A-Frame House Makes Year-Round Cabin

Lake Placid A-frame house by Strand Design.

In this unique take on the traditional Northwoods A-frame cottage, classic meets modern. This cabin integrates effortlessly into its woodland lakeside surroundings, using a combination of steel panels, darker clapboard, and touches of brilliant natural timber.

As avid winter enthusiasts, the owner’s desire for year-long adventure can be realized with this versatile getaway, resting naturally and with ease throughout the everchanging seasons.

The structure is built with a minimal material palette that includes bonderized standing seam steel roof panels, black corrugated steel panels, black lap siding, natural fir, ground and polished concrete. In an old-meets-new architectural approach, the architects basically gave a contemporary spin on the rustic Northwoods A-frame cabin.

Meanwhile, dark colors, wooden external cladding, and a sense of verticality (through the triangular façade's upward orientation and the cladding planks) make the structure seem at home in its woodland surroundings.

The project, a rather modest home nestled amid the forested shorelines of a lake, was commissioned by a private customer seeking a respite from the noise and bustle of their main city property. The concept of a getaway is something simple and uncomplicated that invites ties to nature and relaxation that was a driving force in the design. 

Photograph by Clad Holder.