This custom home was designed for a family of six  in Ann Arbor Michigan on the Huron River.  While at William McDonough + Partners my responsibility on the project was to distill a project that had grown to a 20,000 square foot  down to 7000 square feet. The program included a sports barn, a four-car garage and security headquarters in addition to a large home. 

My challenge was to balance and integrate the formal with the informal aspects of the home that would maintain the essence of the original scheme while also reducing the square footage. That required designing comfortable formal room proportions that could host national and international functions as well as being comfortable enough for smaller special family occasions. The automobile and guest wing of the home was positioned to serve many functions. First it was sited to toggle both the formal and informal approaches to the home that would connect both through a Port- cochere.  It also discreetly housed security guard headquarters at the front end of the garage (not shown) to monitor the approach in addition to both entrances to the home. Finally it’s location served to shield the large sports barn from the formal approach to the home. 

The family quarters all centered around a two-story family room that interacted with children activities and family activities in the project room on the first floor as well as the second floor study hall, family exercise room and bedroom hall. I placed the adjoining sports barn to create an intimate exterior family courtyard that shared a fireplace with the family room. 

The owners were life long environmentalists and wanted the home to take advantage of passive solar building techniques as well as the natural beauty of the Huron River Valley. Fortunately the views were to the south so the breath of windows were oriented to capture the maximum solar
gain in the winter which was so crucial in Michigan while also providing maximum shield of overhangs and sun screens to keep the home cool during the summer months.  All the rooms formal and informal share a connection with the landscape through generous terraces and outdoor
rooms for enjoyment during the mild summer months. 

The facade has a crisp updated country manner feel using simple volumes and locally quarried stone that would portray an informal elegance.