accommodate a group of forty or
more without feeling claustrophobic.
The design of the house centered around
a central spine where multiple rooms were attached to the spine,
each projecting out toward the east and west sides of the spine.
The farthest north and south wings
became bookends, splaying northeast and southeast to capture maximum
views of the lake and maximum privacy for the guest bedroom suite
and master bedroom suite at each end.
The core between the two wings allowed
for family areas like kitchen, great room, sunroom, entry, etc. The lake side exterior walls open up with low, wide, tall windows and french doors to allow the interior to spatially extend toward the lake out onto a large low deck. Upstairs areas included a theater room and exercise room attached by a second floor spine with smaller windows framing the elevated views. The exterior cedar, stone, stucco and copper all were natural materials the homeowners wanted to incorporate into the design of the exterior surfaces of the house to allow for a lower maintenance home, but longer lasting beauty. The overall effect is one of simple massing forms layered to create a variety of spaces for both enjoying the lake on a daily basis as a couple on an intimate scale, while allowing for entertaining with family and friends at times of larger parties and holidays. |
