X House | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 2018

Architects: Snow Kreilich Architects
Client: Private
General Contractor: Gregg H Seiple Construction
Photographers: Corey Gaffer Photography

The X House is balanced on the rocky terrain on a half-mile of Michigan's rugged Upper Peninsula coastline overlooking Lake Superior. Adjacent to the owner's multi-generational family retreat, the land was purchased to enhance the family's tie to this place and this landscape.

The desire for a single level of living space with specific views toward two coves, as well as the expansive Lake Superior horizon, drove the "X" strategy. Two intersecting bars of space begin on grade and end elevated above the site, cantilevering toward the water and into the forest.

The region's winter climate with its heavy lake effect snows, high north winds blowing across the expanse of Lake Superior drove a robust structural system of exposed concrete piers, steel framing, and cantilevered engineered lumber.

Living spaces hover over the rocky point with large panels of glass connecting the family with both their beach coves, forest, and the expanses of Lake Superior. A simple palette of materials, stone, blackened wood, and glass echoes the region's unique natural and industrial heritage.

The X House itself is a contradiction: it is necessarily a robust and protective legacy structure for the family, yet it imbues the rituals of everyday life with the beauty of this powerful place.