Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, the river was deeply embedded in our client’s lives.

The 3-hour drives along the river valley from the Twin Cities reminded us of the juxtaposition of the expansive and powerful river flowing and carving its way through the always present rocky bluffs, leaving an in-between space, always moving, always sided. The house could reflect this experience, in form, material, and space along the riverside.

Situated on the edge between the rock bluffs and the river, the house took the form of two fractured boulders, tumbled down off the bluff. Up river, a large garage for car and boat storage, and down river, the aptly named “warehouse” wing for children’s rooms and wide-open play. In the void between is the age-in-place living with entry, kitchen, dining, sunken living room, and master suite. Naturally aging materials of concrete, corten steel, and charred cedar were used, echoing the texture, tones, and aging presence of the rocky bluffs.

The house flows left to right and front to back. The entry is beneath a wide and heavy “outcropping” between the large flanking stones. Inside, the house opens towards the river across layers of shoreline. Left to right the house moves from the tranquil stream of the spa-like master suite, through the rapids of a modern and minimal main living space, to the wide-open estuary of the industrial warehouse with exposed bar joists, waxed steel railings, and end grain laser cut plywood stair.

While under construction local residents commented that the house would stick out like a sore thumb in this lazy stretch of the river, but now built and lived in, they have a hard time distinguishing it from the surrounding landscape. Its’ like it’s always been here, part of the bluff itself.

Location: La Crescent, MN

Completed: 2020

Project Team: Ben Awes, AIA, Principal-in-Charge Chris Bach, AIA