Lazor / Office

Thumb House

THUMB HOUSE

Lazor / Office

Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde

ARCHITECTS
Lazor / Office

PHOTOGRAPHS
Peter VonDelinde

AREA
2655.0 ft²

YEAR
2009

LOCATION
Madison, United States

CATEGORY
Houses

Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde

Text description provided by architect.

It can be challenging enough to find the right frame for a painting.

But what if you want to frame an ever-changing natural environment—and you also want to live inside the frame?

Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde

The spaces of the Thumb House actively engage the surrounding landscape. Where the warm wood façade of the house recedes within a zinc wrapper, a wide outdoor room opens toward the lake, framing a panoramic view of water and sky.

White-stained wood lines the inside of the outdoor room, transitioning smoothly into the white interior of the house at a glass wall.

Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde

The logic of cutting into walls to reveal the tree canopy extends throughout the interior living spaces of the two-bedroom house while preserving privacy. 

Beneath high, continuous landscape windows, low walls define dining and lounge zones with a varied material palette—including tile, soapstone, birch, and walnut.

Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde

A thumb-like extension disrupts the rectangular geometry of the house to form a secluded study, where a window dips down over the desk to present an intimate view through a field of tree trunks to the lake.

Wood shutters can be opened to bring in some air, expanding the rooms in spring and summer.

Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde


Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde


Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde
Thumb House
© Peter VonDelinde


Thumb House
Courtesy of Lazor/ Office

Lazor / Office
T +1 612 8123548
Lazor / Office
2801 Hennepin Ave S Suite 84, Minneapolis, MN 55408, United States