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“There are limited locations in the [Twin] Cities where you can be in this beautiful scenic setting and in these great surroundings and still have a single-family home, still walk to grocery stores, restaurants, bars, and playgrounds,” Strand explained. “I think that walkability mixed in with that setting was really what drew them there.”
Equally alluring to Strand was the challenge of setting the architectural bar for Highland Bridge with its first single-family home. Rising to meet that challenge required close collaboration with his clients, the builder, and the designer, as well as a lot of patience and persistence.
“I think we were all very aware, especially in this community, how long the project would be,” he said, adding “I think [my clients] chose someone that they could bear with for three years. And, you know, we've actually had a lot of fun.”
We wanted something that added a natural feel and blended in. When you're looking through that living room, you're seeing out to the woods in front of the river and the sky. The White Oak felt like such a beautiful way to blend that interior into that natural exterior surrounding.”
David Strand
Designer
Striking the Perfect Balance of Inspiring Views and Intimate Spaces
The home sits on an idyllic spot along Mississippi River Boulevard, an undulating tree-lined parkway that follows the meandering course of the river and feeds into several popular beaches and parks, as well as biking and hiking trails. Highland Bridge itself is a sprawling 135-acre community that encompasses more than 55 acres of parks, recreation areas, open fields, and waterways, crisscrossed by more than 10 miles of bike and pedestrian paths.
For Strand and his team, this posed a challenge: How to make the most of the surrounding beauty while creating a space that offers privacy and functionality for a growing family.
The answer lay in a combination of expansive panes of glass in the more public areas of the home to let in light and scenery and strategic placement of private kitchen, family, and office spaces. As Strand put it, “We used the house to screen those more intimate areas, especially the primary suite. We pushed it to the back of the house and allowed the lower level of the home to screen and draw people's attention.” The primary suite has large windows of its own with views of the river, but its placement in the design makes it less of a focal point from the higher traffic areas around the home.
Walking from room to room, it’s intuitively clear that each part of the home has a role to play in the everyday lives of the family. Natural light illuminates and warms the open space of the living room area at the front. And while the living room is open to the kitchen, the design of the home also shields that space and gives it a more intimate feel. Similarly, the more private spaces behind the open living room enjoy the same sunlight and scenic views, but with a sense of privacy and seclusion. Taken together, the whole of the experience created by the design is much more than the sum of its parts.
For the exterior, bonderized metal and red brick echo the site’s industrial past and location in a historic residential area.
“You see the brick of the Ford Plant chimney that's still there, and you think of all these other historic structures,” Strand said. “We really tried to integrate all those together in a way that in 20 years when the trees are grown up and it's a beautiful neighborhood that the house looks like it should be there.”
Contemporary Design Sensibilities that Stand the Test of Time
Sunlight and Minnesota’s seasonal weather patterns both factored into the choice of window placement in the design, and the choice of the windows themselves. For Strand, this was another key moment of collaboration with both the homeowners and the builder, Detail Homes.
“The builder is the one that stands behind them. The one that's installing them and creating this home. We need to make sure that we’re selecting a product that they feel comfortable with. So that's a big part of the selection of Marvin.”
The choice of triple-paned Marvin Ultimate windows with an Ebony-clad exterior and White Oak interior reflected Strand’s desire to balance contemporary sensibilities with the neighborhood’s scenic surroundings and traditional character.
“We wanted something that added a natural feel and blended in. When you're looking through that living room, you're seeing out to the woods in front of the river and the sky. The White Oak felt like such a beautiful way to blend that interior into that natural exterior surrounding." The completed home is a testament to Strand’s understanding of the neighborhood’s history and character, and of its future as more houses are built for more families to call home. It’s also an embodiment of his appreciation for the lives and experiences that his clients would enjoy within it — now and for decades to come.
“We wanted to make sure that the house stayed relevant in the future as well and that all those spaces were useful to their family and their lifestyle as the world evolves but also as their family grows and the kids get older,” Strand concluded. “It's just such a pleasant space to be in, a really energizing positive and bright space.”
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