Camouflage House - Johnsen Schmaling Architects

The Camouflage House sits on a steep lake bluff, its narrow, linear volume nestled into the hillside. Approaching the house from the rugged access road weaving through the site’s heavily wooded plateau, the building’s faint, low-slung silhouette virtually disappears in the surrounding vegetation. With its simple plan, restraint use of materials, and precise detailing, the house achieves an elegant clarity and a rustic warmth that nevertheless avoids bucolic sentimentality.

Photo © Kevin Miyazaki. Published on April 19, 2013.

Context
Informed by early conceptual studies of the most striking features of the context, the house’s complex system of façade layers, contrasting the geometric discipline of the building mass, expresses its ambition to assimilate with its surroundings. Echoing the trees’ arresting verticality and the rhythmic shifts between the trunks as one moves through the site, the building skin is composed of solids and voids – wall and glass panels – whose seemingly random organization overlaps with the strict 48” base grid of the building’s exposed structural columns. This first façade layer is clad in untreated vertical cedar and serves as the backdrop for a series of polychromatic Prodema wood veneer panels that reverberate the ever-changing hues of the surrounding deciduous trees. Over time, the cedar walls will weather to a silver-gray, while the wood veneer panels will retain their original color and pristine finish.

Photo © Kevin Miyazaki. Published on April 19, 2013.

Organization
From the small clearing of the entry court, the low roof of the open breezeway connecting house and garage leads to a linear, glazed entry foyer that penetrates the two-story, 2,700 SF bar building and terminates into a partially covered balcony with spectacular views of the lake. Stairs connect to the lower level, which is fully exposed on the lake side and houses all bedrooms, providing access to the zero-edge bluff terrace that stretches along the entire length of the building and to the master bedroom “grotto,” an intimate outdoor space between the western edge of the house and the site’s imposing rock formation. On the upper level, kitchen, dining and living functions occupy an open space that can extend into the adjacent spacious screen porch by retracting the large, foldable glass door system separating the two. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall, the screen porch functions as the home’s lung, taking advantage of the mild lake breezes.

Interior
The inside of the house, while unapologetically contemporary, continues Wisconsin’s long history of lake cottage architecture, which has traditionally featured exposed timber construction, interior wood siding, combined living and dining halls centered around a fireplace, and a limited palette of natural materials. Meticulously detailed, the entire entry level of the Camouflage House is clad with clear-sealed MDF panels, held apart by reveals that accentuate the strict structural rhythm of the house and align with the exposed engineered wood beams above. Exposed integrally colored concrete floors throughout the house complement the warmth of the MDF walls, as does a three-sided CorTen steel-clad fireplace forming the focal point of the open living hall. Throughout the house, sustainable materials were specified, such as low-VOC paints, recycled products, native woods, and high-performance glazing.