Yingst Retreat

Project Details

Project Description

2010 RADA
Custom / More Than 3,000 Square Feet / Grand

Surprising as it may seem, the requirements that gave rise to the Yingst Retreat were rather conventional: lots of light, room for guests, a view of the lake. “The program was pretty normal,” says architect David D. Salmela, FAIA. The result, however, is an intriguing compound that combines elements of dwelling, environmental sculpture, and installation art.

A deliberately direct driveway plunges to an entry court populated by four obscure, coal-black boxes: three garages and a workshop. The workshop steps out of line with its partners, opening a narrow passage to an inner courtyard and the house.

The house brackets its barlike length between end walls of white masonry that Salmela likens to “white swans on black water.” An exposed structure of laminated columns marches the length of the building, which steps downhill toward the lake. Terracelike levels define spaces both indoors and outdoors, where sculptural elements—a freestanding chimney, a sauna, and a pavilion one judge dubbed “the Mystery Critter”—draw one out into the landscape.

Our judges were taken with the project’s “moody, lyrical” quality, calling the scheme “abstract yet functional.” As one noted, the insertion of built forms into the natural environment “integrates play and discovery on the site.”