Salmela Architect

Tre Søstre Housing

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

TRE SØSTRE HOUSING

Salmela Architect

ARCHITECTS
Salmela Architect

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
David Salmela

LANDSCAPE
Travis Van Liere Studio

ENGINEERING
MBJ

DESIGN TEAM
Darin Duch

MANUFACTURERS
Loewen, Autodesk

CLIENTS
Todd Miller and Susan Miller

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Taiga Design+Build

PHOTOGRAPHS
Corey Gaffer

AREA
5088.0 ft2

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Grand Marais, Minnesota 55604, United States

CATEGORY
Housing

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

Text description provided by architect.

Tre Søstre is located in the village of Grand Marais, Minnesota. The setting is defined by the rugged shore of Lake Superior to the east, a steep hillside sloping up to a prominent ridge line, with a vast boreal forest stretching north to the arctic.

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

The area was first inhabited by the Ojibwa, with French fur traders and Scandinavian fishermen settling the area in the early 20th century.

Today the town remains a remote village with an economy based largely on outdoor recreation and tourism enabled by the proximity to Lake Superior and nearly 4 million acre Superior National Forest.

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

Twenty years ago, the clients purchased the property after completing a five year sailing journey from Duluth to Honduras and back.

The property was in a state of disrepair with three severely damaged structures with collapsed roofs. The husband and wife restored the buildings for short-term rentals.

They built a fourth structure using traditional timber frame construction as a live-work space for themselves which they call the “boathouse.”

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

The site is located a half block from the shore and within a few blocks of an acclaimed folk school. The surrounding neighborhood is a mix of low-rise commercial, single-family residential, and short-term rental.

The clients purchased an adjacent vacant lot and hired the architects to design three new units with the goals of prioritizing views and making a bold architectural statement while remaining sensitive to the scale of the neighborhood context.

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

The three units are located up-slope from the existing structures. Each unit has a modest 16’x 22’footprint with several cantilevered volumes and exterior decks that increase the usable floor area on the upper levels.

This strategy was inspired by the “stabbur”—traditional Scandinavian farm buildings used for storing grain. The small footprints minimize disruption to the site, allowing for more productive uses of the landscape such as stormwater infiltration which is critical given the proximity to the lake and the slope of the hill.

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

A sod-roofed storage building and carport also contribute. The carport is built into the slope to maintain views for the neighbors to the north.

A series of dry-laid retaining walls and poured concrete steps create a terracing effect across the site that define a dynamic sequence of patios, softscapes, and pathways.

Spatial configurations and proximities were carefully considered to provide areas of protected privacy and open gathering within a relatively dense cluster.

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer

Lower level bedrooms—each with a private patio or deck—lead to an open living space above with 10ft ceilings and unobstructed views to the lake.

The name is Danish for “Three Sisters,”an homage to the client’s Danish father. In addition to describing the familial grouping of structures stepping up the hill, it also references a tight grouping of three rogue waves, a phenomenon unique to Lake Superior.

It perfectly captured the client’s bold aspirations for the project while grounding it squarely within its place.

Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer
Tre Søstre Housing
© Corey Gaffer


Tre Søstre Housing
Site plan
Tre Søstre Housing
Floor plans


Tre Søstre Housing
Sections
Tre Søstre Housing
Elevations


Tre Søstre Housing
Carport

Salmela Architect
T +1 218 7247517
Salmela Architect
630 W 4th St, Duluth, MN 55806, United States