DELOIA HOUSE | Duluth, Minnesota | 2017

Architects: Salmela Architects 
Client: Withheld 
General Contractor: Ron & Sons Company

This is our second project for this client. The first was an extensive renovation, addition, outbuildings, and major landscape design for their previous home in a rural setting. After our client’s husband passed away she purchased an expansive site in the city of Duluth with a distant view of Lake Superior throught the trees in the fall and winter. The solution has three structures connected by glazed hallways which define two distinctive yet visually connected courtyards. One courtyard is oriented toward the lake and includes a fireplace to accommodate all season use. The second courtyard is tucked into the graduate slope of the hill, creating a sunken entry court while also offering protection from cold easterly winds that regularly blow off of the lake. The distinctive microclimates of each courtyard provide ample opportunities for spending time outdoors regardless of season. From the street, two focal points are visible through the glazed connecting elements: the

fireplace of the interior courtyard and a timber frame pavilion set within the backyard beyond the house. These two focal points are also visible from the opposite end of the site, which is bounded by a cross-city walking and bike trail. This sense of transparency throught the house is even more striking from the interior, with view corridors bisecting the house in both longitudinal and transverse directions. Large window openings frame multiple views, and square ventilating units and clerestories on the main floor make for a very functional combination of passive and active ventilation, ensuring very healthy air quality throughout the year. The deep, slender eaves of the flat roofs serve the dual function of controlling light levels and passive heat gain in the summer, while also protecting the painted wood siding from rain and snow. The clerestory light boxes playfully draw additional light into the house, creating ample levels of daylight throughout the day.

Set within the back yard is a wood pegged timber frame pavilion with a 1/4” thick paperresin composit roof. The pavilion was hand made by our client’s husband years before in a Folk School timber framing class but was never assembled at their previous home. The timbers were stored and somewhat forgotten until the realization that this pavilion would make for a far more meaningful counterpoint and focal point for the house than earlier schemes that had been proposed. The discovery and reemergance of this structure was a thrill to the client and architect alike, and this summer the client’s daughter was married under the cover of the pavilion.